Do our festive classroom decoration choices hold clues to our teaching styles? I think they might. See below to find out which category you fell into this year…

The Veteran

Decorations: small christmas tree and tasteful fairy lights that go up bang on 1 December. One small nod to Christmas on your display boards.

You are…  a teaching veteran and know that to keep hold of your sanity in December, you need to keep fuss to a minimum. Lets not get giddy now.

Most likely to: still be teaching numeracy on the last day of term when everyone else succumbed to sticking The Snowman on the DVD player days ago.

Least likely to: get drunk at the Christmas party and try to shoot a party popper up the head’s bum.

The Grinch

Decorations: nothing. Your classroom is a desolate, Christmas-free wasteland.

You are… one of those teachers who believe school is not for fun, school is for learning, and Christmas is a distraction. At the hint of an antler headband, you go full Grinch on the class.  

Most likely to: spend the last lesson running through a series of mini-quizzes based on that term’s learning.

Least likely to: express enthusiasm over the school’s new creative, child-centric curriculum.

The Elf

Decorations: three trees, an elf on the shelf parascending from the ceiling, a giant advent calendar that your class made in November and glitter coating every surface.

You are… a teacher that wants to bleed out every last bit of enthusiasm and excitement from your pupils, and not just at Christmas: every day is a holiday! You put the fun into phonics and the party into pronouns. You are probably a newly qualified teacher and have a long-suffering teaching assistant who is owed a massive bottle of wine for Christmas.

Most likely to: have a full-scale classroom riot on your hands by the last day of term because your class have been living and breathing Christmas since Bonfire Night.

Least likely to: be trusted with leading an assembly.

The Hippy

Decorations: holly, mistletoe, some sort of festive mobile that your class created from pinecones and sticks. Probably some stray woodlice.

You are… a back-to-nature, fully fledged outdoor-learning enthusiast who believes children these days are under so much stress. You feel that they should put technology aside and get outside to be among nature as much as possible.

Most likely to: find a tenuous link between long division and rolling about in the school woodland area.

Least likely to: request extra sessions in the ICT suite.

The Rebel

Decorations: fairy lights that you failed to submit for the annual electrical safety test, cheeky tin of Quality Street in your cupboard to hand around whenever your class look to be in need of a festive sugar boost.

You are… one of those who says “up yours, Healthy Schools status”. You’re a rebel and don’t let policies get in the way of you and your class enjoying yourselves.

Most likely to: run about on the school roof dressed as Spiderman on superhero dress-up day.

Least likely to: complete a risk assessment accurately.

Lisa Jarmin is a primary school teacher and freelance writer