How well do teachers know other children beyond their own classroom?

[amazinggrace321]

This is just for curiosity. I have one in y2 and one in reception. I’ve always been impressed at how quickly the other teachers seem to know them by name, when they’re not in their class. I was just wondering, do teachers discuss children? Not in any form of malicious way, but just to share feedback about what children in other classes are doing. It’s quite a big school, multiple class intake. I’m just impressed!

Pretty well, depending on size of school. In my last school there were approx 300 children and I knew them all by name and could confidently dismiss probably 250 to a (recognised) parent. But I had been there for ten years, covered all classes, done break and lunch duties and been on the gate at the start and end of the day. Obviously you learn the names of key players pretty quickly, but you pick up names pretty easily on break duty just by children coming up to chat. I assume secondary is different, and possibly larger primaries it might be a bit harder? I’d still expect a primary school teacher to know the names of all children in their year group (not just their class) from PPA together, pupil progress etc.

In my experience, teachers' bandwidth is fully taken up by the kids in their class that year. That's plenty, and no one goes looking to find out about other kids in other classes - no reason to. I do know the names of siblings and a tiny bit about them because the kids in my class tell me about them - that falls within 'getting to know about rhe kids in my class' though. I'm not especially interested in the siblings.

There will be exceptions. Some schools are small enough that everyone knows everyone. Some families are well known within a school and everyone knows those kids. Some kids are made known to staff for support continuity reasons. You get to know some kids on playground duty or because they come to a club you run. Some of the little kids are just quite chatty and everyone gets to know them. Maybe that's what's going on with yours?

I work in a school and pretty sure I know all the names of our kids. They come through Yr R and you get to know them in passing then they are handed over to Yr 1/2 where you do transition days each time and info/names are passed on to each class, you just sort of pick up the names as you go. Most staff will rotate on lunch/break duty which helps too!

Thank you, I’m just impressed! I was a class volunteer last year and struggled to remember everyone’s names

My DS’s school is only 1 form entry (210 children total) and I would say most teachers know the names of nearly all the kids. They do a lot of mixing of year groups for things like Christmas shows and clubs so teachers do get to know pupils outside their own class pretty easily, plus of course if you teach lower down the school then the older children have all passed through your classes already.

My first ever school was a small village school and I made it my mission to learn every child's name by the end of the year (about 120 kids) and I managed it. That school really felt like a family, where everybody knew everybody. It was a shock to the system to move to a 3 form entry school where it was impossible to know all of the kids in just a year, especially as I teach Reception so I'm based right down one end of the school. I only really knew Reception, some of the Year 1s and any siblings of children in my class by the end of the first year.

Teaching Reception means that it's easy to know most of the children in the school now though as they move on up, whether they were in my class or the other classes (I always make an effort to get to know all of the year group, not just my class, as I think it's important for the children to feel known and recognised in school). I've been here for 7 years now, so I have seen them all move on up through the school. It's only really the new joiners further up the school who I don't really know now.

This is how I knew my sister was destined to be a teacher. We both used to go and help out with my mum’s class, and afterwards she and mum would chat about the kids and who got on better sitting with who else, how so and so were engaged with work etc, and I was just thinking “which one was Rachael??”

Our school is 200 pupils and all staff know all pupils by name and their personalities. Teachers swop classes so Year 2 teacher might have done French for a degree so will teach all French in the school and swop with the teacher who is better at computing. Means all the teachers know all the kids and it really helps with transition and knowing class dynamics. And whether certain kids have certain strengths in subjects.

Where it becomes cult like is where the staff know the parents, their jobs, where they live. In some instances, grandparents too.

It has its strengths but also weaknesses and the teachers can be very judgy and open thinking everyone knows everyone and everything.

We have 425 children in my school. I currently teach Year 3. I know all the children in Key Stage 2 as I’ve taught them all at some point. Can only confidently name 10-ish KS1 children (what we’d call ‘key characters’). We don’t share playtimes or playgrounds so I rarely come into contact with KS1. I do recognise some of the siblings of children in my class, but only because we recently had photos and the siblings were together for a brief time in the hall.

We’ve only so much bandwidth OP!

The head at our primary is on the school gate every morning and greets every child by name - there are over 400 pupils - blows my mind that he remembers them all!

As a TA, I only know my year group, and the previous ones. I am in my 3rd year of working in y1 at my current school, so I know all the names of y1-3 (3 form intake so that's 270 children) I only know a handful of older ones though. I usually end up covering in reception semi regularly and get to know them too but that's not happened yet this year.
The head teacher seems to know all the new names really quickly each year. I genuinely don't know how as she's not able to spend much time in the classrooms with them!

I used to work in a primary.

by the time I’d been there four years I knew the name of all the kids in juniors as I’d taught them when they were in year 3.

one form entry.

not so much the lower classes although I did know some names (mostly siblings)

I’m just so impressed at how quickly staff pick up the names - even if they’re not the teacher. Different teachers are on the gate each day and seem to know all the children