According to www.pta.co.uk 25% of us are still in touch with best friends from primary school. To help you along with your primary, or junior school yearbook here are our top 10 page ideas.
1. Top 10 lists
Technology moves at such a fast pace The must-have app today will be replaced with a new one tomorrow. Remembering which apps, tech, social platforms and YouTubers pupils love right now will bring a lot of nostaligia in 5, 10 and 20 years time. By growing up in the 80’s my list would consist of Commodore 64, Mega Drive and the groundbreaking Siemans C25 mobile phone. I still enjoy sharing tales of sore thumbs after hours on Sonic the Hedgehog, and my friends getting pager messages to call their parents – oh the memories!
2. In 20 years…
Time-travel into the future and ask each pupil where they see themselves in 20 years time – will they be married? How many children will they have? What are their job/career plans? Where will they be living? You may have already done a similar exercise with your pupils in class, so what are you waiting for?!
I’ve loved reading some of last year’s primary school yearbook comments:
“I’ll be married with two children and living in a big house in Italy.”
“I’ll be rich and have my own make-up business.”
Take a look at our previous post about a dream job yearbook page.
3. Top news headlines
Report the top stories of the year. Similar to our ‘Top 10 lists’ idea above, hot news and happenings of today are easily forgotten tomorrow. Perhaps your school has helped with aide work for one of the year’s disaster crisis’, or maybe your school celebrated a special national anniversary reported in the news.
4. Words of wisdom
Who doesn’t love a positive quote? Take a look at #wednesdaywisdom on Twitter for oodles of inspiration. If your school’s staff are struggling with their teacher comment, give them a helping hand with a few quotes like the ones below:
“Nothing is impossible, even the word itself says “I’m possible.” Audrey Hepburn
“You must never be fearful of what you’re doing when it is right.” Rosa Parks
“The road to success is longer than you’d think, but shorter than you imagine.” Tim Fargo
“You’re off to great places! Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting. So… get on your way!” Dr Seuss
5. Art and projects
Host your own exhibition, but on paper! If you’ve managed to snatch a photo of your pupil’s artistic creations before they went home to the fridge, use them in your yearbook!
6. Parents Association activities
Does your PTA host events like film nights, discos, or family fundraisers like fairs, bbqs, pancake day races (coming up very soon)? Get these in your yearbook too! Parents will enjoy remembering these activities as much as the pupils, will cringe at ‘wearing that’ to the school disco!
7. Group photos
This one may sound obvious, we see so many individual student photos it’s easy to forget the group ones. Use photo montages of each class group, friendship groups, sports teams, school activities make perfect fodder for a primary school yearbook.
8. Interactive yearbook pages
Make each pupil’s yearbook that bit more personal by letting them write in it! Leave space beneath the following questions:
- What I’ll miss about <your school>
- My first memory at <your school>
- My favourite school trip was…
- My teachers…
- My friends…
- Personal goals for Year 7
- My future plans…
9. Hand drawn cover
Hand drawn yearbook covers are very personal and unique. We love them, and parents feel exactly the same! The guys over at Art Rocks ran a yearbook cover competition with the theme being their bear mascot.
There has to be only one winner of a cover competition. By including all of the entries on the back of your yearbook everyone’s efforts get rewarded.
10. Day one (fresh faces)
A great yearbook page idea I’ve seen recently is a ‘day one’ page, showing a photo of each pupil on their first day in Year 1… adorable! Take this one step further by adding a photo from Year 6 next to it – how much have they changed?!
We hope you’ve found some inspiration to take away and use in your own primary school yearbooks. I’d love to hear your page ideas too – let me know using the comments box below.
