It’s that time of year when teachers begin to feel like Buster the Boxer from the John Lewis Christmas advert. They sit, helpless, watching through their classroom window as the rest of humanity winds down and frolics about on the trampoline that is Yuletide ‘buzz’. Reins are loosened, rules eased, parties had.

Those who work in education have to wait to join the reverie until the last possible moment. Slade is on pause. Baubles are still boxed. Cherry is still medicinal, not seasonal.

But do not let the Grinch get you. There are ways of smuggling Santa-related cheer into your classroom so that you can be part of the festivities.

1. Get a class advent calendar
   What better vehicle for numeracy than a countdown to Christmas and what better lesson in problem solving for the children than you eating all the chocolate beforehand and setting them the task of solving the case.   
   
   
    
2. Decorate your classroom
   If the new GCSE guidance documents have left you feeling about as clueless as you were before you read them, then now is the time to put them to good use. What could be more festive (or therapeutic) than chopping them up to make snowflakes to hang in your classroom? The question is: will there be enough to deck the hall, too?
   
   
   
   
    
3. Write a letter to Santa
   There are multiple ways of bringing Santa into your scheme of work. A straight letter to the big man ticks literacy; tell the kids Santa is French and MFL comes into play; coding a delivery vehicle to take it to the post box covers Computing; and add a complementary mince pie to the parcel for some home economics points.
   
   
    
4. Pack a festive lunch
   The official turkey lunch that the dinner staff prepare might still be weeks away, but you can get a head start by ‘festivising’ your lunch box. Cut your sandwiches into the shape of stars, add a dollop of cranberry sauce to everything and fill all the leftover Tupperware space with chocolate coins. Healthy eating can start afresh in January.
   
   
    
5. Two words: ‘Christmas’ and ‘Jumper’
   They can take your advent calendar, decorations, letters to Santa and carol session, but they will never take your novelty Rudolph sweater with flashing antlers. Stand firm, ignore the negative comments and wear that reindeer with pride.
   
   

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