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Classfern Departments

Works in the UK and the US. Every department is for learners in both countries, from Reception to university; each has a UK and a US version. · US version of this page

Classfern is organised like a school: Fern is head of the whole school, and each subject has its own department with a head teacher persona and a motto. Music is open now. The other departments are planned and ready to build – each one needs funding.

Fern, head of the school · Le hasard ne favorise que les esprits préparés

Our school motto, “chance favours only the prepared mind”, was said by the scientist Louis Pasteur in a lecture at Lille in 1854.

Music DepartmentMr Chopin · ÉtudeFrench for “study”; also the name of Frédéric Chopin's famous piano studies.Open nowProgramming DepartmentMr Babbage with Miss Lovelace · Hello, World!The first program anyone writes; Babbage designed the Analytical Engine and Lovelace wrote its famous 1843 notes.Coming soonMaths DepartmentMr Euclid · Q.E.D.Latin for “which was to be shown”, from the Greek phrase Euclid wrote at the end of his proofs (Elements, c. 300 BC).Coming soonScience DepartmentMadame Curie · Eureka!Greek for “I have found it!”, shouted by Archimedes in the bath, as the Roman writer Vitruvius tells it.Coming soonEnglish DepartmentMr Shakespeare · Brevity is the soul of witSaid by the long-winded Polonius in Shakespeare's Hamlet (Act 2, Scene 2).Coming soonHistory DepartmentMr Herodotus · Veni, vidi, viciJulius Caesar's report of his victory at Zela, 47 BC; Cicero called Herodotus “the father of history”.Coming soonGeography DepartmentMr Mercator · Here be dragonsThe legendary warning for unknown places; the Latin HC SVNT DRACONES is on the Hunt–Lenox Globe (early 1500s).Coming soonArt DepartmentMr Turner · Ars longa, vita brevis“Art is long, life is short” – the Latin form of the opening of Hippocrates' Aphorisms; J. M. W. Turner, painter.Lessons live · department coming soonCookery DepartmentMonsieur Escoffier · Mise en placeThe French kitchen rule “everything in its place”; Escoffier organised the professional kitchen brigade.Coming soonLanguages DepartmentMonsieur Champollion · Vive la différence !French for “long live the difference”; Champollion announced how to read hieroglyphs in 1822.Coming soonPE and Health DepartmentMr Juvenal · Mens sana in corpore sano“A healthy mind in a healthy body”, from the Roman poet Juvenal's Satire X (early 2nd century AD).Coming soonEarly Years DepartmentMr Froebel · A garden for childrenWhat the German word Kindergarten means; Froebel opened the first one in 1837 and named it in 1840.Coming soonCitizenship DepartmentMrs Pankhurst · Deeds, not wordsMotto of the Women's Social and Political Union, founded by Emmeline Pankhurst in 1903.Coming soonSpace DepartmentMrs Leavitt · Ad astraLatin for “to the stars”; Henrietta Leavitt's Cepheid discovery (1908, 1912) made it possible to measure distances to galaxies.Coming soon

Each card names the department's head teacher persona and motto, with where the motto comes from. The heads are named after real historical figures linked to the subject.

Support the Classfern appeal

Every Classfern department is ready on paper, but each one needs funding before we can build it. A gift of any amount helps build Classfern – including the new departments on this page – and keeps the free tools free for teachers, families and learners.

Support the Classfern appeal →

Classfern is a small business, not a charity. The support page explains how gifts are used.

Can you help? Teachers and subject experts – tell us

If you teach a subject or know one well, we would love your ideas, examples and corrections for any department.

Tell us how you can help