Primary school "Star of the Week"

[littlemissmoomoo]

At my children's school, each class teacher picks a child who is"Star of the Week". The names are announced in the weekly newsletter. In assembly on a Friday the children all go up to the front and are given a chocolate medal. And the end of each half term all the chosen kids have a tea party (cake and juice) with the head teacher.

The same children seem to get picked all the time. I know this because I have 3 kids at the same school. One seems to get picked every 3 or 4 weeks, one has been picked 4 times this school year and one has only been picked the once.

I personally think each child should get picked once and then repeat throughout the year.

My child who has only been picked once gets upset every time one of his siblings gets picked.

How does it work at your kids schools?

I've taught with two different systems.

A - Class teachers submitted a weekly list of 3-5 pupils for doing specific things to meet the school values. The Head drew names at random for the 3 who would get 'tea' with her. I kept a list of who'd been on my class list and made sure it evened out overall.

B - One pupil picked each week for generally good stuff. List of praiseworthy things read out in assembly on a personalised certificate. Definitely a list ticked off for this. Keep a 'good all rounder' for last.

Little bit of power?
I have oodles of power over the children under my dictatorship, and I can warp and twist them to my own ideals. Frankenstein has nothing by comparison.
I can make them drink the Kool Aid so that despite their upbringing, they are infected and affected by my values.
Inclusion, tolerance, respect for the environment, individual achievement, kindness, love of lifelong learning.
Crap like that.

My dc pre school it was done in turn but they are 3-4. I would think that would be useless since they are older and not motivating. However if there is favouritism then maybe you should complain
They should give feedback to others in what they want to see and even a improvement should get them star of the week

The primary school my DC used to attend did this for years. It seemed to favour the ones who really struggled and the super bright, at the expense of the majority - the ones who did as they were told and plodded on with their work.

The system sucks in my opinion.

My kids primary school do this - I don’t like it. They do a rota system so all the kids get it at least once a year, some twice. My DS was very wise to this, it annoyed him as he was competitive and he felt once he’d won it, there was no point as he wouldn’t win it again. I think as the children get older they are not fussed with certificates and the like. Better for younger children.

Some kids in ds class are naughty little so and so's

How do you know this?

their parents are usually a clue! In many case, you can see first hand the lack of discipline and hear the parents reasoning on why little Timmy is special and deserves special treatment.

We are all able to see the difference between a child playing up because a new baby arrived, or a family member died and a child who is left to run wild and has no discipline.

Most naughty kids are just kids with lazy or entitled parents. Not everything is a consequence of abuse!

Englishbreakfasts stop now! You're making yourself look foolish

Englishbreakfasts stop now! You're making yourself look foolish

Looking foolish is the least of the concerns I'd have thought. She/he/they are looking like an extremely unpleasant individual.

I don’t label the children I teach as ‘naughty’. Certain behaviours are ‘naughty’ maybe, though I tend to frame it as good and bad choices, actions and consequences.

But even if you want to call a young child a ‘naughty little sod’, do you not recognise that by actively looking for the times that child IS doing the right thing and making good choices and rewarding that (possibly even with a star of the week certificate) the teacher is doing their job? Or would you rather we label them all ‘naughty little sods’ at 5 and never allow that they might change that with a bit of positive reenforcement?

Of course I'm not going to query why a naughty child got it twice, don't be so ridiculous. I'm going to query whether it's an admin error as suggested above as it's almost the end of the year and there have been more weeks at school than children in the class.
My child is no angel, she can be silly and cheeky too but doesn't hit, bite and get put in fucking time out almost every week.
These are 4 and 5 year old... I'd say its pretty normal for them to be naughty on and off but some are a lot more so than others!

Some kids in ds class are naughty little so and so's. Why should they be priority over a child who genuinely is good in the class

because sometimes they need it more.

The best reward systems are about encouraging good behaviour - yes they have to ensure that the always good are not left out, but my kids don't need encouraging to be good (luckily - they were the invisible middle at primary school) - their home life is stable, they are relatively intelligent (in the genes on their mum's side obviously! ) we have "enough" of everything to make life in general easy, they have all the advantages that that confers - and hopefully those advantages will have given them a springboard to a happy, healthy, wealthy enough life.

Good is their default - as it should be.

I'm my kids school it's given to the kids who earn it. I personally feel this is the best way to do it as it teaches children from a young age that you have to work hard in life to achieve things. When kids leave school and go out into the real world, nothing is ever handed to them because it's their turn. It doesn't have to be picked for academic reasons, so it's nothing to do with how well they're achieving academically.

Ah the unfairness of reward systems.
Eldest understood this at aged 4 when she came out under a black cloud saying “ x got a star for not hitting this week and I don’t hit nobody and I didn’t ever !”

I can see why the system is there but it’s very hard to make it fair and make sure the middle kids get credit too.

Best award that child ever got was an “ I can “ award for passing her cycling proficiency at aged 11 having been unable to ride a bike till then and falling in a bush in front of the class too 😂. They all gave her an honest round of applause at the awards assembly.

Academic stuff she found easy. Riding a bike / sports was near impossible and it really was the right thing to reward her for

floraloctopus
why, are you one of these parents?

I cannot imagine you have never witnessed bad parenting around you, so if you deny it, you must be one of them No need to insult me because I touched a nerve.

The DC’s school does this. They announce it at Friday morning assembly, and the winners have lunch with senior teachers on a “top table” that day.

In KS1 everyone gets a turn, whether they have wiped their own nose or memorised Pi to 20 decimal places. In KS2 you must earn it, and yes, children can be selected several times. There does seem to be recognition that an achievement for some is a walkover for others though.

x got a star for not hitting this week and I don’t hit nobody and I didn’t ever !

perfectly summarised.

do you not recognise that by actively looking for the times that child IS doing the right thing and making good choices and rewarding that (possibly even with a star of the week certificate) the teacher is doing their job?

but what about the children who work hard to do the right thing all the time? Why shouldn't they be rewarded more than the one who makes good choices as a one-off?

The message is not to bother, and do it once in a blue moon to get a reward when you feel like one.

Same with kids with good results, why should they be forgotten because they make the effort to do homework every night instead of playing or watching tv?

floraloctopus why, are you one of these parents?

I am one of those teachers who understands that children can be challenging through reasons that are no fault of their own.

I cannot imagine you have never witnessed bad parenting around you, so if you deny it, you must be one of them

Of course I have witnessed parenting that is far from good, I'm a teacher. Bad parenting is not the fault of the child.

No need to insult me because I touched a nerve.

The only nerve that you could touch is the one that tells me that you are intolerant and unable to see the reasons why some children do not always behave like the mythical perfect child.

EnglishBreakfasts I totally agree with you.

But in the same post, child got award for riding a bike at 11. Why shouldn't the rest of the class say but I can do that and I didn't get an award, same thing. If a child finds something difficult and they achieve it, reward it. If a child finds it easy to sit still, not hit or ride a bike they haven't had to work hard at it so no reward. This is how things work in most schools.

dreygrey

I am saying that not all bad behaviour is caused by abuse or a bad home. It's not intolerance to recognise the impact of lazy or entitled parenting.

Why should the other kids be punished because of one?

Even naughty children have good days.

At our kids school I am sure they keep a list but the award is for a specific thing (behaviour or piece of work) rather than for ‘general excellence’. Teachers will have different goals for different children. If a child struggling with maths does a good piece of work that is as deserving of a made up award as anything else.

My son has ASD and is quite scornful of these awards. He worked out very early on that everyone got a turn so he treated it a pointless of waste of time. My other son, on the other hand, loved being star of the week regardless.

What is silly is assuming that this sort of thing works for all children.

What's worse is the team in work that have a star of the week. There are no words...

Most naughty kids are just kids with lazy or entitled parents. Not everything is a consequence of abuse!

Can I ask where you've gleaned this insight from? Do you work with challenging children? Do you spend a great deal of time with youngsters struggling within mainstream schools? Do you have extensive training in child psychology? Do you have anything other than an ill-informed opinion to back up this claim?

It's not that the children who always do the work and behave well are told "not to bother" though is it? It is that they are used as an example to emulate by the kids who haven't got the hang of that behaviour yet. By your token only the kids who have had stable good values at home should be given any pat on the back and the rest left behind.

Generally kids act the way they are allowed to at home. If you don't like the parents fine, don't talk to them, but to punish the kids because they've had no other examples or guidance is silly and increases divides in society.

If kids bite/pinch or are bullies the school picks up on this. It doesn't mean the kids who are working hard don't get any recognition, but it does mean the kids acting out probably need extra attention and teachers support them by rewarding good behaviour over bad. Not sure how that isn't obvious!