Is this fair or are school BU?

[M0naLisa]

At the end of each term 'good' children in school get to attend something called a 'no stage' party.

In each class there is a happy face and a sad face on the whiteboards.

Children who have been naughty go on sad face
Children who are good and do things extra special like helping with tidying and been friendly get to go on happy face.

Those children during the term that have been on sad face are denied an invitation to the no stage party. They have to sit in class and do work.

My 4yr old was put on sad face on Monday for talking when teacher was talking.

Now he's upset that he won't be able to go to the party that his friends and brother will be going to.

Is this being harsh for 4yr olds? Or reasonable?

I think its a piss pour sustem tbh.

I doubt there will be many children at the party! it also doesnt do any thing for their morale, or incentive to be good.

ds1 school have a rainbow where every day the children start of, nif theve been good, done really good work they move to the sun. if theve been naughty they move to the cloud, but they can move from the cloud to the sun or rainbow again if they turn it around. the next day its all reset again. its on the wall so they can see, I think that is far mar positive.

they also reward good behaviour by cards once you fillba red1 card you get a mention and certificate in asembly and little statornairy peice.. so a pencil. then you move on to red 2... where you may get a ruller.

your sytem doesnt really soound all that positive to me and I can see why they would just give up trying.esp at that age. ynbu.nits to harsh.

also if your on the cloud you mis a few minutes of play.
they would never punish so far in advance unless it was saying no to a trip due to poor behaviour but even then they would allow for behaviourvto redeem themselfs to go.b

That's far far too harsh!!! They won't even remember what they have done by then.

a term is way to long
[bshock]
sorry had to do a man with hat

Are you sure that's how the system works.Are you taking the word of a 4 yr old? For starters, wtf does 'no stage' mean?

Term is too long but week by week seems reasonable.

Do they actually have any children who don't make the sad face for an entire term?

I think you should ask the teacher how the system works. It does seem a bit unbelivable dragonion to make a four year old miss a party for talking on the carpet once.

If this party is a reward then prehaps it is fair for a child who is always badly behaved not to go. However it should not come as shock to the child or parents. There needs to be a chance to improve.

The special school used to work at had a system of rewards and punishments. Children gained points for good behaviour and lost points for poor behaviour. They started off the term with 200 points and needed 250 to take part in rewards day. Many of the children had a mental age of four and the system worked well. The children knew what sort of behaviour gained points (ie. working well in lessons, being kind and helpful) and what lost points (ie. being violent, swearing, walking out of lessons)

However a system where a young child's name is put on the naughty cloud and there is no way of getting points back does not encourage good behaviour. I find it unbelievable that this is really the case. If your son is peristantly distruptive then surely you should have been told.

My dcs school does this for each table so the whole table has to be well behaved for them to attend the end of term party. Ds2 was in tears at the end of last term as some on his table are never well behaved so their table never gets to go. I hate the system and will have it out with the teacher if I'm faced with having to deal with a sobbing child again.

Very very harsh. My main problem with it would be the loss of incentive if you lose your chance so early in the term.

But I think all these systems are twee and ridiculous. I tell children off when they are naughty and praise them when they are good. No frills. Seems to work.

That is utterly ridiculous.

No chance to 'redeem' yourself?

Make one mistake and you may as well do what you like because there's no coming back from it

I think you should go into the school and ask them about this.

My children's primary schools all had systems along these lines - but good behaviour would get you off the sad face list.

So if you did something wrong, you could then, I dunno, help out the teacher and be recognised for it.

I cannot stress how bad a message it is to a child that one naughty act means you're done, and there's no way to earn it back.

I hate the sad face thing, one teacher used it in ds's infant school with the 4 year olds. What's wrong with just telling them off and having a punishment there and then?

It can't be very nice for such little children to be stuck on the sad face board where everyone can see they've misbehaved.

In this case they now have no insentive to try and be good.

That's grim. It is overly punative especially for 4 year old. It is not like Golden Time which, if used properly means everybody starts off with 30 mins on a monday and can lose up to half of it by Friday. At my school we don't even do that for the Year R children, it is too long to wait. They have a time out straight after the incident. Not being invited to an end of term party because, being 4, you talked over the teacher.....absolutely ridiculous and horrible.

I don't agree with the system, a term is far too long for children that young, and there's no incentive for students to behave once they get on the "sad face".

I refuse to do any form of reward/punishment system where students names are on public display. For one thing, the children that have behavioural challenges (some with special needs) are going to end up on the "naughty" list regularly. It can be demoralising for them. It also doesn't allow the teacher any leeway to make judgement calls about behaviour. If Little Johnny talks when the teacher is talking and ends up on the naughty list, then you have to make sure every child does too, and there's no chance to use discretion when it comes to challenging behaviours and special needs students.

I use a system where they can earn stars/crosses in their portfolios. Good behaviour is rewarded with a star, poor behaviour with a cross. This is available only to them and their parents, and allows me some flexibility to make judgement calls about when they are and aren't given, as it's never done publicly. Students are only able to access their own charts (although they do talk to each other of course!!) and it's given out on Friday afternoons to take home. There's no additional rewards for students that are better behaved, they all seem to challenge themselves to get the extra stars. It also gives me flexibility to decide where students may need a little extra encouragement or an extra push to do better.

I doubt it is in practice as the OP says. If it was really over a whole month and one strike and you are out, probably only 1 or 2 children per class would be at the party.

In common with most posters here, I think the system is reasonable but to implement over the course of a whole term is way too harsh for 4 year olds. Over the course of a week would be fine but I am staggered that there is a single child at the end of term party frankly! Can they redeem the sad face by subsequent good face behaviour?

All of these systems are wrong and ineffectual.

It doesn't take into account the reasons why a child may be "misbehaving". It also teaches children how to play the system.

I would talk to your son's teacher and if this system is in place and they won't rethink it - which they really should - then plan a lovely treat for DS and give him the last day of term off.

DS had been given a warning beforehand and carried on talking so yes we have told him it was right for the teacher to put him on the sad face as he wasnt listening to her.

The 'no stage' party was introduced back end of last year and a letter was sent out in November explaining that all children whos name appears on
'Sad Face' once per term will miss out on Golden Time and the end of term 'No Stage Party' (have no idea what no stage means)

At Christmas both DS' went as they had both been good during that term.

There are children who are on it daily but these children are put on it for smacking, kicking, biting, etc etc pupils and staff.

Im going to speak to his teacher today and find out if there is any way he can redeem himself, because on Wednesday he was on Happy Face so had been good and had received 2 hour points for good work. (another system they have brought in recently)

Blimey, I'd understand this system as a weekly one, but my reception dd would have long forgotten about her crime in mid Jan by the time the party in March came around.

Well thats it by the time Feb half term comes and DS2 is been held back from the party hes going to wonder why and get so upset.

How many children manage to get to that party?

Term is way too long.

Good grief, how many systems does this teacher need? Sounds like an ineffective educator if she can't manage bahviour without bribery.

I think that is a rubbish system for four year olds.

Apart from anything else, once you are on the "bad child" list and no party, well, you might as well play up for the rest of term!

DD2's school has a 'lunch with the headteacher' for children who have 100% attendance for the entire year.

I didn't think schools were meant to incentivise absence

I agree with others, it would be a good idea if done on a weekly basis but termly is way too long for any age of child - let alone a 4 year old.

This sounds so harsh! I'd definitely complain if I were you.