School Prizegiving

[Bathsheba]

Been on the verge of tears most of the day...

School prizegiving day today...prizes going to disruptive, badly behaved children (no SN - small year group, know the parents socially etc) who have "turned it around" (my DD has been petrified in that class for the last 2 years because of their violent outbursts) rather than any acknowledgement made of the children who haven't HAD to turn anything around as they have always sat and pleasantly got on with their work.

Academic prizes give to those who "try" rather than those who excel.

Sport prizes being most important.

Absolutely gutted for my well behaved, hard working, focused children.

I used to feel the same way when dd first started school, they have this daft housepoint thing and at the end of the school year they are given a prize based on how many they have got. Dd is in y6 has never gotten higher than bronze whereas a child who has been excluded gets platinum.

I used to think it was unfair but others are right, dd works hard and likes recognition, but she finds some things easier than others, and she knows that other dc sometimes need motivation to do x, y or z. What we do is make a bit of a fuss of her and treat her to something small at home and buy a bigger treat at the end of the school year if she's done well.

Completely agree. My DS has consistently been one of the top, if not the top performing child at maths since KS1, with countless comments on his enthusiasm since reception for the subject. He's well behaved, homework in on time etc, am told he often helps others struggling. I can guarantee now he will not win the maths prize at the year 6 leavers assembly next month.

Is it really so hard to have prizes for both? A prize for each subject /overall academic performance (but each child can only get one) and others for behaviour and improvement etc. That worked in DDs' school. I do think it's unfair to reward just the less well behaved children and not yours. That's simply not right.

But hopefully things will change st secondary school.

I'd forgotten this but my primary school had two prizes for each subject. One for highest achievement and the other for the best progress. Perfectly do - able.

As OP said, sporting ability is natural and recognised so why not recognise a natural ability in writing or maths?

This with bells on. It doesn't mean that those who have tried their best shouldn't get recognised since, as another poster points out, having an award for "best" and "most improved" really isn't hard.

I am quite rigid about how I award prizes - strictly based on data, so if any parents complain I can explain how my system works. It shuts them up.

Exam results, effort grades, class rank from one year to the next. It's pretty easy to do and eliminates teachers' pets and soft spots.

If there's a type of student that never qualifies for any prize, there's nothing stopping a parent donating a trophy that can be won by this type of student, eg a class spirit, overcoming adversity, cheerfulness trophy.

YANBU - commented on something similar on another thread. My DS 6 has already sussed you need 'to be bad first to get recognised' he used to be upset his hard work and good behaviour didnt get rewarded (because it is still hard work just because you do it regularly or are good at it) but now he shrugs it off as he doesn't see the awards as anything to aim for Although his comment that 'X got a certificate today cos he didn't punch anyone' whilst seeming genuinely pleased for X summed it up.
It is a shame that in their rush to encourage and use carrot rather than stick the ones playing by the rules get ignored - at the young end of the scale they dont always understand so it almost becomes demotivating for them.
I tell him its reward enough that he hasnt had any warnings and that he enjoys school and to imagine what it would be like not to feel like that everyday. We reward at home with magazines etc

At ds's school all the children get awards, each award means something to that child.

Does her teacher know that she is actually scared of them? That's a bigger issue than whether or not someone deserves a prize.

At secondary mu dd won a prize for the person who best represented the school on all occasions. Proud mum here but at least it wasn't academic or sporting. Someone else got a. prize for contributing most to the year group. Lots of academic prizes and sport ones too.

YANBU.
Our primary school definitely awarded based on favouritism. At awards evening we had a sweepstake on who would get each award - out of 22 awards we were only wrong twice! Dd shrugged and laughed it off as she knew exactly what to expect.
Secondary school is a completely different matter! Hard work is rewarded as is aptitude. Dd is growing so much in confidence as her effort is recognised. She is a quiet child who doesn't demand attention, but she is enjoying being recognised for just getting on with things

The problem with that Gin is that it's essentially the system my school used to run. With the exception of there being a prize for pupils who qualified for more than 5 subjects prizes so that they could be spread round a bit more. Not that that really spread them round much more. Every teacher, pupil and parent knew who was going to get the prizes years in advance. Usually the same pupils who got it the previous year.

There should definitely be prize for having to sit through speech day every year from year 3 to year 13 without ever having won a prize. That takes commitment.

I have been to many prize days, the best ones give prizes for ability, effort and improvement in some form or another. They also only give a few prizes for each class so maybe 7 or 8 kids in a class of 30 get a prize, no doubling up.

If you really want to give every child a prize then make it properly personal, otherwise it is utterly meaningless. So Johnny gets Most improved footballer and Amanda gets Footballer of the year, Annie gets best effort in Maths and Mohammed gets most improved in Maths. Etc...

Our school used to give a prize for "Best Friend" or something like that, the first year it was given to the class bully! Everyone was , since then it has been given to the lovely child who everyone likes .

This is a key reason why I have left teaching. It's all about managing the poorly behaved students. The very academic ones will shine in their elite top sets. The hardworking middle ability kids don't get a look in. It's all about fighting behavioural fires and exam drilling at secondary school.

YABU of course the children who try hardest should be rewarded. You could be top of the class because you are naturally bright while making no effort at all and achieving below what you are capable of. What would be the sense in rewarding that? It would be unfair to the children who had tried harder but achieved less and also unfair to the kids who achieve without effort as it doesn't encourage them to do their best.
Other children obviously worked harder than yours this year. Maybe they will be motivated to get awards next year unless you go on about how unfair it is and how they should have got them this time

Surely it is more beneficial to your dd that the behaviour of her peers has improved than she gets a one-off book token or the like prize particularly if the behaviour has been so bad that it has scared her or disrupted lessons. If a bit of bribery is what has achieved it then it is a small compromise to make.

I think schools need to have clear, unambiguous guidelines about what achievement will be rewarded. I remember feeling shitty at school about a reading prize being given to a kids who read a load of disney comics or similar things which were very childish, and not those who read much fewer, but serious books.

So YANBU op. Giving a prize to motivate a certain kid to behave, will seriously demotivate others.

Surely there are incentives and schemes throughput the year to encourage good behaviour etc...

At the one off annual prizegiving, is that really the place to give prizes to motivate children to behave rather than taking the opportunity to reard those who have been the best.

Without sounding like a very very old person, not being sent to the head teacher, missing every break and lunchtime, and having your parents in weekly can surely be argued as motivation to behave......just as much as the quieter, academic children are supposed to find their own motivation from "finding everything easy"...

(Oh, and the idea that children without behavioural issues all find learning easy and are sailing through is beginning to rankle with me - they work hard too...!!)

I it's better that the teaching staff decide who has worked the hardest in school rather than parents. There are likely a lot of others who think their children should have got the awards.

YANBU OP. I think often teachers don't actually think about the affects of rewarding naughty children on the the rest of the 'always' good children. It is often not actually that calculated, but just well-meaning staff trying to encourage a struggling child. However, that doesn't make it right and in the school I currently work in I think there is some effort to reward children who are always well behaved and try their best. I have to disagree with posters who say that children shouldn't be rewarded for finding things easy. There are lots of children that try their best every day, behave well but rarely achieve great things. This doesn't mean this comes easy though, it's an achievement and shows self discipline, conscientiousness, and consistency which might not appear as a struggle but it's a great achievement to be like this and will likely lead much more successful lives and they should be rewarded as an example to others, showing them up as good role models.

In my dc's school there are awards for each subject - one for achievement and one for improvement which seems fair.
Also have prizes for sport, art, music and drama and it's not the same children who win every year.
It's tricky for me at home as ds is very bright and good at sport and has had, at some point, every bloody prize going. Dd not as bright, but above average and yet to win anything and she does get a bit upset about this. Last year one of her friends won 3 prizes and gave one to dd which was a lovely gesture.