Do other schools have systems like this?

[Lollipopday]

At my sons school they have a system to categorise the children’s behaviour. If they are really well behaved they put their name on a big shooting star, if they are just well behaved they can put their name on a big sun, if they mess around a bit they go on the cloud picture, and if they misbehave then they go on a thunder cloud picture. This begins in reception, where my son is. If he is on the thunder cloud he comes out of school feeling sad, and it’s really only for fairly minor things. My other son is in year five, and they often ask each other what they were on at the end of the school day, competing to be the best. They also enjoy telling me who had their names on the thunder cloud, which makes me uncomfortable. Anyway, just wondering if this sort of thing is widely used in other schools as it doesn’t sit well with me. I’m thinking of mentioning it to the school, but maybe I’m being over sensitive. Thanks

@a8mint

I think it's a great idea, if your little precious doesn't like being on the cloud, the solution is i his own hands

Stupid

DD is Year 1 and they have a similar system but with smiley faces - they all start on the middle/straight face and the aim is to move up to the face with starry eyes. If you go to the crying face it's straight to the headteacher. DD does get upset if she has to move her peg down

Its horrible and I hate it.

Child 2 only had to move her peg "down" once - and it destroyed her for the weekend. Public humiliation like that is horrible and for many children it was far more often. Not a great introduction to school and learning about school in my opinion.

At the junior school they get kept in at lunchtime if they haven't done their homework too. Or read enough times a week. There's so many other things about school I like but not these.

Exact same system at DD's school except it's a rainbow rather than a star that starts in reception. Honestly I thought that was bad enough but it only gets worse, I've lost count of the amount of wanky things they do at her school but the main ones now she is in year 2 are:

• Name on board for bad behaviour
• A 'spinner' every day with a prize from the treasure box (usually plastic tat) for the winner - you get your name on the spinner for good behaviour / good work and can get your name on multiple times a day
• class with the highest weekly attendance gets biscuits on a Friday
• attendance awards
• star of the week
• star of the half term
• house points & extra playtime for the house with the most each week
• seat at the head table for best lunch time behaviour
• wow tokens for an 'super' piece of work
• reading chart spaceship that moves towards the moon each time they read a book and a prize from previously mention treasure box when they reach it

Now I have to say I am not in anyway adverse to bribery but it has got to the stage where it feels as if they do nothing without reward. Plus amazes me how they have any time to actually teach them anything when they have all this shite to keep track of.

I am afraid some of these systems sound like the equivalent of the dunce’s cap. How depressing to think that some schools have not progressed much since then. I think this public shaming is building up mental health problems for the future.

Ours have a beanstalk can be moved up or down it once at top get a pick out the prize box.

My Dd was moved onto the sad cloud last week for the first time ever and ita really effected her self esteem to the point she was so anxious she was sick going into school the next day in case she was still on the cloud. She says everyone was talking about her and gossiping. The teacher told her off in front of the class, made her go up to the board and move her name onto the cloud in front of everyone. She was so embarrassed she burst into tears, which made her even more embarrassed. She's only 6 years old.v

Humiliation should not be a form of discipline. Its a power trip from the teacher. And completely disproportionate to the "bad" behaviour displayed by dd, particularly as she's generally a good, hardworking, quiet and conscientious student and no warnings were given. I've already spoken to her teacher whose response was awful, so I'm pursuing it with the head. Dd, who previously loved school, now hates it and dreads going everyday. Thankfully she's only one week left (N.I.) and she'll have a new teacher come September.

Our school had this worked reasonably well. All you had to do to stay off the cloud was basically not thump people. Perhaps if my kids had been hitters I'd be less keen.

But arguably if there are really simple behaviour expectations that all children could understand and follow. Then if a child cannot follow the behaviour expectations its a good trigger for the school, and parents, to investigate why.

We used to have it but got rid of it a few years back now. I'm not a fan.

When children are 5 or 6 it is a big thing to remember all the moments you can talk/not talk/what to do at each stage of the day. We ask a lot of children. Occasionally getting something wrong and dropping onto the cloud isn't a child who "cannot follow behaviour expectations" - mine was like BrandNew's child above.

A child who "cannot follow behaviour expectations" (ie is hitting all the kids/running away/ not following instructions) would indeed need extra help. Putting them on a cloud won't help either...

@Dishwashersaurous

But arguably if there are really simple behaviour expectations that all children could understand and follow. Then if a child cannot follow the behaviour expectations its a good trigger for the school, and parents, to investigate why.

But a child who is constantly poorly behaved would surely trigger investigations, even without a publicly viewed behaviour chart

But part of the point is the peer recognition of what is required of everyone in the class.

and all the children seeing and understanding that there is an immediate consequence of poor choices, and then children learn both what is expected of them and that there will be consequences if they don't do what is expected of them.

They had this when I was in primary in the form of traffic lights. I remember one time, one of the other students had moved my peg onto the red one and I was so upset as I thought the teacher had done it. It was a horrible feeling. I think it’s a bad system

@dishwashersaurous Humiliation and shame are not appropriate consequences for young children.

Our primary has very similar - sun and clouds in reception & then traffic lights for older years. It’s horrible and doesn’t work but I thought it was pretty standard.

I think the issue here is that those with children who are generally well behaved, supported at home etc will not understand how harmful this is. There are children, who for lots of reasons, will struggle and from a very early age believe that they are 'bad'. I personally do not believe any child is bad, although those who have other issues going on outside school or additional needs are often already viewed as trouble makers. It is quite an old school view but I think that self fulfilling prophecy is very real.

Labelling a primary school child, in my opinion, is totally unforgivable. I work with children in a deprived area and this does not seem to be a thing at primary because teachers are attuned to the problems within their cohort and would not single anyone out. However disadvantaged children live in almost every area and it is my experience that those in more affluent areas actually are far less supported because fewer resources or lack of awareness from professionals.

My son (now mid teens) had this sort of a system in yr 1, so probably also in reception and yr 2. In yr 1, when he was 5 (summer birthday), he was apparently always ending up on the cloud. He hadn't a clue why most of the time - we only knew because a friend we sometimes gave a lift home to would delight in telling us all about it ....

Further up the school they had merit certificates (which he got intermittently), and a merit points system that I think they had to claim from their teachers when they got pluses on their work or something - he never really got into that at all, often didn't claim his points and the challenge of seeing them add up to special certificates through the year seemed to pass him by.

He's great nowadays though and doing exceptionally well.

My son (ASD) spent a term in reception at a school with a system like this.

Despite the fact they were the ones pushing for a diagnosis for him he never made a full week without being on the cloud and therefore never got the longed for certificate on the Friday. If he got on the cloud on a Monday then he simply didn’t even try for the rest of the week.
(Reasons for being on the cloud included not being able to line up correctly and hiding when he was overwhelmed)

It wasn’t until he started a new school in the January that I realised how damaging it had been for him.
He went from a withdrawn boy who would never tell me about his day to a chatty enthusiastic kid within a week.

I will NEVER support a system like this and when we moved back to the area a few years later I sent him to a different school.

@GiantToadstool

When children are 5 or 6 it is a big thing to remember all the moments you can talk/not talk/what to do at each stage of the day. We ask a lot of children. Occasionally getting something wrong and dropping onto the cloud isn't a child who "cannot follow behaviour expectations" - mine was like BrandNew's child above.

A child who "cannot follow behaviour expectations" (ie is hitting all the kids/running away/ not following instructions) would indeed need extra help. Putting them on a cloud won't help either...

100% agree!

Blame shame pain. Awful system

We had traffic light system Velcro card beside name for all to see esp next morning those parents walking kids in classroom.

First thing mine did when picked up was give me daily digest of who on red and yellow including self, it had same effect as had teacher made them stand in corner.

This teacher was ott with the attitude children should be seen not heard

DDs school do but they make a point of not punishing for things related to a child’s SN or medical issues.

So DD doesn’t get punished for not picking up things off the floor during forest school (like leaves) because she has a problem that makes bending difficult.

Being on the thunderbolt is essentially akin to the dunce cap. Awful Dickensian method of shame.