Schools without rewards

[Playlovelive]

I'm wondering if anyone can help! I'm looking for schools that help kids develop their own motivations, rather than relying on rewards. It seems very rare to find a school that doesn't have an inbuilt rewards (and punishments!) system in their behaviour management. I'm looking for a school that instead builds relationships with children and gets to the route of behavioural issues.

Does anyone know of any schools that don't use a rewards system? State or private - ideally in the South East but willing to look further afield to find this kind of modern school!

Thank you so much!

Teachers aren't usually trained psychologists who can 'get to the route of behavioural problems'
Any half decent teacher builds relationships with the kids they teach. But
our entire lives are based on rewards in school and beyond.

I've been teaching for 11 years and I have never worked in a school that doesn't work at building relationships with students and getting to the root of the problem. That's just basic pastoral care. So on that front, you won't have any problems.

No reward systems - well, they tend to be systems that are backed up with research to be very effective at building school community. So you might find that a bit trickier. You could request your child isn't given any rewards, doesn't take part in reward events etc but that might make them feel a bit left out.

Someone may come along with a suggestion of the sort of thing you are looking for. If not, I would just say that how you parent will have the biggest impact on your child, bigger than the style their school adopts. So if you want to bring them up with no rewards or sanctions you can do that in your family and achieve the desired effect whether their school does or not.

This is a very interesting question as I have a child with a type of ASD that reward and sanction systems arent very effective for.
A lot of sanctions dont act as a deterrent for him as they are things like go somewhere quieter (basically a reward) go home (fantastic) and some sanctions make no sense so they dont alter his behaviour.

With rewards they raise his anxiety through the roof to the point he sabotages things to regain control and pretty much cant function as soon as points, stickers, even praise etc are put in place. Its one of the main reasons he cant access a mainstream school.

It makes him very challenging. He goes to a special school with one to one support and it requires a lot of skill to get him through the day. I manage to get him to be well behaved too but its such a different mindset than carrot and stick. Its very intensive . But these are all based on autism techniques like social stories, lots of visuals, now and next language, giving him two choices over work. Things that are hard with a class of 30. So I cant think there will be many schools that dont operate any rewards or sanctions.

Thank you all so much for your comments, advice and for sharing your experiences. @MildredPuppy that sounds like a real journey you have been on with your son and it's amazing you have found a school that works for him and how you have developed an approach too. Using autism techniques is a such a good pointer - I will definitely do some more research!

After a bit more Googling today I did come across a school that has adopted this approach - it's in Lancashire which is unfortunately a bit too far for us to consider a move to unfortunately but I can recommend this post written by their head teacher on why they chose not to do rewards and sanctions if you're interested: theteacherist.com/2020/05/30/imagine-a-school-without-sanctions-or-rewards/ - it made me shed more than a few tears!

Thanks again!

I've never heard of one.
I'm not a believer in punishment or rules for rules sake, and I'm forever finding the schools stand and my parenting are at odds.

A school I know has adopted a system called restorative justice. I wouldn't say it is entirely punishment free/ reward free but it is about discussing an appropriate fix-it for the issue. E.g. graffiti on a wall = clean the wall. Don't know whether that is new age enough. West Midlands.

The blog you've shared isn't about not rewarding though, its just not regular, public rewards like star of the week?

I doubt there is such a thing.

Loads of schools do restorative justice.
Basically means kid tells you to fuck off for asking them to open their book, they get taken for a hot chocolate with a member of slt, then you have to give up your free ( child gets to skip a lesson ) to have a discussion with them where they say how unreasonable you were for asking them to open their book. Changes no behaviour ever ime.

DD is at a school (grammar South East) that works on trust, encouragement and being the best of who you can be. A reward of being a caring, considerate, involved and invested person sounds good to me. No sweets, tickets to theme parks like when I was at a comprehensive way back when.

Hi! I have been looking for the same thing @Playlovelive. The King Alfred School in Golders Green (independent) is one. Also The New School in Croydon, I think.
@PettsWoodParadise Which school is your DD at? Sounds good :)

She is at Newstead Wood School. The recent Ofsted report (came out about a week ago!) reiterated what I just said on this thread last year.

Oh! That's the school I went to. Though I think it was quite different 15-20 years ago. It was very high pressure, and definitely had rewards. Now I'm intrigued! Thanks

I don’t see how this would work - there may be children who would respond positively to this kind of approach, but a school can’t pick and choose them, even a private one. Many children need clear rewards and consequences for various reasons.

Newstead is however a super selective grammar school. Most girls are very bright and have families that can invest in tutoring. Therefore this sort of encouragement works well as the girls and their families are motivated to succeed. I'm not so sure it would work at the lower Ofsted performing comprehensive.