Blinkin Star of the Week!

[carocaro]

We have a Star of the Week at our school, they all get it eventually. DS1 in year 6 and DS2 in reception.

What I don't get is the logic of how it is given.

There are two boys in the reception class whoose behavior is appalling, one chucks stuff and never sits still and is very disruptive and the other has bitten another child on the face, headbutted another and split his lip and scratched another childs face deeply - yet both have been star of the week!

What does that teach those who are behaving and doing well? That bad behavior is celebrated? I get they are trying to encourage good behavior from the bad, but is this the way? My DS in reception has said that it is not fair because they have been very naughty. They have been told you get star of the week for good behavior and helpoing etc etc.

Am I missing something here? And I am not moaning that my DS has not yet got star of the week as he will eventually, they all do, but there are 23 other kids beside these two that manage to behave.

Hopefully when the teacher gave the reward they emphasized a period of good behaviour to encourage this more. I am all for children getting praise at a young age and they should all get something fairly, most schools have systems in addition to star of the week eg house points etc that are given on merit/behaviour etc so children learn soon enough all things are not equal.

There was a long thread on here about this a while ago.

To me it seems pointless and demotivating. If every child is going to get it at some point, it is entirely random. There is nothing the well behaved children can do to speed up their selection. If the very badly behaved children have got it for a short period of good behaviour, there is now nothing to motivate them to continue to behave well.

I feel that a cummulative reward system would be much more effective.

Try telling OFSTED that...

Are you saying it was OFSTED's brilliant idea, jamdonut?

DS, aged 4 and in Reception
" I won't ever get in the Gold Book, Mummy. You get it for being bad and then doing something good. I won't get in because I'm good all the time."

Too true. His one and only appearance in the Gold Book was a hasty and mis-spelt afterthought on the day I took him out of school in the middle of Year 1 to HE...

It's given as encouragement and if a kid who is usually disruptive shows good behaviour then the teacher pounces on it and they get the Star of the Week award.

My kid was the last one to get it last year. So I can only presume he is angelic or he didn;t behave at all.

When I did it all the names went in a box and on a Friday we picked one at random, like a raffle. Everyone then thought about positive points about that DC and I wrote them down and we put it on the wall next to their photo. Every DC has some positive points.

My DCs school had the Gold Book, they were often in and they were not bad turned good!

Presumably they get it for performing well against their own personal goals. Which is why every kid gets it sooner or later.
Schools use a range of discipline and incentive techniques, some accumulative, some immediate, some absolute, some child-specific.

With kids who are ALWAYS in trouble it sometimes helps to give them a taste of what praise feels like and to remind them that it is within their reach.

My DC (now years 6 and 3) have never complained about Star of the Week. They get their go at some point, come home and tell me what they have done to deserve it and we have a piece of cake to celebrate. If naughtier children get it before them, and I'm sure some must, then they apparently take it entirely in their stride. The rewards of being well behaved go beyond the odd certificate.

I should say that, as with all these things, Gold Books and Star of the Week are not good or bad in or of themselves. it all depends on how they are used. DS's Gold Book comment exactly reflected how it was used in that school (naughtiest boy in class - who was responsible for perpetual bruises all the way down DS's side as he took his feelings out on DS for knowing the answers by pinching him every time he answered, one contributory factor in DS becoming a selective mute - was in it every other week, DS was in it never).

DS's current school has star of the Week in KS1 - 'You get it for doing something well, Mummy. It's fair because we all get it when we do good things, but we have to take it in turns because there's only 1' - is administered and talked about differently, but that is a school ethos thing not a 'it's because it's a star not a gold book' thing IYSWIM.

Year 6 and year 3. Although, as I said, it's not been an issue all their time at school. And I think many children have that level of understanding. Parents though...

I find it hard to believe a teacher never acknowledges good behaviour outside of the star if the week award. From a behaviour management perspective alone it would be bonkers not to.

DS's 'reward' for being good was being required to sit next to the naughty boy who bullied him for every lesson 'because you'll still be good, won't you?'

Behaviour management wasn't really what was happening in that classroom. I've never been in a Year 1/2 classroom where it was physically dangerous to be in the room because of the missiles flying around uncommented on ... nor where a parent helper (me) was left in charge of half the class (including the resident runner-away) while the teacher took the rest to the computer room. Runner, of course, ran away.... I had to escort all the remaining children into another class before being able to report this to someone with any kind of authority!

It wasn't an environment in which 'acknolwedgement of good behaviour' (with anything other than a weak nod of relief) was happening...

I think my children respond differently to these stars of the week and having experienced it in two different schools and with different teachers and also a teacher change mid year they can be confusing.

Child 1 tends to work hard to get it and then once she has got it if she knows the teacher isn't likely to give it again for ages regardless of what she has done she slacks off. For her it would be better they didn't do the blinking things. The worst one is if she gets it on the 1st week of term when she is trying etc hard. Any tips on how to handle (sorry for hijacking thread)?

Child 2 likes to please. First teacher gave him so many blinking stars of the day that it got silly but she was trying to use him as an example. After a few terms he got a new teacher and he never got a star of the day and he didn't understand it (only 4). It was bothering him so much I had to explain to the class teacher that he'd averaged 1 every few weeks and he was feeling quite confused.

I am now sceptical with this current school especially when stars seem to be given out for improving behaviour and effort and they do go to the children that have misbehaved the previous week. I no longer trust that DC1 deserves them (I think the worst) and feel for DC2 because I know he really tries to be good at school and is pretty consistent but doesn't get rewarded as opening. What has worked for me is pointing out how the teacher interacts with them when they are doing as they are told, it's human nature to be a little lighter and friendlier towards someone if you are being kind, nice and showing attentive listening....

I don't see a problem with star of the week. Each week we praise someone for doing someting nice, or kind, or some excellent work. We do keep a list. If I couldn't find something to praise about each child in my class then I would give up teaching straight away. I would hate to leave someone out.

Are there really schools that only ever praise the badly behaved children? Only exceptionally bad ones, surely? We do work with positive reinforcement behavior strategies with some children, the ones that need it most. Perhaps we should just stick them in the corner, or give them the cane, to prevent the 'good' ones feeling penalised.

"Are there really schools that only ever praise the badly behaved children? Only exceptionally bad ones, surely?"

Yes, but yes, to those questions! Perhaps one of the reasons why said school, a thriving village one with 150 kids when DS joined it, has just fallen below 90 and is losing children at the rate of 10 per term....

My dcs school seems to do well at this. My dd1 (yr1,) has always done well with class rewards. She is a very hard working (but sometimes quiet,) child & the kind that thrives on praise & they seem to cottoned on to this. As she often gets rewards at school. Tbh I think its actually down to the fact they have so many different types of award, there's star of the week, head teacher awards & target certificates, as well as stickers & smiley faces. Basically they get different rewards for different things & I think it's important that a school rewards hard work & effort, in all its forms.

If you explain to your child that it's not just about rewarding good work or behaviour but recognising improvement and when someone is trying their best. Just like some people are naturally better at running or maths some find it easier than others to behave well and the teacher is rewarding the children who are trying hard, even if they are not as good at it as they are.