Class Star of the Week

[ReceptionParent]

Hi

I am wondering if anyone can point me to research on the impact of 'Class Star of the Week'.

My DS aged just 4, has been upset to not receive the star in his first few weeks at school. I understand from his teacher that his behaviour is good and this is not intended to be a negative assessment of him but a public celebration of another child's achievement of something celebration worthy such as 'being especially kind' or 'learning to follow rules'. One child per week.

He has told me that he has not had a star because he is 'not fantastic at school' :( I am aware of other children who have had similar conversations with their parents about this.

I understand that this system is widely used in schools so somewhere surely there must be a paper/study which underpins why this is such a popular system. Has anyone seen anything like this please?

Alternatively, if you know of good examples and are able to point me to the guidelines which are followed by the teachers issuing the stars in those good examples I would also appreciate that.

I am not trying to undermine the school here but I have real concerns about this system. I could write an list but am trying to keep my post concise.

ATM DS loves school and I would like him to continue to enjoy learning and enjoy being part of the school community also, I am worried this will switch him off over time.

Thanks for any help you can give me with this.

I think your OP proves why star of the week Is a good thing for your DS.He is having to learn that he can't have everything now.There are other children too!

You asked my this morning how DS1 has taken not getting star of the week in 4 terms at school. He isn't fussed - well I assume he isn't as he never mentions it. I am. What that says about me I don't know.

I am not mad keen on star of the week but I let DS know if he has had it once he is unlikely to get it again.

I prefer him not to get it early on as it still gives him something to look forward to.

They have other rewards housepoints/ stickers/ certificates for completing homwork .. These all help reinforce DS efforts.

I do also regulary tell DS if something isn't fair who said it was

I hate all this crap in schools. Ultimately, I think it promotes competitiveness and damages self-esteem, and is also counter-productive as the gold star becomes the goal and the behaviour is devalued. I might not be explaining this well. For eg if a child is given a star for, say, helping another child, then the star becomes the motivator, when really we should be teaching children that helping others in itself is desirable, without being rewarded.

An interesting book on the subject:
"Punished by rewards" by Alfie Kohn

Obv this is hard for a 4 yr old to grasp! I just tell mine that everyone gets a turn and it's all a bit random. She got her star last week. She doesn't even know what it was for (she really liked the sticker though - loves a bit of bling).

my 2 grumble about the weekly award too. They are both bright and switched on and notice like other posters children that actually the way to get one seems to be to normally be very naughty but then have a relatively good (but still not great) week and you will get one. Be good, kind, helpful all the time and you will be left until last. we don't mention it at home but they still moan about it when the very naughty children get them only a week after having damaged school property, got the whole class banned from the library for damaging books etc purely because for that week they didn't blow the school up or whatever.

I think a lot of the class incentive schemes work well for SOME children but there will always be some who see through it/feel it is personal/desperately strive to be good but don't get noticed etc and get upset about it.

unfortunately I don't think there is anything that can be done. Schools will always do things like this.

Tbh if your DS had already got star of the week I very much doubt you would be complaining about it. It something most kids find exciting to receive and love when they get. There's always going to be some who take it to heart when they don't get it immediately but then surely it's a good chance to teach them greater resilience and that it can't always be you. When he does get it will he then be upset when he doesn't get it again straight away?

I used star of the week as a yr 1 teacher and I did have a register to make sure everyone had a turn over the year and that it was shared round. It was in addition to other reward systems so all children got chance to be rewarded for trying and working hard.

My DS in Reception is yet to get star of the week - not a surprise as it's only 6 weeks in. He is far more interested in earning the credits that add up to a certificate when he gets 10.

Thanks Bronya and hiccup Appreciate the view from staff members.

addicted glad your DS is not dwelling on it.

moaning there is no malice or negativity from me that people are recognised for good things, DS is a good turn taker and I am not concerned by the element of waiting other than for a 4 year old the concept of time is a vague thing and can be hard to grasp

If we are learning here about turn taking fine lets expressly tell the children they will get their turn

If we are learning about self improvement fine lets call it improver of the week and send a star or certificate home (no need for publicity here is there?)

If we are rewarding desirable examples of behaviour then advise the class of the desired behaviour of the week and monitor and reward with house points and have a team win (much more cohesive for the group)

If we want the children to respect someone else's contribution then let them contribute, maybe to a secret ballot, on who should be applauded

If we want to allow someone to have their photo on the wall then simply have a pupil focus wall which is changed weekly, everyone knows they get a turn and does a picture or puts up some interesting facts about themselves/brings an item for show and tell when it is their turn

In any case the sotw system in whatever form may be more appropriate if differentiated for different age groups. The current situation seems too vague both in the variability of goals and the week long timescale for a 4 year old to be able to grasp that it is fair, if indeed it is.

And if we are going to use a system with the intention of achieving something then please lets monitor it and check it does achieve that and that any unintended negative consequences are catered for somehow.

Tychos The Alfie Kohn reference in an interesting one I have been doing some reading today. If I understood correctly what he says is the reward becomes the goal rather than doing well for your own satisfaction. How I would paraphrase this myself is that people start looking outside themselves for appreciation rather than enjoying an experience for themselves or deciding for themselves the standard they are aiming for thus removing the joy of learning for your own benefit and heading towards sort of learning to fit the test, I guess. I will look for the book you mentioned.

I think I have an example myself of this, I would love to play the piano well but I never really got good at reading the music because when my teacher played me the piece I was learning I found it quicker to memorise how it should sound rather than understanding the subtleties of the way it was written on paper. As a result I passed my piano exams but never excelled or really enjoyed it how I would have like too.

Most schools have loads of rewards though, we have star of the week, writer of the week, spelling awards, class toy, house points team of the week, dinnerlady awards (for being polite at lunchtime), Shining Star Awards (only given at the end of term). Three of these rotate round the class, the others reward specific achievements or behaviour. The bright kids soon work out which are important and which are given out to everyone, but learning why everyone needs recognition is good as well.

Oh lord. Focus on teaching your child resilience and giving him life-enriching opportunities that make this less of a focus for him. And possibly yourself.

I am a reception teacher, I don't use incentive systems such as this but really. This is too much.

Oh dear Lordy. If you want to discuss the concept of rewards then that's one thing. But if this is all about SOTW then oh my goodness you are going to combust before year 2.

In most schools, it is a photocopied certificate, maybe a sticker. They stand up in assembly and everyone says well done. It really isn't something most kids think about all week long. It isn't something they think about in behaviour (most schools have another system for managing behaviour, like a star or a red card system or whatever which has immediate consequences for all who infringe it. Ours are written down and lose Golden Time). It's a chance for everyone to take a turn at being centre of attention and a bit of praise.

As I said, I'm not a particular fan of SOTW, I'm fairly neutral about it. But you have it waaaay out of proportion.

My take on SOTW.

What is the point of it anyway? To motivate the children to behave well / work hard? Really?

Its demoralising and unfair (the children notice this). For young children it's too long to wait and doesn't come round often enough. If everyone knows that 'everyone gets a turn' why bother making the effort?

I'm not losing any sleep over but its not a great tool, its lazy. I doubt its doing serious harm but I think on balance its probably counterproductive.

When dd was in Y1 they did star of the day. Much quicker turnover, immediate reward. I thought it was brilliant for the little ones, all the parents would wait outside to see who was the star of the day and congratulate him/her!

Star of the Day sounds nicer for this age group Pippi with the star being closer to the reason.

At our school we have super 6 in KS1 who are nominated by their classmates. Each child is asked to nominate someone else in their class and give a reason. These are given out during KS1 assembly on a tuesday.

Then there is high flyer, and KS1 and KS2 take it in turns each friday to have a high flyer from each class who have to present the work they've been nominated for to the whole school assembly and their parents are invited in. A high flyer is awarded for a particularly good piece of work, DD2 has had it for an insect sculpture, a scientific study on mini beasts, a story about the minotaur, homework on the great fire of London and also for a story opening scene.
Not every kid gets to be a high flyer but almost every child has been a super 6.

We also have stickers that say ask me what I did today that get given out for good learning.

sally I have a lot of respect for school, the teachers and all they do, I think they are excellent, focussed and showing real benefit for my DS who also loves school and I overall feel very happy and lucky. This is one small part I am well aware of that, I have a sensible perspective on it really but it's hard to enquire about it in a contained way because there are so many aspects I suppose. I am not in the position of making a complaint.
You don't say why you don't you use this type of system for your reception class....

MrsPnut That sounds very inclusive and the stickers idea I really like because it allows the child to delight in telling anyone who notices their sticker about their learning rather than about the actual sticker iyswim.

Are you going to write the teacher a referenced essay?

It's a little bit of paper. Your DS will be picking up on all this angst. Relax.

Conversely there are some children who are truely vile

Truly vile? Really?

OP I recommend reading Punished by Rewards by Alfie Kohn if you want some evidence that systems like Star of the Week are not helpful and can cause more damage than good. It's a great read too.

really???!!!!

I wonder how your dc has managed so far. Surely a 4 yr old can understand a concept of 1 award being given out per week, and that he has to wait for his go?? Has he never not had something he wanted? He just has to learn some patience surely?

I don't have a problem with SOTW personally, having been on both sides of it - dc1 always getting it, dc2 once a year when the teacher must have gone down the register to see who hadn't had it yet! (Both my dc are "good, week behaved pupils" apparently.)

Life is rarely fair and transparent. I doubt he will be emotionally scarred.

Move on…...

Not read the whole thread, but my dc1 never got star of the week. She used to come home upset about it and eventually I bought dd a trophy for being my star.
Fast forward a couple of years later, ds, now in that class, came home with it in the second week. And my heart sank. Because he's such a little monkey that he got rewarded it for, well, behaving himself.... Which made me realise dd had done nothing wrong at all. Her behavior didn't need rewarding because it was always good. Whereas ds's behaviour obviously did need rewarding. Sad eh? Getting star of the week isn't always the compliment you think it is.

DancingDinosaur, what was he given it for though? IMO it shouldn't be given for behaviour, it should be given for something specific that week like 'working really hard at his maths', 'excellent story writing' or 'consistently working well with others'.

DD's school has Star of the Week, but not for reception children. The recipients are announced at assembly, get a little certificate and their achievements listed on the website. DD is reception so I can only go on what the website says but there seems to be a range of ways for children to be SOTW - improving and overcoming difficulties with multiplication, being supportive of the younger KS1 pupils, looking after X when he fell in the playground, because enjoyed his war story, for having a positive attitude when her science experiment looked like it might not work...

I think it's nice, I'm sure they share them out but I think it's great that things other than academic success can be rewarded.

If DD does express disappointment later that she hasn't been Star yet, I hope I have a variety of ways in which I can boost her confidence, and help her understand how these things are lovely but not everything in terms of doing well, being happy at school.

At my DD's Infant school, the system was a bit different.
Every child was "star of the week" once; there was no reward aspect.

I assume that the teacher went round the rest of the classmates to ask them to say something nice about the child because a sheet of the attributed comments neatly written out would appear at the classroom window for a week. As you can imagine with 4-7 year olds, some of the comments used to make us laugh.

BTW if you think"star" is bad, just wait to you are given a soft toy and its diary for the weekend once the children can write!