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.

Apologies as not had enough time to read full thread, but I think I get the jist.....

I posted something fairly similar on MN when my DS started school 3 years ago....and I got slightly flamed .

But in amongst the flaming was an important message that I hadn't appreciated until the good folk of MN pointed it out to me...

All kids love stickers / rewards / trophies. Some need them more than others to help them get through the school day / week. Some kids are better are sitting nicely at carpet time than others. If one child who finds carpet time particularly difficult, manages it for an entire week then that child may well get Star of the week for that specific thing. Whilst it might not be relevant to your child, his turn will likely come round later in the term when he achieves something that he finds difficult (Which might be far removed from what another child finds difficult).

A class is a community, and kids need to learn how to get on with their community - some weeks one or more kids will be celebrated, and other weeks it will be the turn of others.

He was given it for behaving himself, going into school without crying (that puzzled me as he only did it twice on the first week of school) and doing what he was told busker

Honestly you need to let this go. Tell your ds that everyone gets a turn and it's not a big deal. Tell him that there are 30 children, and loads of them will have had a good week but the teacher can choose one and his turn will come.

I actively tell my kids that while these rewards are nice (I include merits etc in this) the only things that matter are how they feel they have done, whether they have tried hard and been kind.

You need to relax about this though else when they vote for house captains or school council members or talent show winners you'll make yourself very stressed.

oh dear our school does this and one year they did it by age and another in alphabetical order, yet some parents still went on facebook with a big picture and boaky comments about pride in their obviously amazing child. It took all my will power not to point out that every child gets it once throughout the year !
In the early years the kids loved it but then they worked it out and it became just another part of the routine of school life.

I don't use them because i feel that it's an added burden on the teacher to think about who they have/ haven't given a sticker to or star of the week. It's hard work to keep it fair. Children can be very motivated by verbal praise or a big round of applause and "treats" like playing a game in class or having a raisin picnic.

If it's a whole school policy then it's hopefully been thought out and decided by the staff and governors.

You sound horribly earnest about it.
Perhaps the reception teachers should just do a spreadsheet with all the awards already decided at the beginning of September. It would save a load of time and the anxious parents would be told when their child's turn would be.

Personally hate star of the week and glad we don't have one. The kids are so little to have 1 turn in a whole year where their achievements are celebrated. I like our school system:

• You get a leaf with your name on if you do something really great. It could be spontaneously helping the new kid, or knowing your 3 times table when you've been struggling for ages, or reading a whole book for the first time etc.

• Then the class have a traffic light system where you start on green and go bronze, silver, gold every time you do something good behave in a great way. This way the kids usually get some kind of recognition at least weekly, which they really need certainly up until about Y3.

The Star of the Week means realistically it's once a year which is really not enough for a 6 year old. Unless they are going to frequently reward a small group of model students who have no SEN, and ignore everyone else.