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Primary education

Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

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Original poster

Class awards (I know, I know!)

63 replies

sparepantsandtoothbrush · 16/06/2017 13:43

DD is y5, among the top achievers in the class, always well behaved etc. Her teacher gives out, at least, 4 awards a week. Homework hero, maths magician, spelling superstar and the general star of the week. DD hasn't had a single award all year! It's easy at the start of the year to dismiss it with comments about children needing a confidence boost or children who struggle at things making a huge effort to improve. However, with 5 weeks of term left (which means over 120 class awards have been given out between 28 children) DD is feeling massively deflated and frustrated.

DD has even mentioned it to the teacher herself and asked her what she can do to improve and the teacher laughed and said DD was already doing amazingly and to just keep up the good work.

Is it just a case of DD sucking it up (which she has done with good grace until last week!) or would it be worth mentioning it to the teacher?

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CreekyOldKnee · 17/06/2017 11:46

roaming

I don't think it's discriminatory at all. These are the children who have been left out of all the other awards that are given. They are kids that, despite being well behaved, getting on with their work, being kind and polite, didn't get any awards because they are not "improving". They were already giving it their all but that didn't matter.

Why is it that it's discrimination to recognise kids who are well behaved all of the time. I'm not saying this is done in isolation. Awards for improvement etc are still given.

Seriously, this kind of attitude is why parents of kids who get passed over in these circumstances get so frustrated!

roamingespadrille · 17/06/2017 12:30

'Seriously, this kind of attitude is why parents of kids who get passed over in these circumstances get so frustrated!'

I am a parent of these kids and don't believe that the awards make any positive difference to behaviour, attitude or learning, so I don't encourage my children to worry about them.

I am much more concerned with the children who are continually failed by a system that does not help them to improve their behaviour and yet causes such angst amongst the parents for whose children it isn't aimed at.

CreekyOldKnee · 17/06/2017 16:49

I agree that we should not encourage our kids to worry about these types of awards. In a perfect world, these awards wouldn't exist at all. I actively discourage DD from worrying about whether she gets awards or not. However, she has eyes and is perfectly aware that awards are being given for behaviour she tries hard to keep up all the time.

To, in essence, say that there are bigger things to worry about is a waste of time. Of course there are, but then that could be an answer to 99.9% of threads on MN!

Longdistance · 17/06/2017 16:59

Dd1 is a high achiever, she's just so bloody clever and picks things up quickly, and also has a thirst for knowledge (her teachers comment) which is true. She comes home with loads of certificates/awards/prizes. She's also on the anti bullying committee.

Dd2 however, she's the year below, one of the youngest, and rarely gets anything. I'd say she's come home with 2 certificates in total, and what made me really cross was her teacher who was off sick, dd ended up behind with her reading, we worked really hard to catch up, and had done so. She didn't even get any recognition for it. I'm hoping he's not her teacher next year.

Acopyofacopy · 17/06/2017 17:15

By the end of year 2 my dcs and most others had cottoned on to the pointlessness of rewards and the fact that they are for the naughty kids. Ds is still in primary, a good student and not interested in rewards at all.

Dd is in secondary and says that the rewards there are "real". There definitely aren't as many, and if you do get one you know that you have achieved something worthwhile.

Don't even get me started on attendance awards Congratulations on your good immune system!

Slightlyperturbedowlagain · 17/06/2017 17:21

I really hate the whole "due" expectation. Children aren't stupid they know when they've been given a certificate simply because they're due one rather than deserve one.

^This. I found a 'star of the week' certificate in Ds's bag the other week and asked what it was for. He shrugged and said 'it was just my turn' so cynical... but so true judging by the last few years experiences. He is in year 6.

HumphreyCobblers · 17/06/2017 17:24

Whatever your thoughts on scheduled awards, if they are a thing in your child's class you would expect your child to be part of the system.

I would mention it to the teacher without your dd's knowledge.

Gazelda · 17/06/2017 18:03

Same here. DD (Y4) is one of the well behaved, quite clever kids that flies under the radar. Neither exceptional nor needing incentives to improve.
There is a particular reward that each child gets a turn at (not that they know that) but DD always gets it towards the end of the summer term because everyone else has 'earned it' and it's obvious that she's next on the list.
It used to rile me, but I now try to take the attitude that at least everyone gets a go, and I'm fortunate that DD doesn't need a carrot to help keep focussed on her behaviour or effort.
What does piss me off is the way play parts are allocated, and the way school councillors are elected. If you don't stand out, you don't have a chance. Teachers always say that every child gets another chance next year, but it's always the same popular children who are chosen. Even the children notice and it is demoralising to the point that DD doesn't even bother putting her hand up to say she's interested now and she knows she won't get picked. She'd rather not be in the running than be disappointed again.
Oh well, a life lesson I guess.

user1491810905 · 17/06/2017 18:26

Well when I say "due" mrz I have a look at my spreadsheet and look at who hasn't had anything for the past few weeks. Usually about half the class to choose from, so actually I resent the suggestion they have just been given something for the sake of it.

If 'Tom' hasn't had one for a while I will have a quick think and usually something comes to mind "oh he did do a fantastic piece of writing the other day". If I can't think of anything worthy then I'll move onto another child who is 'due' something.

It's really not that hard and my children (who are still young at 6/7 all really beam when they get one so I know they feel rewarded, and it's always deserved.

mrz · 17/06/2017 19:04

"Well when I say "due" mrz I have a look at my spreadsheet and look at who hasn't had anything for the past few weeks" I'm afraid that is exactly what I thought you meant by due

user1491810905 · 18/06/2017 14:02

Well I stick by the fact that I think it's fairer than constantly choosing the bright children or the naughty ones.

mrz · 18/06/2017 14:09

It's fairer to give praise to the children who earn them

Tomorrowillbeachicken · 18/06/2017 18:05

I have to say that I found the example of the parent moaning that a child got one for a forward roll quite annoying.
Ds has had two certificates this year from his HT other than 'star of the week' and the one that I am most proud of is the one for something that parents think is something every five year old can do, probably that every two year old can do, but to my sensory five year old is a huge achievement.
As for the forward roll at almost six we are nowhere near.
For most parents his other HT certificate would be the huge achievement but tbh he has never struggled in the subject it is in and is less celebrated.

user789653241 · 18/06/2017 19:32

Quite surprised to know some school still do star of the week kind of class awards in ks2. My ds's school only do it in ks1.
Do children actually want them?
Having 4 class awards a week seems to me the awards are kind of meaningless.
My ds was the one who gets forgotten to be chosen for star of the week in KS1, but he didn't seemed to care.

Strawberrybubblebath · 21/06/2017 00:06

Just being clever/top of the class shouldn't qualify you for an award. That's like rewarding a child for being tall. Awards should be for the amount of effort a child has made at a task.

GreenTulips · 21/06/2017 00:18

Just being clever/top of the class shouldn't qualify you for an award

Got to be fairer than 'Well done jale for not hitting anyone this week'

Arkadia · 21/06/2017 07:54

Just come across this thread and now I want to VOMIT. Aaaarrrggghhh, how much I HATE all this meaningless award thing.
This year hasn't been so bad at my school (last year it was obvious that the awards were given out according to a rota), but everytime one of my kids get home with a sticker or whatever I ask them what they have done to deserve it and NOT ONCE have they been able to identify the reason. I mean, NOT ONCE!

mogmum · 27/06/2017 14:38

What is mufti?

sirfredfredgeorge · 27/06/2017 14:51

Got to be fairer than 'Well done jale for not hitting anyone this week'

Quite the opposite, not hitting someone is an innate thing that is worthy of an award, being top of a randomly selected 30 individuals is not, since it says nothing of your innate effort or ability.

Mufti is normal clothes for people who normally dress in a uniform.

Arkadia · 27/06/2017 15:14

sir , in what world "NOT hitting someone" is award worthy? Are you saying that "hitting" is the norm, so "not hitting" needs a praise?
Perhaps you were trying to be sarcastic, were you?

sirfredfredgeorge · 27/06/2017 15:33

Arkadia I'm saying praising someone for something they have achieved - overcoming their problems - is more inherently worthy than praising someone for an act of randomness.

sirfredfredgeorge · 27/06/2017 15:42

I don't think it's good to give an award for not hitting someone particularly, but I do think that's better than simply giving an award for being top of the class. Awards need to be either related to personal targets, or absolute targets and awards that can therefore be shared, so you are not at the whim of randomness of who else you are up against.

chickensandbees · 27/06/2017 15:42

In DD2s class one child got star of the week for not hitting anyone that week! I do get that it is to reward a change in behaviour but I'm not sure small children understand when they are consistently well-behaved and never get anything.

DD1 has received more awards than DD2 who hasn't received any in her current school. I think it is because DD2 is academically quite good and well-behaved she does under the radar, I've tried to explain this to her. DD1 is well-behaved but really struggles with confidence and so I think she gets awards from her teacher to boost her confidence, but I can't tell her this as it undermines the award.

user789653241 · 27/06/2017 16:09

sir, what's wrong with giving an award for being a top of the class?
Isn't that same as giving an award for healthy child, sporty child, arty child or musically gifted child etc? Born with some talent doesn't mean they don't put any effort in it.

sirfredfredgeorge · 27/06/2017 16:18

None of those things are good idea either irvineoneohone - but it's not the people who get the award who miss out most, it's the person who's second, who maybe in another random grouping would be top. The award is at the whim of who else is there - which is fine in the olympics as anyone can be there, the grouping isn't random.

Awards for 100% in a test, or great (for the individual) work - both great.
Award for simply being better than everyone else, not so much, since the pool is random.

Similarly in athletic pursuits, time based targets such age grading in junior parkrun, or achievement in skipping or similar would be worthy of an award - coming first, not so much, it still rewards the sporty child, but it doesn't penalise the person with a massive outlier in first place. Obviously there is a winner in sport - but they've already gained that by the actual act of winning, they don't need even more.

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