Leavers assembly - no school prizes

[mids2019]

My daughter has just left primary school and the head decided to give every child a prize instead of traditional prizes for various assignments given by benefactors.

The head explained that every child was special in a unique way and therefore should be equally awarded. The leavers assembly then continued with the head giving a brief statement on the qualities of each child.

Do you think the original awards should be reinstated. Granted not every child wins a prize but do year 6 children ultimately have to accept that not everyone wins in a competitive environment? Should children applaud those that do win and consider how they would go forward to gain comparable awards in future and additional develop resilience when not winning? Is the 'everyone's a winner atrocities ' ultimately helpful or unhelpful.

acheivments not assignments

and attitude not atrocities

I think what the Head did sounds lovely, giving a brief personal tribute to each child. Time enough for them to worry about competing over prizes and grades when they move on to high school, I see no issue with the primary school making every child feel happy and ending their time there in a positive way.

@mids2019 what award were you expecting your child to get? I thinks these kids have experienced the most unusual time at school in the last few years and will have shown different skills and it’s lovey that the teacher can praise each and every one.

I am all for not sheltering kids from the realities of life, but there's a time and a place, and I think what the headteacher did was absolutely lovely.

I think that’s kind of cute, especially with the head making a point of highlighting particular qualities of each child. There are plenty of other opportunities in life for children to learn that not everyone can win or be the best at specific things. Leavers’ assembly is the last time they’ll be with those teachers and that particular group of friends, let them all end the school year on a high note.

In my experience the prizes are awarded on a pretty arbitrary basis and are a bit pointless. I’d much rather every child was celebrated at the end of their primary school years.

I am split on the issue. I believe the secondary school does award prizes. The thing that struck me was that each child was equally praised independent of achievement and is there any risk of those that achieved a lot academically feeling their efforts weren't necessarily recognised and conversely those that could have done better in some ways feeling improvement isn't necessary as they were given glowing praise at the assembly? I can see it being difficult for the school and I can see why they made the decision but I don't know if it's not without it's own disadvanatges.

The other day there was a thread where a mom was complaining her child didn't get an award and everyone should get something.

The schools can't win.

It's great if you've got an academic or sporty or popular child. It's shit if yours is the child who fades into the background and just gets on with it.

The truth always slips out. 'Everyones a winner atrocities' is about right. Not everyone is a winner.

In my son's school I enjoyed 2 hrs of watching the same core group of kids get special awards in music, sports, kindness, persistence etc etc. It was ridiculous. Maybe they really deserved these multiple prizes and awards over and above all their classmates but it did make me wonder how inclusive and encouraging the teacher are to the less confident kids. Why were the same kids getting noticed and excelling... Happily we are moving on from the school and so it doesn't really matter but it did get me thinking how there must be a better approach.

I think that sounds like the perfect way to end primary tbh.

There is plenty of time for academic recognition. Leaving primary school is a celebration but also a scary time for kids. Recognising them all for something individual to them is a great idea. And makes them feel positive about the possibly daunting prospect of secondary school.

I wasn't really expecting my child to win a prize but there had been a change in tradition to allow this. I guess year 6 children are going but at what point (if any) should school prizes be awarded? Should they be awarded just for sporting endeavour for i instance? Can prizes act as a motivation to improve academic achievement of are.they divisive? I guess the school ethos plays a part.

And my kids school don't do any awards at end of year 6.

That head sounds brilliant. Our Y6 leavers cohort is full of amazing children, many of whom will never win academic prizes but who are kind, thoughtful, helpful, funny and creative and all-around brilliant young people in a hundred different ways. They’ll all be missed. Telling them that life is a competition and some people are losers would be a strange thing to prioritise over teaching them that their strengths, abilities and talents are recognised and valued and that their contribution matters.

We start recognising sporting prowess in terms of winning completions fairly early in life and schools are happy to promote the fact a child or the school has won a prize in football for example. Should this not be done as it will make other children feel inadequate?

I thought the leavers' assembly was quite moving in some ways and it went down .well but I wonder if there was room for prizes for individuals ventricular acheivments. I take the point that it may be same children winning prizes each year but isn't that unfortunately part of life?

Prizes have their place, but I think for a leavers' assembly, what the head did was far better. As a pp said, every child moving on from the school should leave on a high, and should be treated equally.

@NoodleSnow

I agree to a large extent but does someone winning necessarily mean everyone else is a loser? Qualities such as kindness,altruism,empathy etc.are incredibly important qualities but don't go into school league tables? From a school perspective isn't the cold reality that they are judged by academic results?

I think this sounds lovely. I didnt know primary schools anywhere did genuine academic achieveemnt awards until yesterday. And it's so arbitary. I love the idea that everyone gets recognised. Especially at the end of yr 6.everyone has completed primary school!.

We had a nice mix - Head said something nice about every child (2 minute speech) and gave them their leavers’ book, and there were three awards across the whole year (most improved/effort, most contribution to greening the school, most contribution to music in the school). The awards were from bequests of various sorts, from people related to the school.

In my son's school I enjoyed 2 hrs of watching the same core group of kids get special awards in music, sports, kindness, persistence etc etc.

This. It was tiresome when I was at school decades ago, it's tiresome now.

Why is it part of life? Ive had 2 go thru primary in a MAT and yes they know who the naturally bright/sporty kids are - why would they need a prize ? Its not part of my kids life! Even in Rugby they had 2 medals each week - kind of good skills one and showing good values one.

Well the academic results go in the league tables so that’s what the school is measured by, but it’s vital that the kids know that kindness, creativity, resilience, effort etc are just as important and worthy of being celebrated.

I think a more general.point is how to support the self esteem of children with quite a wide range of academic ability. For instance SATs results for individuals are quite rightly not widely discussed (though the year average was praised) and maybe there is a good argument for this.

Do teachers tend to amplify personal qualities of non academic children to positively support them in emotiona!.development?