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.

It’s also not good for children to get the idea that the only praiseworthy thing about them is that they reliably get higher marks on tests than their peers. It can lead to fear of taking risks and terrible fear of failure, and a sense that everyone only cares about how clever you are.

So praising each child for several things they are “good at” whether that’s their enthusiasm, mathematical ability, quick right foot, or whatever seems a better plan - especially at primary school level.

Local primary has done this for decades. When the head left who started it, the new one continued.

The inclusive nature of the school is one of the reasons why it’s always over subscribed.

I was so happy when we’d had a long break from the school and the awards weren’t given out for full attendence for example. There was one child who was hardly ever in school, leavers assembly they were once again in hospital. They were faced timed and awarded
something about always cheerful and their school work. That child beamed with delight.

How isn’t that inspiring to other children?

Or the awards to children who couldn’t speak, read or write English when they joined halfway through the school life and now could?

or the shy child who finally managed to have a speaking part during the class assembly?

Its not about winners/losers it’s about recognising a quality within that child.

If they work hard in class for almost all their subjects, hand in their homework consistently and behave well, they get to go on the trip, whether they’re in top set or bottom. If they mess around in a few subjects and cause disruption because they can’t quite be bothered, they don’t get to go. That’s the point of it. It was about a third went on the trip this year, but if more children met the criteria, they’d take them more on the trip - it’s not capped.

@AmeliaEarhart

Is it always the case that by 11 a child will understand the correlation between mathematics ability and quality of career/life. Does someone need to explicitly state this (parent/teacher?) or does the chills pick it up from general cultural environment?

@Sunbird24

I have some sympathy for your situation and the seemingly naturally academic child needs to work hard to gain the results and the reputation. Is there a danger that teachers don't praise academic success for fear of stoking an ego or as has been discussed the understanding that academic ability leads to life awards without further praise?

I don't ordinarily agree with the everyone is a winner, everyone gets a prize thing.. but in this situation it was a leavers assembly not a prize giving assembly and it sounds like a great end to primary - tell them something good about themselves in front of the school and their friends and family, fill them with confidence and send them off to high school. Sounds perfect for the event it was.

You're asking a lot of questions OP - what is it You're thinking/wanting to express?

Our primary did medals each year for completing most weeks homework. If you got a medal each year you then got a cup in year 6..

Motivated my ds .. it was an achievable goal for all.

perhaps not those with illness or special needs unless dispensation was made. Agree better than straight attendance though.

@mids2019 I think the assembly sounds brilliant. I suspect that through the year would also be recognition or academic success, including being “best” at some things as well as “most improved”. Not for a leavers assembly though.)

Op you would get the school award for the most malopropisms.

I'm with the head on this. Leaving school is a good time to pay tribute to them all.

I think that most 11 year olds would make that connection, yes. If not specifically maths, then doing well at school at least. Except of course they were growing up in an environment where academic achievement is not valued at all, but then what cachet would such a prize have anyway?

Thanks for all the.replies.(and apologies for the malapropisms). .Made me think about a.few.things.at.least.

My dd won all those academic prizes but she was born with a great brain. My ds has dyslexia , sweated blood to learn and no prizes. No mention even of the toll it took on him. My dd didn't care about the prizes. My ds would have given anything to win one. I hate the whole thing and think what your Principal did was admirable.

Don't like prize days, and think they are not necessary in primary at all, and wouldn't miss them in senior school either.
If Jonny is good at sport he knows it and wins on the field, if Mary is good at math she gets rewarded with good grades and those math challenges. They don't need another prize for it.

It's a difficult balance to strike. I feel that children should learn that you don't always win in life but as others have said is the leavers assembly really the place to learn that lesson?

I have just been through this - class of 29 children over half the class awarded a trophy in leavers assembly. For specific subjects etc maths, science, etc but then some for kindness, attitude etc
My child didn't win one despite their report describing a "model student, impeccable manners, high achievement"
They were the only child in their friendship group not to after a year of feeling left out.
They were absolutely heartbroken and that will stay with them as their lasting memory of primary school.

I would have preferred a celebration of ALL the classes achievements or even just academic trophies with only 4 or 5 trophies but to exclude a small number of children actually felt cruel.

I'm not convinced by the "everyone wins" because ime it means that realistically even the children realises it's meaningless, certainly by year 6 anyway.

If they can genuinely find something positive to say about each child which means something to each individual, that's great, but I suspect out of the 30 there's a number that feel that what was said about them was said because they had to say something nice rather than heartfelt.

If they say Child A: Did this specific thing which is really kind, and I know they always put 100% into their homework, and they played on this team and that team, and got full marks in the last maths test.
Then they say Child B: They always handed their homework in on time and have a nice smile.
That's actually saying "I can't really be bothered to think of much for Child B".

I do know a child who that happened to, and they were far more deflated by that than seeing others getting prizes. They were also the sort of child who needed encouragement and worked hard in all things but tended to rather fly under the radar.

My primary school prize giving had 7 big prizes, which were:

1. Academic


2. Music


3. Sports


4. Chess competition


5. Citizenship


6. Art


7. Most improved

They made sure no one got 2 awards. Occasionally one award would be shared between two people.
And then they always had lots of certificates, so all year 6 would get 3-4 certificates for various things. One would have been swimming with certificates at various levels, and then other things done over the year.

There were around 60 children so the statements had to be brief. They were a little random with plenty of 'good friend' and 'kind pupil' as well as 'sporty'. One child whose parents had attended Cambridge and was known for having a similar ambition was told if he continued to work as he had done he would definitely make it (no pressure ?). I thought overall it was heartwarming but a little.scattered in the praise.

It isn't "Everyone wins" though is it. It isn't a competition. Primary school isn't a race or a thing to be won. It's recognising the good in each child. If you've taught a child for a year and can't find anything good to say about them then that's really not great teaching is it?

I think the Head has her head screwed on

I don't think primary school needs to be a "competitive environment", personally. Children learn best when they are not stressed or anxious, and they all thrive on praise and encouragement, not just the high-achieving ones.

I would be delighted.

I think the fact that the head praises the individual qualities of each child is fantastic. DD1 is an academic super high flyer (4 A* in her A Levels) and has won prizes galore; DD2 is bright and very hard working but never gets any awards and has lots loads of confidence due to this.

What a bizarre attitude OP. The cynic in me wonders if you feel your dc is absolutely the brightest in the history of the school and deserved a Special Prize, so that they go forth to secondary school and all the teachers marvel at the child who won the Special Prize. Winning a prize at the end of primary will not impact on the set they go into, what maths paper they are entered for, their chances of being Head Boy. How they navigate their teenage years.

Some dc will never, ever get an academic prize. Or be in a sports team. Or have outstanding musical abilities. But they still contribute to a school community.

From the sounds of it, this HT wanted to make sure that each and every departing y6 had a memory of something that was said about them. I think that's really lovely.

Mids I can only assume you’re joking? That nice qualities don’t go into league tables so why give a prize on the basis of them? I’m a bit astounded.

Maybe I’m slightly biased because my DC did both receive subject prizes at the end of year 6.

Neither were good at PE, they tried hard but lacked natural ability but year after year were forced to participate at sports day and other sporting events in front of all of the other children and parents and felt humiliated coming last most of the time - can you imagine a school doing that, for example on a maths quiz?

The year 6 academic prizes were the first time that what they were good at was celebrated publicly, and there were also prizes for progress, for children who had worked hard academically irrespective of ability. For my quiet, shy older child in particular, it felt like the first time that they had been recognised for anything at primary school, and gave them a real boost ahead of secondary.

Although to add, a better alternative would maybe be to celebrate sports achievement less - about half of the year 6 prizes were still sports-based - and I appreciate that not all schools are the same.

I used to find the whole star of the week thing tiresome. Year 1 my daughter asked me if it was on a rota.. Either give meaningful prizes or just give everyone a gift. But prizes for all existing is a waste of time.