Are academic achievements recognised in school?

[NeonCat]

Our school publicly celebrates the achievements of many students, whether it’s sports, art, acts of kindness, etc. which I think is lovely. I have noticed that academic achievement seems to be missing from this. Do schools celebrate this more internally?

Our school dont. They don't put emphasis on where a child sits academically. If they were to do an academic activity outside of school and did well, it could be mentioned in the newsletter though.

Some schools do formally do this e.g. prize giving (probably more a secondary thing). However academic achievement is noted much more constantly. My children are good at academics, don't particularly shine in sport, music etc. I feel they get plenty of informal recognition e.g. work on the wall, answering questions, books shown to visitors, test scores (not formally shared but the kids notice), parents' evening. I don't particularly feel they need more recognition.

Yes my daughter's primary did.
They would give certificates that said things like "best mathematician" or "best scientist" (as well as the "most kind" type).
Every child got a certificate.

Our primary school did, 1st to 3rd place certificates during the year for spelling bee / creative writing / maths etc, and end of year assembly with academic prizes.

For most primary school kids, having your work on the wall or shown to visitors or to your parents at parent evening doesn’t come close to receiving a gold medal at sports day, in front of the whole school and parents, everybody clapping etc.

Fair enough, our school don't give out gold medals at sports day either - it's much more participation focused and they all get a medal.

I still would have no issue with this though, if it did happen. I'd encourage my kids to cheer on their sporty classmates in their moment of glory, recognising they have lots of little moments throughout the year. But I appreciate the ethos of schools vary, and some focus more heavily on sport.

What I think is tougher is the kids that are great at things that aren't always seen e.g. being a great friend, persevering even when it's tough. Our school rewards these things too, with a certificate in assembly, so they are still getting applauded in front of the school.

Our Junior school had a spelling bee every year and gave out English and Maths prizes. It was invitation only for the parents of winners, so you might not have realised these things happened.

To be fair it’s a bit difficult to decide which wobbly line of the letter a was best, or which finger painting of the number 1 was better, so it’s a silly thing to celebrate in lower primary. It just typecasts children before they’ve really had a chance to actually achieve anything academically. I hate getting DD4’s school reports (non-UK) it’s just silly nonsense at this age that panders to pushy parents and doesn’t reflect her future at all.

Ours get to take the work to the headteacher and they get a headteacher golden sticker. My son has never got one. He has been in the newsletter for his sporting achievements though.

I did wonder if something like this was happening but we aren't aware. Sometimes they are sent to the headteacher for stickers but this seems to be for improvement only. I don't mind that as it can boost them but wish that there was more consistency and children were rewarded for effort across everything.

It's interesting that some schools do this more directly with competitions. Ours does not hold academic competitions, only sports day and sometimes events such as art competitions.

At our school, academic achievement might be recognised by…
Selection for a Maths competition team
Selection for a Debating competition team
Winners from the Borough Essay competition celebrated in Assembly
Selection for Science aptitude day at local Indie
Selection for Classics Club run by local Indie 6th formers
Fortnightly newsletter includes examples of excellent work from each year group
Star of the Week Assembly might celebrate academic work (although equally might be kind or collaborative behaviour)

Most sport is competitive by its very nature, so it makes sense to award prizes. But of course that can make it challenging/demoralising for some pupils.

Academic work isn't intrinsically competitive. For some kids that may be really helpful, whereas others might be motivated by competition/awards/etc. On balance it feels like there is more to lose than to gain by making it competitive. It denies children the space to explore without anxiety.

There is (or should be) plenty of private, one-on-one recognition of academic achievement.

Regarding art, surely things are put on display because that's what you do with art, not to 'award' some children with recognition? It's there to help children join with celebrating and improving their environment. I can't remember any school experience in which there were formal awards for art.

Another thing to bear in mind is that, ultimately, school academic work is very competitive indeed, in that pupils have to pass exams (in which the threshold for success is fixed relative to the performance of the whole cohort). So on a day-to-day basis it might be better to leave competition to one side.

No ours doesn't at all. In fact my dd who is very academic and a bit rubbish at sport and average at art said to me - "I only get certificates for doing Frisbee without hurting myself or for effort in junk modelling; never because I got full marks in a maths challenge or my story made the teacher cry"!

Mine did sports day in teams and all children were assessed a few weeks beforehand so children of similar ability would race against each other, no one child lagging at the back. 8 children in a race, 4 houses, each house has a colour and they all wear their t shirt in that colour. 2 children per race for each house. All very team positive. Mix of track and field events and they did the ones they were best in, so not all races.

They also did lots inside school both academically and recognising other qualities. So mathematician of the week, reader, but also kindness awards, helpful awards and best of all, (according to the children) the golden table in the dining hall for those with good manners. This was all sorts, waiting for your turn, please and thank you, using your cutlery properly, general tone of voice.It was a lucky dip and you got to bring a friend to dine with you. It had a gold table cloth, gold plastic cups for your water, they wore crowns too.

Assembly the children walked around the hall with their books open to show their artwork, all children, so parents are just seeing Jenny every week and how great her work is, you get to see your child's. Some children read their work and again it wasn't always the high ability ones, it was also the low ability children showcasing their work.

I liked the roundedness of it, that lots of things were celebrated and not just academic stuff.