Is anyone else fed up with the way the class trophey/star of the week is worked out?

[lunamoon2]

Hi
Just a small moan in the scheme of things but here goes:

Had parents evening several weeks ago and all was ok. Felt that I had to mention to ds teacher that ds has never won the class trophey (this is given out either for the child who has put in a lot of effort or done well at school that week) and is allegedly supposed to encourage All children and so I would have thought given this that at least once my ds would have won the trophy.
Anyway even my ds has commented on the fact that even though he is regularly the only child in class to be given extra maths sheets and the only one to finish them (he is very bright at maths)he has never got the cup. He also commented on the fact that X got it for taking part in a race, (not winning) when my son is ALWAYS asked to represent the school at every sporting event. Whilst I am under no illusion that he is a perfect angel, why oh why is achievement not recognised why is it only the lower ability children or the ones who can only behave for 5 minutes in the entire week who get the trophy. I even mentioned to the teacher that my ds has started to comment on the fact and therefore there is little incentive for him to try harder. She said that she will note this and make sure he gets the trophey. Anyway, after again representing the school at a team sporting event and being congratulated by the head and other parents on his good sporting nature and fairsportsmanship I thought he might have got the trophey but no it has gone to one of the usual suspects!! By co incidence another parent happened to mention the same thing (her ds is in a different year, and she said that when she raised the subject with another teacher at the school she was told that her ds would not be getting the cup "just because she wanted her ds to get it!!" and her ds has since never got it!

Sorry for long post but I am now feeling that perhaps the teacher was paying lip service to me.
I really don't know what to say to ds when he mentions the subject
btw he is no angel (but not "naughty" either but is doing well in everything.

ps his work is rarely on displace I can guarantee the Girls whose work is on display at EVERY single oparents evening.

Thanks for reading this post.

[izyboy]

I have to say that the class teacher explained at the beginning of the year that the criteria for 'star of the week' was very loose and not to be concerned if your child did not come home with it for a long time/if ever. I fell over in shock when DS did so after Xmas.

[Frow]

In my ds's West Lothian primary school, I feel the award system is even worse. The Class Teacher chooses a "special" person every week who gets to sit on a special chair and do special things in class. They also get to take home the class teddybear for the weekend and write a diary about what the teddy has done. You can imagine the problems that causes with all the children and their parents vying to take ted on the most exciting trips etc.
My biggest problem however, is that this is not done on a fair basis ie every child gets a chance to be the special person but appears to be based purely on the decision of the teacher.
In P1 my child was only made special person once and was devastated when other children got the accolade twice. This only helped to undermine his confidence in his first very important year at primary school .
This year he has already been special person three times which has boosted his confidence no end but my heart goes out to the poor children who might not be made a special person even once because of this. How bad will they feel? No child should be labelled as being special in front their peers when every child is special regardless of behaviour or achievements. I am sure that there are much better ways to motivate young children.

[bigfootbeliever]

At the state middle school I work at, merits and conducts are used to mostly reward children who have managed not to be in trouble for a few days! The children who work well and dont cause trouble are rarely rewarded. Dreadful really.

At my son's old state Primary, the "star of the week" award often went to a girl who used to fiddle with her hairband all the time. She got the award for NOT fiddling with the hairband! I kid you not.

2 years ago we moved him to a local independant school where the main awards (apart from house marks for good work) are at the end of the school year, one award for best exam results, one award for best effort through the year. Simple.

[snorkle]

"one award for best exam results, one award for best effort through the year. Simple. "

It's not as simple or as equitable as it sounds though. 'Best effort' is very subjective and leaves loads of children feeling 'well I've tried hard this year too' and 'best exam results' will in many year groups go to the same child year on year (and to a large degree rewards cleverness which is something you are either born with or not). Cynically, you might call them the 'IQ award' and the 'teacher's pet' award.

We have a similar system and I'm not convinced it motivates many children at all - I loathe prizegiving.