Can you spare some time to BRIEFLY explain your school's reward and sanction systems/policies?

[roisin]

I am very interested to hear how your school uses rewards and sanctions. And whether or not you think it is a good system.

I'm happy to hear from teachers, parents or pupils.

Our school has:
Sanctions

• two formal warnings for infringements in class. If student does not improve at that point they have to stay behind at the end of the lesson for a chat, and get a demerit. (If causing a major disruption can be sent out, = double demerit.)
• two demerits = 30 min after school detention
• multiple demerits/detentions and/or more serious misdemeanors = put on report, or day or half day in isolation, or temporary exclusion.

Rewards

• system unspecified - whenever they want teachers can give out merit points. These are stickers that go in their planner.
• When they build up sufficient points they go to Head of House to get a certificate, and at certain stages small prizes (pen, keyring, etc.)
• Teachers also send praise postcards home occasionally.

Are you happy to hear from TAs too
Rewards : house points signed for by teachers in pupil planners, collect towards certificates presented in assembly
End of school year, the house with the most points gets to go on a trip
Praise postcards also done - batches sent out usually once a term.

Sanctions:
Subject report (card with targets on signed by subject teacher + comments - taken to head of subject to decide whether pupil stays on report or not) - usually given after warnings to pupil.
Also have similar but general report card for behaviour/discipline in all lessons & also one for uniform.

• we have an Isolation room / exclusions etc Pupils can be given after school detentions but teacher has to give at least 24 hours notice to pupil/parents. Break time & lunch time detentions can also be given

also to add - comments (good & bad) can be written in pupils planners by staff

Roisin - is yours a primary or secondary?

At my primary school, the following happens:

Rewards:

Each class has a variation on the following:

Individuals earn pinecones which they hang on a "tree" in the classroom. When we get to 20 cones, the whole class gets a reward such as an extra playtime, watching an episode of Charlie & Lola, a drink of milkshake, some popcorn etc. We do this about once a week.

In addition, children can get a "catch me" fish if they are caught by anyone in the school doing something helpful or responsible. These are hung in a net in the library at the centre of the school for everyone to see.

Also, weekly work awards and class star awards. Work awards are for classwork (obviously!), star awards are for doing something to help the whole class run more smoothly (ie. behaviour, effort etc.)

We try to give positive feedback to parents at the end of the day as often as possible to help us build and maintain relationships with them.

Sanctions: This is tricky because ours is a school with some children with fairly extreme behaviour. Many of them have individual behaviour plans, with pre-agreed sanctions (including parents being phoned to come into school, or children going home). For those who don't have behaviour plans, minor misdemeanours are ignored as often as possible. These minor misdemeanours would probably warrant action in other schools, but not ours. If children refuse to take part in either whole class time, or group time, they are given the choice again of joining in then, or completing it in their own time later - ie. during play or lunchtime with the teacher.

We also work extremely hard to ensure that no-one raises their voice to any child. As as staff we try to ensure that we don't escalate a situation, and will do our best to diffuse it through calm and warm discussion and behaviour.

If a child is being disruptive, they may be removed from the classroom by the teaching assistant and given the chance to talk about what is upsetting them in a quiet and calm environment.

We have a school policy of trying very hard not to speak to parents straight from the playground if we can possibly help it. If a child's behaviour has been inappropriate, we phone the parents at home, or write to them and ask them to come and discuss it with them. At all costs, we seek to build and maintain relationships with parents and we know from experience and conversation with parents that they feel embarrassed and worried if we ask to speak to them at the end of the day.

That sounds quite woolly when written down, but it's a really well thought out set of strategies.

Sanctions:
We do 2 formal verbal warnings, then if no improvement they are 'parked' This means putting them in the classroom of whoever is on Parking duty that day! Confusing, but it works!

Teacher issuing sanction, puts a note in planner and on computer system, which parents can access. Then we need to inform HOF or HOY, whichever we feel is more appropriate. It is also noted on the system that parents see, what course of action was taken.

Rewards.
Notes in planners and on comupter. Every 10 rewards obtained is automatically flagged up and HOY sends a letter home. Every 20 gets a letter from the Head I think.

We also do postcards and letters home.

Thanks all. Yes, I'm at a secondary, and am most interested to hear from people about secondary schools!

Yes, Whizz - TAs and other staff very welcome

So do you have a 'park site' for every lesson of every day MaureenMLove? Is this done on a school-wide basis, or in a departmental basis? How do students get to the classroom of the teacher on parking duty?

I'm impressed by other schools' use of planners. We don't really use ours very effectively at all, and teachers don't write in planners (except to write in homework for those students who can't write.)

At ds1's school merits are sorted by dept. So in their exercise book they have a chart where they rack up merits. When they have 10 in a subject they get a certificate.

When they get 10 certificates in 10 different subjects they get a Head Teacher's award (certificate presented in assembly and a badge to wear on their uniform).

At our school it feels like merits are 'rationed', whereas at ds1's school they can hand them out far more freely. (Since September ds1 must have had in the region of 150 merits, maybe more. But he still values them as recognition by the teacher of the effort he's putting in.)

Thus far I have no specific knowledge of their sanctions policies

Ues, each department has a parking rota. It works better in some than in others, but generally, its the HOF who is on duty, unless they have a particularly bad class. Some teachers are happy to take them, when they are no non-contact too.

We trust them to make their way to the other class on their own! Students don't get far though, if they do go AWOL, as we have patrol, who will soon pick them up and return them to whence they came! Most of them know its fruitless to run off, so it's fine.

Oh, OK, yes we have that. We have a buddy sytem, which is the same thing.

Ooh, what is patrol? I think we need that.

Our Care & Guidance/Patorial team, have two way radios, along with senior staff members (and me!) They patrol the corridors from time to time and direct students back to their classrooms, as necessary. Any teacher can ring reception from their classrooms and ask them to radio C&G for support.

At the comp I at which I taught we had the assertive discipline system, consisting of 5 levels.

Level 1 and 2 were initial warnings (ie you're beginning to irritate me)

Level 3 was a breaktime detention and a note in the planner (i.e. I've got one nerve left, and you're getting on it). It also involved a sheet going to the HoY and tutor.

Level 4 - same procedure but lunchtime detention and being sent out of lesson.

Level 5 - removed from lesson and hopefully sent to the evil child's room (sorry, extra cover room), where they would stay for the rest of the lesson. Depending which SMT member was on call, the level 5 offender might be sent back to the lesson, but they only had to breathe the wrong way and I had them out again.

Racking up level 3s, 4s and 5s meant that that you would get an after school detention as well, run by SMT.

It's a good system, especially when I would have some kids on a permanent level 2, so they knew if they misbehaved or didn't work, they'd lose break or lunch, depending how far up the levels they went.

DS in year 8 gets achievment rewards marked in his planner. 10pts = £1.00. So far this year he has 'spent' 30 pts on chocolate bars and came home with a GAME card with £5.00 on.

DD in year 11 has had 3 postcards sent home from subject teachers with 10pts each on. DD didn't know much about it and had to ask ds where you can 'spend' them.

Don't know about sanctions........yet

Why does that Parking Room remind me of the Cooler from Waterloo Road????

Sorry, person-who-might-like-to-teach one day will leave now .