Read Managing Director, Neil Hodges answers to teachers queries about managing behaviour in secondary schools with a specialist tailored reward scheme.
I have recently taken over the headship at a large secondary school in the North East of England. I have a great team of staff, and the kids are certainly enthusiastic; but behaviour has historically been an issue and is something I am determined (and expected) to tackle with urgency and vigour. Together with teachers and governors, I have selected an online reward scheme that I am convinced will make a real difference to our school culture, and to outcomes; however, I would really welcome any advice about the best way to ‘launch’ it with parents and students. I want total buy-in from the start, and to create a ‘buzz’ around the scheme… I think some clever PR is in order, but marketing definitely isn’t my area! Can you help?
Ensuring buy-in from the start is crucial to the success of any rewards solution, but not just parents and students, you need the engagement of the teachers as well. The best way to get teacher buy in is to make it incredibly easy for them to use.
When it comes to creating momentum and hype, one of the best launches I have seen was where a school created a selection of tailored posters and ads simply telling students the reward scheme is coming and when, but no more detail. Teachers were briefed to keep their answers deliberately vague. Students started to talk about it, ask teachers about it, and rumours started to spread.
It is a good idea to bring on board select pupils, perhaps prefects or members of the student council, explaining to them some of the key aspects of your new rewards scheme and asking for their ideas on what rewards to be given. They should be encouraged to share details amongst their peers, with the benefit of continuing to build the “buzz”.
The biggest challenge for all schools is ensuring consistency of approach so it is a good idea to launch in a special rewards assembly with staff and students all present. Visibility across the school is key, so once launched posters and ads should clearly explain what students need to do to be rewarded, and this info shared with parents, and with students via Bluetooth to their phones if possible.
View more queries from teachers on our double page spread on page 87 in the latest edition (issue 4.4) of Teach Secondary.
Carrot Rewards is an affordable, easy to use and effective school rewards system that can be tailored to both Primary and Secondary. For more information and to sign up to a free online demo visit us and one of our Carrot experts will get in touch.