Four fifths of schools in England use some form of rewards, according to the National Foundation for Education Research, and Ofsted says: “Rewards are a powerful incentive for students who struggle with school.” But how to do make sure that your pupils want to take part?
School Stickers, leading provider of school rewards, surveyed the hundreds of schools using its online whole school rewards programme, Carrot Rewards, to find out what their advice would be to schools wanting to use rewards more effectively in their school, and here is the top ten.
- BUILD MOMENTUM AND HYPE BEFORE LAUNCH
Promoting a reward scheme before it actually launches really helps to get pupils curious and excited about what is going to happen.
“We put cryptic posters around school as a teaser campaign to get pupils talking, and even sent a life size cardboard avatar on the train to Leamington on the day of launch.” – North Leamington School
- INVOLVE PUPILS IN WHAT REWARDS WILL BE GIVEN
Giving pupils some responsibility in the creation of the rewards programme for their year, or even the whole school, can really help with engagement. Involving them in what the rewards should be, how they should be measured, sourcing and negotiating prizes and calculating prize values (e.g. how many rewards for each prize) gives pupils ownership and helps them to understand the value of rewards.
“Run a competition for pupils to design the rewards.” – North Leamington School
- MAKE REWARDS SPECIAL
If rewards are given out for everything they can lose their value. It is important that everyone agrees on how many can be given out and what for, so they hold their value with pupils.
“Limit the amount of rewards teachers can give out to keep them special.” – Baxter College, Kidderminster
- MAKE IT CLEAR HOW TO EARN REWARDS
Pupils need to know what they need to do to earn rewards, so they can try to achieve this. If the rules keep changing, pupils are likely to lose interest.
“Set clear goals so that pupils know what they need to do to gain rewards. There is a clear behaviour policy at our school and rewards are only given for behaviour over and above what is expected.” – The McAuley Catholic High School, Doncaster, South Yorkshire
- MAKE IT FUN
Schools across the country are doing incredibly creative things with their reward schemes. Some use them as house points, others have annual award ceremonies, and one has even created a Panini sticker type album for each pupils.
“Create a menu of rewards to give students different targets to aspire to. Students can put them in specially created albums, or as part of their planner, and collect rewards like a Panini Sticker album, but without the swapping or trading.” – Tudor Grange Academies Trust, West Midlands
- PERSONALISE
The rewards you give can be as interesting and creative as you wish. Many schools customise their rewards with the name of the school or teachers, pictures of teachers, but also pictures of celebrities, politicians etc. You name it, it can be created.
“Personalise your rewards with your school names and unique images. We even did some personalised stickers with a photo of the Head Teacher as a joke, for him to give out at his discretion, but they were so popular that we ordered more.” – Saint Benedict Catholic High School, Derby
- ONLINE TOOLS MAKE MANAGING REWARDS EASY
Gone are the days of having to complete excel spreadsheets with all the rewards given out. Technology means that this can now be automated, saving teachers time, and can be used for just a classroom or a whole school.
“Our online reward system gives teachers the ability to monitor how and where learners are gaining awards. This really helps them to praise and provide positive reinforcement of good behaviour and effort. – Rivermead School, Gillingham, Kent
“It is very useful that our rewards system interacts with SIMS which makes tracking of pupil achievements easier and it has significantly reduced staff work load.” – Blessed Thomas Holford Catholic College, Altrincham, Cheshire
- USE REWARDS TO ENCOURAGE PUPILS TO WORK TOGETHER
Pupils who are not interested in earning rewards for themselves, can often be persuaded to engage by their peers, when their combined effort leads to benefit for the whole class or house.
“You can run competitions in class, for subjects, year groups or whole school – whatever you decide. We run competitions for tutor groups to encourage pupils to work together.” – Gladesmore Community School, Tottenham
- KEEP IT INTERESTING
Pupils need to be kept engaged and one of the best ways to do this is to keep introducing fun and new ways to earn rewards.
“We have special department weeks where they give double points. This is something that I can easily manage on the system, but if there are any issues the support from the
School Stickers team is great as all emails are answered straight away.” – Ormiston Forge Academy, Cradley Heath, West Midlands
- PRIZES DON’T HAVE TO BE EXPENSIVE
All pupils love prizes, but they don’t have to be expensive. Some schools negotiate deals with local businesses, or even create prizes like “jump the dinner queue” vouchers which don’t cost a penny. Money can’t buy prizes are also popular with some schools only giving access to the school prom to those who earn enough points. It is amazing how engaged even older pupils can become with the incentive of something they really want.
“Prizes don’t have to be expensive. Some of the most popular ones don’t cost the school a penny e.g. Prom Tickets, Jump the dinner queue passes, Pizza Parties, Priority entry into the games room. Don’t forget to make some of these prizes ‘plus one’, as few pupils want to eat their dinner or play alone.” – Oasis Academy Immingham
Neil Hodges, Managing Director, School Stickers, said, “All schools are different which is why they need to create a rewards system which is right for their school. However one thing they all have in common is that teacher’s time is incredibly precious. Instead of wasting time completing excel spreadsheets with all the rewards given out, technology means that this can now be automated, saving teachers time, and can be used for just a classroom, or a whole school. I hope that this guidance from other teachers will help anyone considering changing how the rewards scheme working in their school.”