Praise and Rewards - Thomas Adams School

The Thomas Adams
School
Policy Statement
Praise and Rewards
2013/14
Updated August 2013
Reviewed by Governors
PRAISE & REWARDS

This policy reflects the School’s continued belief in the “Every Child Matters” agenda which
states that all pupils should:
Be Healthy
Stay Safe
Enjoy and Achieve
Achieve Economic Well-being
Make a Positive Contribution
and with the recognised Safeguarding Procedures within school, including Child Protection
and Health and Safety. These highlight the need for this policy to take into account the
Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning (SEAL):
Self awareness
Managing feelings
Motivation
Empathy
Social Skills
for all those working and learning within our school.
Praise
The very best schools have praise cultures both in their classrooms and also within every aspect of
their schools, whereby students all receive praise on a continuous basis which is;
o justified
o personalised, in that it is based on a good knowledge and understanding of
individual students
o delivered sensitively in ways which the individual student prefers
backed up by communicating this to parents and family on every opportunity.
Introduction
There are few more valuable forms of both reward and also motivation than justified praise
and recognition of achievement. Studies show that children respond quite remarkably to
systems of positive reward and there is immense educational gain.
The basic problems of a school's positive rewards system are, however, hard to overcome:-
i. Teachers vary in standard and/or frequency of praise giving.
ii. Teachers vary in how much time they give to making use of praise systems.
iii. Monitoring to ensure consistency is difficult.
iv. It is equally difficult to ensure that every student is receiving appropriate and deserved levels
of praise and as a result less able and also quieter, hard working students in particular often
do not get enough recognition.
v. Students vary in the way they wish to receive praise and rewards.
In the last resort a school has to rely on all teachers making use of the system whilst
making use of procedures that are continuously highlighted and involve as little work as
possible for the teacher.
Criteria for Positive rewards
1. All praise should be justified and based on high expectations and standards.
2. All students should have equal opportunity to receive praise regardless of ability
level.

Areas to be rewarded
In the classroom and also in the wider school context
Forms of Positive Reward
1. Work of a high standard - academic, practical, sporting, artistic.
2. Significant progress
3. Consistent hard work and excellent attitude to work.
4. Personal qualities worthy of praise, e.g. good manners, honesty, courtesy,
helpfulness, reliability, displays of initiative, leadership skills etc.
5. Resilience, bravery or determination in the face of difficulties
6. Excellent or greatly improved attendance or punctuality.
7. Service to the school or the community.
1. In the classroom – this should be continuous
- Teachers should use positive marking systems with written praise.
- On giving back marked work teachers should go out of their way to praise students,
either publicly as the work is given back or individually – (much depends on who the
student is how you do it).
- Good work being done in class should be praised. Students answering questions
correctly should be praised.
- Good work should be put on display.
- Students receiving good termly reports should be praised personally by the teacher in
class prior to the issue of the report.
- Teachers should use the House Vivo Point System to support with all forms of positive
reward.
NB There should be awards and rewards for high attainment and achievement, but
also for progress and other successes that are accessible by all, regardless of ability
Whole School
Praise should be endemic to the school and this culture soon obvious to any visitor. This involves;
o SLT, pastoral managers and tutors operating in the same climate of praise as
in the classroom, and again making use of every opportunity to pass on and
give praise
o Thanks given to students who are courteous, thoughtful, provide assistance to
the school, are honest etc
o Students gaining credit for their achievements out of school
o The SLT thanking staff as well as students, always giving praise when praise
is due
Rewards and Recognition.
This is invaluable as a support to teacher praise and other praiseworthy actions and achievements by
students.
2. Rewards
The House system allows for recognition and celebration of students’ achievement both
academically, behaviourally and through extra-curricular activities.

House Vivo points can be earned for completing excellent classwork and homework and for
attending extra-curricular activities, entering house competitions, excellent progress and
good citizenship and attendance.
House Vivo points are awarded electronically and credited to the student’s individual
“account”. All students then can access their account to view their progress.
In addition students automatically receive house Vivo points when:
- They receive a subject referral for good work, these reports are termly and the praise is
indicated on the school report home
- For an excellent conduct log – this is done every half term
Individual house Vivo point totals are available to students whenever they log in to their
Vivo account. This is introduced to students at the start of the academic year. In addition
students can opt in to receive SMS messages updating them on their house Vivo balance.
House assemblies are also an opportunity for house updates and as a means of celebrating
achievement; these are held at least every half term. (See dates below)
Students save and spend their Vivos on the rewards they want from an online catalogue and
the items are then delivered to them.
All individual points are credited to make an overall house total. At the end of the autumn,
spring and summer term house totals are announced and at the end of the academic year a
house cup is awarded to the victorious house.
In addition our Year 11 House Captains are offered the opportunity to go on a school trip
twice a year in recognition of their involvement and organisation of house challenges.
THE HOUSE SYSTEM
The House system at Thomas Adams has 7 houses all named after local hills.
All students as well as belonging to a form will also be a member of a house:
7.1 – 11.1 CLEE
7.2 – 11.2 LAWLEY
7.3 – 11.3 HAUGHMOND
7.4 – 11.4 CARADOC
7.5 – 11.5 CORNDON
7.6 – 11.6 HAWKSTONE
7.7 – 11.7 GRINSHILL
The aim of the house system is really to be a source of great fun, competition, achievement
and teamwork with every student given the opportunity to represent their house at what
activity they enjoy.
Throughout the academic year the house system awards pupils for their good work and
attitude inside the class as well as outside of the class when they get involved in extracurricular
activities.

Students collect House Vivo points that act as the schools reward currency and can be spent
on items of their choice in the Vivo rewards online catalogue.
The house system also promotes leadership and responsibility among the more senior
students each house have 7 house captains which consist of:
House captain
Girls sports captain
Boys sports captain
Media captain
Environment captain
Citizenship and fundraising captain
Vice Captain
The house captains liaise closely with the house co-ordinator and the member of staff who is
HEAD of their particular house.
At the end of the academic year the house with the most house points receive the house
cup.

AWARDING HOUSE POINTS 2013 – 2014
Vivo Miles (introduced September 2013), is our online rewards system for allocating house
points. Staff award pupils House Vivos (electronic house points) for good work, effort etc.
Students save and spend their Vivos on the rewards they want from an online catalogue and
the items are then delivered to them.
Students can check their Vivo balance by logging on to their account through Moodle or the
vivomiles.com website.
The Vivo tariff for 2013-2014 is:
The role of Parent\Guardians
Parent\Guardians can access Vivo online and:
• have their own personal login which they can use to access their child's rewards
balance and full transaction history
• view stats and trends on how their child is earning points in terms of how many, for
what reasons and from which teachers
• can set-up instant, daily, weekly and monthly email alerts on their child's rewards
• track all their children at Thomas Adams using one single login
• can pledge treats based on the number of Vivos earned at school that are displayed
when their child logs on and updates them by text if the pledge has been met.

Ways to award House Vivos

Measuring the Impact
HOUSE ASSEMBLIES 2013-14

The School has a policy statement/plan for praise in place, with a member of the SLT
working with the House Coordinator to monitor progress in this area and implement a
whole school plan and who are the “champions” for developing the praise culture in
school
Evidence is collected and impact collected and impact assessed in terms of
Praise records
Records of staff praise
Views of parents and students sought
Lesson observations