Springhill High School reward system

Date published: 21/09/2007

In response to concerns that pupils are being rewarded with luxury electrical goods for doing something they should do anyway, that is, behave, David Keate, deputy head of Springhill High, has given Rochdale Online a full and frank explanation of how the school's reward system works. He says that it is essential to consistently support students in their every day learning and behaviour.

Mr Keate explained that the reward system has been an instant success since it's launch three weeks ago and says that claims that Springhill is giving out Plasma Televisions to encourage children to behave better in school is "totally inaccurate and has been taken completely out of context". He added that he finds such accusations "somewhat disheartening given that a complex reward system that has been devised with much thought and research could possibly be condemned based upon a small piece of unfounded information".

The reward system is primarily aimed at raising attainment across Keys Stage 3 and 4 with a specific focus on English Language and Mathematics. Mr Keate explains the details:

"The Reward system will also acknowledge consistently excellent behaviour, improved behaviour and improved attendance. In addition it will also aim to reward students who consistently demonstrate attributes associated with considerate and positive citizens both in our school and the community. In addition our reward system will identify specific groups of students across the whole school who often get missed within a whole school reward structure and we will aim to target their achievements as part of our focus.

"Springhill are confident this system will work in raising standards of attainment, behaviour and attendance if we all use it properly.

"Very thorough market research was carried out prior to our reward system being launched. This involved online questionnaires, visits to other secondary schools to examine their successful rewards systems and talking to parents and the community about what they feel would motivate and inspire our students to work hard and improve their attainment.

"In order to fund gifts from our rewards shop we have written to more than 30 organisations across the authority to look for sponsorship and to forge two way links. We have had a very positive response and are now benefiting from the support of number of local companies who are donating prizes and marketing our systems."
 
The system works in the following way:

• Staff issue positive Sleuths to students when they have produced 3 pieces of excellent work, shown significant improvements in their behaviour or carried out duties above and beyond those expected of a positive citizen. Staff will put a departmental sticker in the student’s planner and also input the data in to a computer Sleuth database so that the information can be monitored, tracked and analysed. This information can also be accessed in student’s online accounts so they can track their own personal achievement on a daily basis.
  
  
• When students hit key milestones specific rewards are triggered. These include bronze, silver, gold and diamond certificates that are presented in assembly by a senior member of staff, bronze, silver, gold and diamond congratulatory postcards that are sent home by form tutors, year managers and senior teachers and a special bronze, silver, gold and diamond leaf which is displayed on the "Springhill tree of success’ which is a 16 foot piece of artwork that occupies two walls in a prominent area close to the main reception of the school. This idea came from the Springhill Hospice. They have a similar tree that has special leaves attached to it when people make donations or do positive work to support the hospice. The leaves on the Springhill tree will carry the students name, picture and the reasons why they have been awarded this reward. The tree will be on full public view and will help share the achievements and attainment of our students.
  
  
• Unsung heroes boxes have been designed to reward students who are neither fantastic in school or have difficulties. Research shows that these "ghost children’ often get missed in reward structures and are very much overlooked often because they are quiet or consistently produce a high level of work. Staff will fill out slips to nominate their unsung heroes on a weekly basis and these automatically trigger a congratulatory post card home from a senior member of staff.
  
  The final part of the student reward system involves every student being able to convert their positive Sleuths into credits which can then be used to purchase rewards and gifts from our professionally designed online reward shop. The fact they are using their credits in this way will have a very positive effect on their numeracy skills and will also teach them crucial life skills linked to managing money and budgets.. Every positive Sleuth equates to 10 credits. Students accumulate their credits and are then able on three occasions in the year to exchange them for rewards in the online shop. Every reward has a credit value attached to it and provided the student has the correct number of credits they can exchange them for the gift. It is estimated that the bigger gifts such as small televisions and ipods will require a student to demonstrate consistently high levels of attainment, behaviour and attendance over a period of approximately 18 months. If there is more than one student from the same family in the school they can add their credits together to aim for bigger gifts. Some of these gifts will be household items that may benefit the whole family which is an attempt to encourage parents/guardians at home to support their children into working harder and striving for higher attainment Students can also use the credits they have earned through hard work to help them afford to go on reward trips at the end of the year. Every positive Sleuth has been given a financial value of 10 pence. Children will never be given money for their credits but they can trade them in to knock money off the price of trips. 

Mr Keate said in conclusion: "We are aiming for a consistent approach to giving out rewards to our students that will help improve their behaviour, motivation and ultimately their learning. If rewards are used effectively they are a fantastic tool that will motivate students, engage them in learning and encourage better behaviour."