St John' s Church School VA
Together we achieve, learn and grow in a caring, Christian environment
'St John's Church School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and expects all staff volunteers, parents and children to share this commitment.'
Rewards
"Moments of appreciation and positive affirmation are the warm Nutella of teaching" Paul Dix
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Praise and rewards are an integral part of our school culture, and of our behaviour policy. Our teachers are encouraged to pay first attention to best conduct, catching those children who are actively displaying our school values:
Being responsible
Being respectful
Being ready to learn
At St John’s we firmly believe that positive climates are contagious, and thus strive to ensure that we share praise and rewards throughout the whole school day, in a variety of ways, from Celebration Worship to Postcards Home.
Every Monday, we begin our week by celebrating the children’s success from the previous week, in Collective Worship. This includes:
Merit badges
Here, teachers select one child from their class who has excelled when displaying one of Guy Claxton’s Building Learning Powers. They are presented with a merit badge for cultivating their habits to become more curious, confident and independent learners.
Resilience
Being lost in your learning Recognising and ignoring distractions.
Noticing patterns and detail Perseveringly in the face of difficulties
Reflective
Making effective plans for your work.
Being flexible; being able to change your plans if needed Pulling out essential features from previous learning to help Knowing yourself as a learner.
Resourceful
Asking questions and being curious Identifying and making connections.
Using your imagination
Working things out methodically and rationally Making use of all the resources around you
Reciprocal
nowing when to work on your own or with others
Working collaboratively and respecting other people’s opinions Being an active listener and having empathy.
Adopting other’s positive habits and values
Golden Bench
House Points
The whole school (including adults) are separated into four houses -
Reflective (yellow), Resilient (green), Reciprocal (blue) and Resourceful (red). All adults are encouraged to spot impeccable behaviour, WOW work and those children who display our 10 Christian Values. Tokens worth 10 points each) are awarded and children put them in their corresponding coloured house box which is situated in the hall.
There are also gold stars (worth 100 points) which are only given out by members of the Senior Leadership Team to those children who have gone above and beyond expectations. At the end of each term, the house with the most points is rewarded with a team celebration. In the past, this has included a picnic and games on Peanut Park or an ice-cream sundae and film.
Postcards Home
Postcards home can be given out by any adult in the school and are awarded to children who have stood out and shown excellence. Children are thrilled to receive them and look forward to sharing the good news, not only to family at home, but to other members of staff who can praise their achievements.
Positive Phone Calls Home
Additionally, one child from each class is nominated to sit on the Golden Bench during Celebration Worship. These children are nominated by their teachers for going above and beyond when exhibiting our Christian Values. From these nominees, one child is chosen by Mrs Harwood to receive a prize from the Golden Box.
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PE
Every week, the PE team award one child in each key stage with a PE merit badge. Children who have previously been awarded have shown readiness for learning, persevering in PE lessons, being a good role model to others, and challenging themselves.
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REN Learn
"Reading is a passport to countless adventures" Mary Pope Osbourne
At St John’s, children and staff enjoy sharing their love of reading with one another, and one way we celebrate exceptional readers is through sharing the class of the week in Celebration Worship. Also, throughout the year, top REN Learn readers are rewarded for their individual efforts.
Other rewards we use throughout the week include:
6690
RESILIENCE
8270
REFLECTIVE
5910
RESOURCEFUL
7730
RECIPROCAL
Our teachers often make positive phone calls home to the family of a child, who has blown them away. It could be for some WOW work, displaying the Christian values, or even for consistently presenting our school rules. As a school, we consider the communication between teacher and parents/guardians to be incredibly important and beneficial to each child.
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Cookie Club (previously Hot Chocolate Club)
Each Friday, one child from each class is invited, by their class teacher, to celebrate their successes of the week, with Mrs Harwood. The children talk about their achievements and enjoy the freshly made cookies and milk with their peers.
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