Promoting Positive Behaviour
- Managing Rewards - Sleuth records positive behaviour and manages your reward system for individuals and groups
- Motivates Students - Sleuth shows students that good attitude and achievement is rewarded and celebrated
- Communicates Success to Parents - Sleuth automatically generates letters, postcards and certificates to parents for rewards
Sleuth provides a complete picture of behaviour when it is used to log both positive and negative behaviour. Whilst analysing negative behaviour enables schools to identify and remove barriers to learning, the reward system has an equal impact in creating a culture which boosts student self-esteem and motivates them to achieve.
Sleuth can be used to determine the number of merits each student has accumulated over a given period of time and letters or postcard home can be automatically generated by sleuth for pupils achieving individual targets.
Each consequence in Sleuth can have a points value associated with it, typically positive for a reward and negative for a sanction. A range of reports are available to present accumulated points for individuals and groups, for example a league table of points can be produced enabling tutors to monitor the merits accumulated by their tutees and for Heads of Year to identify the most successful tutor group within their year.
Some practical outcomes of schools using Sleuth to support their rewards system include inter-tutor group competitions, prize giving assemblies, entries into raffles and reports handed out to all parents at academic review days detailing the achievements of their child.
For more details on using Sleuth to promote positive behaviour, see:
- How to Use Sleuth to Manage Rewards
Promoting Positive Behaviour - The Schools' View
After the Bell by Felix
Below are a selection of comments from schools describing how Sleuth has helped to promote positive behaviour. Click on the link to read their comments. To read the full case study for the school click 'Read full Case Study' at the end of the text.
The Schools View
Students feel proud of their good behaviour
Rewards and Promoting Positive Behaviour - Sleuth is used to track positive behaviour and manage our Bronze, Silver, Gold awards and also other rewards such as Mentions in Assembly, Certificates and Badges. Tracking the positives is having a real impact in checking our preconceptions about behaviour. Students are now actively asking about behaviour points and are proud to be wearing badges. We have inter-form competitions and points scores are shared in Assembly.
Points Mean Prizes - Sleuth has played a key role in managing our reward system, our students take it very seriously and it has even engaged our KS4 students which is something we had previously struggled to do. We have set-up a points system in Sleuth based on our consequences.
Each half-term, term and year these points are accumulated and used by the HoY and tutors to award individuals and tutor groups with rewards, certificates and prizes according to that year group. e.g. A merit gets 1 point, representing the school 5 points and 100% Attendance Letter is 20 points, a Breaktime detention (C3) is -2 points an After school detention (C4) -10 points. The value of the yearly outstanding student prize rises incrementally from Y9 to Y11. Each half-term we display charts in each Social Area around the school showing how many merits have been obtained by each tutor group.
The Sleuth reports are a great way to demonstrate how seriously we take our reward system. We also display the reports during Open Evenings and Parents Evenings. The Tutor Group in each year who have the greatest number of positives in Sleuth by the end of each term are able to have a day out of uniform.
Raising Achievement - The system is particularly favoured by students in terms of its ability to record and track rewards and positive behaviour. This is proving useful as we head towards our end of term rewards assemblies. It is now a very simple task to find out which student, tutor group or year group is performing positively in relation to others and reward these accordingly. But Sleuth does so much more than just that. The software will produce a very wide variety of reports and is proving invaluable when we analyse behaviour across the school. What this means is that we are able to see a student's behaviour at a glance. As we get increasingly used to using this new system Sleuth can only improve in terms of what it tells us and how we use it to continue making the improvements to behaviour across the school.
Merits & Rewards - We record as much as possible in terms of positive behaviour. As a result of having this information in Sleuth we are able to produce positive letters and we are definitely rewarding positive behaviour much more now. A lot of positive letters are generated in Sleuth - it is fun generating the letter, the Year Head enjoys signing it, the Tutor gets to see a copy and then, of course, parents and pupils like receiving the good news.
Motivating students to improve
Incentives & Rewards - We motivate pupils towards improvement by informing/showing them their sleuth profiles. If there is improvement over a target period we issue an Improvers Award. We also reward pupils with no 'sleuths' with special trips/activities and set targets for some pupils to try not to get any 'sleuths' in a given target period in order to be eligible for a reward activity, this is proving to be very powerful stuff.
Promoting Positive Behaviour - Sleuth is also used to promote positive behaviour. We have a merit system whereby pupils gain merits towards a cumulative total. When they get 60 they are ‘on-the-bus’ which means they get a ticket to an activity in the summer term. All successful pupils go on the same day and get to choose from a range of activities. Merits are awarded for: outstanding participation in the classroom, regular participation in extra curricular clubs, a brilliant piece of homework, thinking of the other person, excellent attendance, improved attendance and improved behaviour.
Headteacher’s awards and prizes
Promoting Positive Behaviour - We run our rewards policy based on Sleuth’s positive points. Outcomes have points, points lead to Headteacher’s awards and prizes.
Rewarding Good Behaviour - Sleuth is used to log positive behaviours and supports the management of the schools reward system. As students accumulate merits they are logged into Sleuth. There are certain levels that students can attain and when these are reached letters are sent home to inform parents of success. Merits can be gained for behaviour in the categories WORK EFFORT and BEHAVIOUR.
Inter-Tutor group competition with behaviour points
Using the points reports has enabled us to introduce an element of competition across Year Groups as the number of positive points accumulated in Sleuth are compared across each tutor group year by year.
Rewarding & Promoting Positive Behaviour - Sleuth also provides us with a means to log good behaviour easily which means our positive ethos and culture can be supported. We have two systems which operate within the school. One which is used for KS3, another for KS4. It is crucial that the system is age appropriate.
- In the Lower School Sleuth monitors the Tutor Point Card system. Students can be awarded a sticker for a variety of things. We came up with a list of positives to provide the widest possible opportunity for success. Each card has a space for sixteen stickers and as each card is completed the student is rewarded, intially with letters home then bronze, silver and gold awards.
- A similar system operates in the Upper School with the award of postcards and then vouchers. Students may have to demonstrate a number of successes before being awarded a postcard. The postcards are then sent home to parents. Successive postcard awards lead to vouchers for £5 and £10. Rewards are recorded and monitored using Sleuth. Recording the positive means we have a good balance of information to discuss at the annual Tutor Group review meetings and more regularly with students, staff and parents at given opportunities.
Pointing the way to better behaviour
Rewarding Positive Behaviour - We use sleuth to manage our House Points reward system. Points can be awarded for: Effort, Good Work, Achievement, Good Behaviour, An External Award, Showing Responsibility, Achieving Behaviour Targets. Each week we produce a set of reports that detail the number of positive points that each student has been allocated. We also produce a report that gives a balance of positive and negative points. Rewards are then allocated according to the number of points gained.
Staff have two means of recording positives:
- They can issue a House Points slip which indicates the number of house points scored. These slips can be used to allocate 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 10, 15, 20, or 25 points depending on the level of the behaviour or achievement. These are recorded as a house-points-slip on the behaviour page and on the action page there is a button for each points score which is logged as the action
- Staff also have a 2 point sheet which is more consistent with the negative slip. This is used to allocate students two points only and is often used where multiple students are involved in the same behaviour
Both slips are put in a post box in the library and are collected daily by the Behaviour Co-ordinator.
Rewarding Positive Behaviour - We monitor the number of postcards we send home as rewards for positive behaviour, things like: Good Work, Effort and Contribution to School-life. We also send postcards home if students are seen to be following a school rule. This is more flexible than merits for Effort and Work etc., but is still crucial. We may choose a rule like "Putting your hand up if you wish to speak". We actively teach students how to follow these rules and so when we see positive behaviour like this happening we reward it. We might focus on a different behaviour each week.
Motivating students to improve
Rewarding Good Behaviour - Sleuth plays a valuable role in managing our reward system. We record behaviour in 4 categories: 1 is excellent through to 4 which is serious. Each time a student does something good it is recorded as a level 1 behaviour in Sleuth. We use the sleuth reports to see how many level 1s an individual or group has accumulated and respond with letters home etc., accordingly.
Examples of level 1 behaviour are:
- The student responds positively to teacher instruction
- The student is tolerant and considerate to others within the group
- The student does not seek to attract inappropriate attention in the classroom
- The student produces tidy work and has motivation to start tasks without delay
- The student shows emotional stability and can wait for rewards for prolonged periods of time
We run a student of the month award for each year group based on the most level 1s per year group. Currently, our Science Department holds the Group of the Week award for the most level 1s in a week. As well as our routine rewarding of positive behaviour we also have competitions that we introduced on an adhoc basis. We feel that this adds an element of the unexpected which is useful in motivating a student who may not have accumulated any level 1s for a while:
- WOW week: We run a competition called WOW week where we accumulate all the level 1s by student for one week. All students start level on zero for the week. The winners in each year group can then choose from a number of different prizes. This strategy motivates those students who may be drifting in the day to day reward system.
- In It To Win It: We also run a competition called In It To Win It. Again the intention with this is to give all students who have a level 1 the chance to win a prize. Every so often we call an In It To Win It day when all the level 1s are counted up. Each student has a number of entries in a raffle correspondong to the number of level 1s they have accumulated. Obviously the more level ones you have the more chance you have of winning but it does mean everyone at least has a chance adding another dimension to our normal reward system.
Rewarding Good Behaviour - We use Sleuth to collect information from our 'Good News' slips and rewards are sent out when Sleuth identifies students have reached a particular level in the merit system. Students are rewarded for their behaviour and for consistent effort and improvement. We have also sent letters home to students who have had no logs of negative behaviour in the system.
Rewarding Positive Behaviour - We currently run a gold slip and certificate system to reward positive behaviour. This information is also recorded in Sleuth. As students accumulate gold slips they notify the Deputy i/c Pastoral every time they reach ten slips, this then triggers a certificate to be printed which is then sent home. When students reach 40 slips a school letter will be sent home. Our highest reward is a signed and framed letter of commendation for 80 gold slips.
Rewarding Positive Behaviour - The recording of our yellow slips in Sleuth allows us to support our system of postcards home and prizes. We can easily print how many yellow slips an individual has got and also compare this by tutor group and year group.
Raising achievement with rewards
Reward Days - We have introduced 6 planned Reward Days for each year group that are scheduled in last week of each half term. The Pastoral Leaders have a budget to support whole year 'rewards' to help raise achievement and motivate students. The Sleuth data is pivotal in providing Heads of Year with the empirical/quantifiable evidence to base their judgements for the agreed foci of rewards for each half-term.
Sleuth gives us a manageable way to monitor and trigger rewards for Positive Achievement.