In today’s educational landscape, motivating students to engage with their learning is crucial for their academic success and personal growth. One of the most effective ways to achieve this is through the strategic use of rewards. Reward systems, when designed and implemented thoughtfully, can enhance students’ engagement, reinforce positive behaviour, and cultivate a culture of achievement. At the heart of this approach in many schools, including ours, is the use of the Epraise system—a modern, digital platform that helps track and reward student accomplishments in a meaningful and structured way. By integrating the benefits of traditional reward systems with the functionality of Epraise, schools can harness the power of motivation to support pupil development.

Rewards are powerful motivators that help all of us connect our efforts with positive outcomes. In any learning environment, maintaining a high level of engagement is key to achieving success, and rewards provide a tangible way for pupils to see the value of their hard work. The Epraise system takes this a step further by offering a clear and accessible method for students to track their progress, see immediate feedback and, in our case, earn points that can also act as currency for rewards. 

Through Epraise, students accumulate points for a range of positive activities, such as completing academic assignments to a high standard, participating in class discussions, or helping their peers. These points act as an extrinsic motivator, encouraging pupils to consistently demonstrate these behaviours. Knowing that their efforts are being acknowledged and rewarded reinforces their desire to participate fully in the learning process, transforming education into a rewarding and goal-oriented experience. They will also achieve points for engaging with our school characteristics of; collaboration, risk taking, perseverance, independence and curiosity. 

Our recent update of the Rewards and Positive Culture policy, focuses on three core principles of Respect, Responsibility and Readiness to learn. By rewarding elements of these aspects in the behaviours and actions that we see in our pupils, we continue to develop our positive culture in school. Positive reinforcement is at the heart of any effective reward system. In a classroom setting, rewards help shape student behaviour by highlighting and rewarding the actions that contribute to a positive learning environment. Epraise facilitates this by allowing teachers to quickly and easily reward students for behaviours that align with the school’s values—whether it’s academic achievement, leadership, collaboration, or personal growth. With Epraise, pupils are not only motivated to excel academically, but also to demonstrate the kind of social and emotional skills that are essential for success beyond the classroom. For instance, a student might receive points for demonstrating kindness or resilience, which encourages others to emulate those behaviours as well. Over time, this creates a classroom culture where students are motivated to embody the values that contribute to a productive and respectful learning environment.

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Miss Kneen
Deputy Head Pastoral

High and Junior News Survey

Thank you so much to those of you who took the time to send us valuable feedback in regards to our weekly High and Junior News newsletters at the end of last term. This feedback has been gratefully received, and we have started to implement some of the suggestions into this ‘new look’ newsletter.

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