Rewards and Consequences
At SJL we like to take every opportunity to celebrate students’ good performance. As well as positive feedback to individual students, displays of student work and celebrations in assembly, we have a variety of formal rewards to recognise student effort and achievement.
Merit Marks
These are awarded to students by staff for work or contributions to school life that show good achievement in one of the seven qualities of our 21st Century Learners. Merit Marks are recorded centrally and are counted as points in our annual House competition. Individual year groups also run Merit Mark leagues. Certificates are awarded to individual students for achieving multiple merits and students who achieve particularly high marks receive their certificates at our annual Prize Giving.
ACE Cards
ACE cards (reflecting the school’s aims of Achievement, Care and Excellence) are the next level of recognition and are worth three merits. ACE cards are for significant effort or achievement and are sent directly to a student’s home so that they and their parents can celebrate their good work.
Faculty and Year Group Commendations
Recommendations for these awards are made by individual staff to their Head of Faculty or the relevant Head of Year. They are awarded for hard work, effort and high standards in a particular subject or area.The Commendations are presented to the students by Heads of Year during assemblies and are each worth 6 House Points.
Head’s Commendations
Where a student has completed a particularly outstanding piece of work or made a contribution far in advance of what might usually be expected, staff will nominate them for a Head’s Commendation. These are worth five merits. Students will be invited to meet with the Headteacher to discuss their achievement, receive a special certificate and have their name recorded in a book that records all the Head’s Commendation students, dating back to 1993. In addition, a letter is sent home to congratulate the students and their parents on this excellent achievement.
Prize Giving
One of the highlights of the school year is our annual Prize Giving Ceremony. At this evening in December, students past and present are nominated by staff to receive awards for excellent achievement in curriculum areas and for outstanding contributions to the school and our community. Parents are invited and prizes are presented by a specially selected speaker. It is always a wonderful evening and an excellent opportunity both to celebrate the efforts of current students and to catch up with those students who have just begun their university careers.
Consequences
At SJL we prefer to concentrate on rewarding good behaviour but we are also quick to deal with behaviour which is not conducive to the positive learning community we wish to create.
Students may receive break, lunchtime or after-school detentions for failing to meet the standards of the ACE, usually run by faculty or Year teams. Members of the Senior Leadership team hold detentions from 3.30-5.00pm on a Friday for those who have not responded to previous consequences and there are also twice-termly detentions held on a Saturday from 9.00am-12.30pm, which students must attend in full uniform. For the most serious breaches of the ACE the school reserves the right to use internal or external exclusions.
The school takes rewards and consequences very seriously and we expect parents to support the school’s decisions with regard to the use of both.
For all the school policies, including the Behaviour Policy, please follow the link below:
