Acknowledging and Celebrating Achievement
At Altrincham College, we take great pride in a highly effective rewards system which acknowledges and celebrates the achievements and successes of our pupils, both in school and at home. This in turn raises standards; improving behaviour, attendance and overall resilience.
Both inside and outside the classroom, our pupils are presented with opportunities to be recognised and praised for their achievements, progression, behaviour and attendance, as well as their individual and team contributions to the school.
A regular and fair rewards system is of paramount importance at Altrincham College, to not only celebrate our pupils' successes, but to inspire and motivate others to achieve their very best; becoming confident, independent learners as a result.
Outlined below, are the array of methods which we implement across the school, to reward pupils from Year 7 through to Sixth Form:
Points
Throughout the whole school, we use points fairly and consistently to reward our pupils for a variety of achievements, such as:
- Exceptional class work or homework,
- Displaying outstanding effort in lessons,
- Excellent organisational skills,
- Engaging well with careers activities
- An act of kindness or generosity,
- Demonstration of superb progress,
- Taking part in one of our in-school challenges,
- Attending extra-curricular activities,
- Participating in a virtual club,
- Engaging well with remote learning.
Points are regularly monitored and celebrated by the Senior Leadership Team, the Head of Year Team and Form Tutors, allowing the school to provide instant recognition to students.
Pupils are encouraged to log in to the Classcharts website, which allows them to collect points and win prizes, including:
- High street clothes vouchers,
- Cinema vouchers,
- iTunes vouchers, and
- Altrincham College merchandise.
Pupils can also gain extra points by taking part in one of our in-school challenges:
- Achieving 100% attendance over a fixed term period e.g. 3 consecutive weeks.
- Achieving zero negative behaviour points over a fixed term period e.g. 3 consecutive weeks
- Organising a litter picking event to clean up the local community
- Attending revision sessions on a regular basis
- Helping out at open evening or parents evening
- Attending clubs
- Participating in year-group specific challenges such as positivity week.
And many more
As a result of gaining these points, pupils can receive additional achievements which are displayed on screens in school, shared with pupils during form-time and can also be seen in the main reception.
Our pupils value this system and therefore strive to collect points in order to achieve awards. This not only encourages healthy competition amongst our pupils, but also motivates and inspires them to go above and beyond the norm in becoming successful learners.
In addition to points, we offer several other methods of rewarding our pupils on a daily and weekly basis, such as with a phone call home and/or a letter to parents/carers, congratulating their efforts and achievements.
Reward Assemblies
Altrincham College Reward Assemblies are high profile events in school, and are held each term to formally celebrate the achievements of our pupils.
By carefully analysing our points system, reporting data, individual nominations and attendance records, we are able to recognise the pupils who have consistently strived to achieve and succeed across the whole term, celebrating this success, hard work and dedication.
The event is highly anticipated by all, and involves the Head Teacher, Deputy & Assistant Head Teachers, Year Team and Form Tutors, and as such are highly valued and appreciated by pupils as a means of being rewarded publicly amongst their peers.
Our pupils see them as an invaluable opportunity to support one another and share in each other's successes, which in turn, promotes an acceptance of positive achievements and excellent behaviour.
Pupils can be recognised in a wide range of categories, including rewards for:
- Attendance,
- Attitudinal scores,
- Progress (both academic and pastoral),
- Successfully completing an in-school challenge,
- Number of positive behaviour points achieved.
Sixth Form
Students in the Sixth Form are rewarded through the ClassCharts system, as in main school. There are extra points available for Sixth Form pupils, including for meeting UCAS deadlines and engaging with enrichment activities.
Sixth form students also have access to a bespoke selection of prizes in the shop, such as gift vouchers and the opportunity to gain some flexible study time.
