Customer Stories
Gladesmore Community School
“The pupils buy into it because it is fun”
Background
Michael Lowe, the Business Manager at Gladesmore Community School, Tottenham, London first heard about the management tool Carrot Rewards at a Capital Conference and immediately saw it’s potential (especially with such features as its easy integration into SIMS).
Challenge
Michael was looking for a way to engage students and staff and parents with the new system as it was crucial that they were onboard.
Success
As Michael states:
“The kids find it engaging and exciting and they embrace technology…the teachers have bought into it because all they have to do is give out stickers. They decide what they want to give the stickers out for, behaviour, work, reading etc, but the rest is up to the kids as they register their own rewards. Teachers can then use Carrot Rewards to check what rewards have been registered and easily create reports which previously would have been done through complicated excel spreadsheets. Parents use it as they like to track the progress of their kids, and the statistics are available to them at any time.”
Due to these factors, Carrot Rewards has had success whereas other systems were not as effective:
“Unlike other reward schemes we had tried, engagement really is across the whole school, with 1500 stickers are being logged every week. The system has surpassed all our expectations.”
Knole Academy, Sevenoaks, Kent
“Behaviour and attendance are both improving.”
Background
Knole Academy, Sevenoaks, Kent is an 11-19 all ability school with a grammar stream.
Challenge
The school had just been through a period of upheaval and was looking for a way to mark a fresh start. Justine Mountford, a teacher at Knole explains:
“We started using Carrot Rewards for years 7-11 after it was recommended to us by a headteacher from another school. We were merging with a nearby school to form an academy and we wanted to do something new that had not existed in either school before.We also wanted to be able to motivate and reward students without breaking the bank. We knew that the students liked stickers and that we would be having a house system, so it seemed to fit with our needs.”
Success
Justine has been extremely impressed with the results since the school started using the system:
“Carrot Rewards has had a significant impact on our school. Behaviour and attendance are both improving. Attendance is up 2% in 2 years and exclusions down by 50%. Some of this is definitely due to the rewards system. Add to this that it is easy to administer and popular with pupils and you can understand why I’m more than happy to recommend it to other teachers.”
Tudor Grange Academies Trust
“…the Carrot Rewards Platform is a winning combination.”
Background
The Trust is a family of five academies in the West Midlands; three secondary schools, and two primaries. They have a shared ethos, common values, and collective goals, and they use one fully-integrated reward scheme.
Challenge
The trust set out to create one of the most comprehensive reward systems in the country, ‘TG Rewards’, to celebrate and reward the achievements of its students across its many institutions.
Success
The scale of the scheme is impressive, generating healthy competition, extra motivation, and helping to forge a common identity.
Carrot Rewards has worked closely with the Trust to make it possible for the up-to-the-minute results to be publicly shown on screens around each school, as the trust believes that this will lead to driving students to want to earn more rewards. This shows not only how each academy is performing, but also in comparison to each other in straightforward and engaging ways.
The Trust has established clear rules about how their ‘TG Rewards’ system is used, from what rewards should be given out for, to how many stickers teachers can give out in each class thereby ensuring that the scheme always has value. All rewards are automatically shown in the school’s Carrot Rewards account, enabling teachers to monitor everything; from how each year-group, subject, or class is progressing.
Steven Groutage, COO, Tudor Grange Academies Trust explains the benefits:
“School Stickers is incredibly good value, the online tools and rewards are incredibly flexible, and we have really been able to make it our own. Our students work incredibly hard and love to collect the variety of stickers and postcards available. The combination of School Stickers and the Carrot Rewards platform is a winning combination.”
The Trust chose the scheme for its reward system because it believes it offers the best of both worlds. Students receive immediate recognition for their hard work or exemplary behaviour with a sticker. But because this then goes into their planner, and is logged online, it also becomes part of something bigger and longer-term, enabling them to work towards collecting not just all the possible rewards, but helping their class, subject, year and school. It now credits the scheme as playing a crucial role in the outstanding Ofsted results it now achieves. This is particularly impressive, given that one of the schools brought into the group was classed as a failing and in special measures when it was taken over.
Whitstable Junior School
Background
Whitstable Junior School is based in Whitstable, Kent and has around 250 pupils. Behaviour had always been good in the school, but they wanted to find something that would get them to the next level of excellent behaviour, and motivate those pupils who need an extra push, without being time consuming for teachers.
Success
Tom Tsangarides, Physical Education Co-ordinator, Whitstable Junior School said, “We started using Carrot Rewards in September 2015 and it has already made a really big difference in our school.
“We have used it to customise our own unique reward scheme. We have chosen to award points automatically for presumed good behaviour, but give teachers the option to deduct points for disruptive behaviourin the form of yellow cards (minus 10 points) and red cards (minus 20 points).”
“The positive effect of Carrot Rewards in the school is easy to see. In September 2015 25% of pupils received a red or yellow card, but this quickly changed once pupils got used to the new rewards scheme, and in June only 5% of pupils received a red or yellow card.”
“The class with the most p[oints each week is awarded a “Whitstable Bubble Cheque”. These are added up throughout the year to earn treats suggested by pupils, such as a class trip to the beach for ice cream, or a trip to the cinema. This creates a team atmosphere in the classroom where all pupils recognise that they need to all behave well to earn the treat they want.”
“Every three weeks a text is sent home saying that a child has show excellent behaviour if they have had no points deducted. Pupils really are engaged and motivated, and regularly log in to their MyStickers account, to keep track of their rewards, and personalise their own avatar.”
“Carrot Rewards is also popular with teachers at Whitstable as because all rewards are automatically recorded and deductions are logged automatically it saves a lot of time. Teachers also like they have access to up to the minute leader boards to trac precisely how pupils, classes, subjects are doing across the school.”
“The first year of using Carrot Reards has been a great success and we now have plans to use more of the system and take it to the next level. From September 2016 extra rewards will be available for pupils who go beyond the expected good behaviour for things like good presentation and manners. The prizes given will be smaller but given more frequently. Pupils have been asked for theirt suggestions, which so far includes extra ICT time and sitting on benches instead of the floor in the school hall.”
“Carrot Rewards has already made a big difference in our school, and we are only using it as its most simple level. We have exciting plans for Carrot Rewards at Whitstable and I’m excited to see how it will evolve!”
Sacred Heart School
Background
Sacred Heart High School in Hammersmith London is one of the oldest and most respected girls’ schools in Britain. It is part of a network of 140 Sacred Heart Catholic girls’ schools worldwide, and one of the best performing schools in a 200-year old global alliance that focuses on academic excellence and the personal and spiritual development of young women from 11-18 years’ old.
Challenge
Until the end of 2017 teachers at Sacred Heart were logging rewards directly into SIMS, but it was taking a long time for these to load, and teachers wanted something that was easier to use.
Julian Davies, Director of Lower School, Sacred Heart High School said “Logging rewards had become tiresome, as they took a long time to upload. I started to look around for something that would make logging rewards easy for teachers. It needed to be something that I could tailor for our school, which pupils and parents would be able to see, and which staff would buy into. I’d used School Stickers’ MyStickers system before, so was confident that it’s Carrot Rewards system would be a great choice.”
Success
The teachers at Sacred Heart High School logged over 13,800 rewards in the first three months of using Carrot Rewards, compared with only 10,900 in the whole of 2017. Rewards are still fully integrated with SIMS, but now the reward data goes into Carrot Rewards, and this then is automatically uploaded to SIMS, making the process much simpler for teachers.
The school is delighted that not only are more rewards being given out, but that pupils are enthusiastic about receiving them. One of the reasons for this success is that when launching Carrot Rewards the teachers designed a new range of virtual rewards around the school values to be used in school competitions. These are tiered 1 to 3 depending on how great the achievement and which members of staff are giving out the rewards.
Once pupils have achieved five points they qualify to be entered into the whole school, weekly house, and best form competitions, which are run through the Carrot Rewards system. These use straplines such as “Who fancies free lunch”, “Who fancies a Starbucks” to engage pupils, and the winners are selected each week using the ‘Carrot Random Button’.
Julian Davies said “Being able to tailor Carrot Rewards for our school has been crucial to its success. I also like that pupils, teachers and parents are able to easily keep track of rewards and prizes given and leave messages of support. I would definitely recommend to other schools.”
He continues, “Teachers are giving out lots of rewards, which shows it is easy to use. Pupils are keen to take part, and I believe that it will become an integrated part of school life, especially as the younger pupils move up through the school. We have a very active parent base and I’ve been really pleased to see many parents logging in and leaving comments on their child’s rewards. Launching any new system takes time to get buy-in from teachers, pupils and parents, but we have made a really good start.”
Cranleigh School, Abu Dhabi
“Carrot Rewards is the best rewards system I have ever used. Students are really motivated by it, and want to earn rewards for themselves and their house, and behaviour has improved amongst those pupils where it was an issue. The Carrot Rewards team are really switched on and understand what schools and teachers need. I’ve now introduced Carrot Rewards into two schools that I’ve worked in, and recommended it to many others. It is effective, fun and easy to run.”
I started using Carrot Rewards when I was teaching at a school in Hertfordshire. As a teacher I found it easy to use, fun and incredibly effective. So much so, that when I move to Brighton College in Abu Dhabi, I suggested that they introduce it as well, and also brought it to Cranleigh, AbuDhabi, when I moved there in 2014.
At Cranleigh we use Carrot Rewards with years 3 to 9, our oldest students. Every department and class have their own stickers, and the only rule we have is that pupils have to earn them, to ensure they really value them. We have put spaces into the planners where pupil put their stickers, and we also have a series of certificates which pupils can work hard to achieve.
For example in my maths classes pupils are given a star when they produce good work, and once they have three stars they are given a sticker. In P.E. stickers are given in each class to the pupil who worked the hardest, and the English Language department often award stickers to pupils who are working hard to improve their English, as English is not the first language for some of them. It is at the teacher’s discretion, but they have to be earned.
What makes it really special is that the rewards don’t just count toward to pupil’s accomplishments. As we have a house system, all rewards also count towards house points, so pupils get the added benefit of helping their house. Every week we run off the latest league tables, and the house with the most rewards is awarded a point.
The teachers at all the schools I have worked at where Carrot Rewards is the chosen reward scheme have really liked it, as ultimately all they have to do is give out stickers. This is a huge improvement on many reward schemes which are often cumbersome, and require significant amounts of administration.
The pupils also like logging their rewards, especially since the new MyStickers portal was launched, as our pupils like looking at the graphs and are really motivated by seeing how they are doing. We don’t run a shop where pupils can exchange their rewards for prizes, as the scheme is running successfully at the moment without this. However it is useful to know that this is an option which we might consider introducing in the future.
I’ve built a good relationship with the Carrot Rewards team over the years. They are incredibly patient and supportive, and the customer service is second to none.
Richard Henwood, Head of Maths Cranleigh School Abu Dhabi