Good to be Green

Our ethos at Cambois Primary is to notice good behaviour and effort, both within and outside of school, and to give attention to those children making right choices. We reward children by means of praise points, whereby when a child earns 10 points they can earn tokens to earn prizes during Celebration Assembly and from our praise point shop. We also have a focus of set criteria which we feel are essential for a productive learning environment and to ensure our children reach their true potential. The areas we focus on are:
  • attendance (this includes being sick and attendance must be above 96% for that half to get green.)
  • punctuality
  • uniform
  • PE kit- come in correct PE kit on PE days
  • reading (at least three times per  at home and increase of expectation from 2021)
  • behaviour and effort.
  • KS2 pupils times table rockstars at least 4 times per week
  • Homework completed and handed in on time
Each Friday we have Progress file time within classes across the school. The children self assess, with support from staff, as to whether they have been green, yellow or red in each area. As an incentive, and to reward those children who are consistently 'green' we have a Green Trip each half term. All children are given opportunities to give suggestions for the trips throughout the year.
Battlezone - KS2
Concordia Leisure Centre - Bowling and Swimming

PURPOSE—why do we do the progress files and green trips?

3 years ago when I came to Cambois I devised and implemented this unique system. There is a clear correlation between high expectations and motivation on future success. Do you all want your child to achieve well in their life and be motivated that hard work pays off? Do you want them to become the best they can be?

This system costs the school approximately £5000 out of our budget each year. That is the equivalent cost of a part time teaching assistant. A very high cost that we ask nothing from parents to contribute to financially. That is how much value we place on the system.

Every child starts as green, has the possibility to stay and achieve green. All children and parents are informed weekly of how their children are doing. The class teachers text this information and I monitor any children regularly who may not be keeping on track and look at solutions as ultimately we too want every child to be green. I hold assembles and one-ones with children to help see how they can get on track. When children get red they sit with me and we plan the next half term, including setting targets and making planners of how to get to that green standard. I even plan and deliberately book trips to target those children who have been struggling so they help book the next trip as greater motivation to get there.

PARENTS/ CARERs role– It is a whole team effort READING, HOMEWORK, PE kit, Uniform, attendance and punctuality

There are vital parts of the system that require parental support. Your children will need support and motivation from home to help lead a successful life. We EXPECT parents to read twice a week with their children and  sign their books honestly.  There has been some confusion over when you should read an we apologise if this message has not been clear to all parents. We have never said not to read on a morning . What we said over a year ago now was too many children (particularly children in year 5 & 6) had not read by Wednesday evening. Their teachers would highlighted this  to them and say they had not read for five days previously so they would need to do so on the Wednesday and Thursday as we noticed too many parents standing at the door and signing records on a Friday morning, This is not acceptable so therefore we said children who squeezed reading in on a Friday morning would not count as green as they had ben advised earlier in the week they needed to do it and had had plenty time before Friday morning. This is not quality reading that will improve learning. We can see a clear correlation between academic achievement with those who read frequently and those who do not. I will not accept excuses like parents do not have time, have a number of children, have children with special needs or from a single parent homes.  Most of the older children can read independently so reading in bed every night is totally acceptable and something you should encourage them to do. Many of you who have older children will see we ask very little compared to the expectation once the children get to High school so we are encouraging good habits from a early age. 

Other things children work on

Effort and behaviour are all things we work on in school for the children to get green. The majority of children achieve this superbly and the most common thing that children get red for is reading at home.

I am strict with this system as we have to have high expectations and a high standard. The children love this system and they are responsible. motivated and encouraged to get green.

Please ensure you have the same value on your contribution.