Tokarewa: Reasons to Implement a Rewards and Recognition Programme

Rewarding and recognising students learning and performance leads to greater engagement, which helps create a more positive overall school environment.

Recognition initiatives are effective because they focus on the positives, sending students a clear message that what they’re doing matters. Rewarding great performance and successes with things students want will keep them focused and driven to do better.

Tokarewa encourages students, both individually and as a team, to set and reach targets, whether daily, weekly, or annually.

Why did we start a rewards and recognition program? We believed doing so will:

• Increase motivation
• Show appreciation
• Encourage friendly competition
• Improve learning outcomes
• Create a positive school environment

Let’s dive deeper into each of these points.

Increase motivation

Offering recognition and rewards for performance will boost motivation so students stay on track and maintain a positive attitude. Tokarewa encourages collaboration and gives students Opportunity to work toward a desired target or outcome. When they receive a reward for doing something positive, they’ll be more motivated to do it again and again.

Show appreciation

Satisfaction isn’t possible without us showing students how much we appreciate what they do. By recognising accomplishments, we’re sending a direct message that they matter to us and to the school as a whole. This helps students feel seen, heard, and valued, which are all required for Respect. Appreciated students are happy to work hard to grow and succeed — "Rising to Success".

Encourage friendly competition

Rewards programs support feelings of friendly rivalry among students and teams. Students will start to compare their performance to others and strive to do better next time. When they reach a target, they’ll feel accomplished and others will be enthusiastic to get there. Communicating with the entire school about one person’s or team’s success increases awareness and encourages students to give it their best — Excellence.

Improve learning outcomes

Students are more engaged when their successes are recognised, either verbally or with a reward. Students who are trying to reach goals are more productive, as they become more positive with their time and energy to reach those goals and see actual results. When students are more invested in what they’re doing and take Pride in it, they’re empowered to take control of their learning and performance and more likely to complete them on time and to high-quality.

Create a positive school environment

Schools comprised of satisfied, motivated, appreciated students are not only more positive, they’re also more focussed. And those feelings are contagious, leading to a better overall school of enthusiastic and fulfilled students. A united community Whānau. School culture is one of the most important components of a successful school. With rewards and recognition initiatives, engagement, satisfaction, motivation, and collaboration are all encouraged. And all of these components work together to create a great place to learn.

Attributes of an outstanding Student Rewards Program

• What to reward for
• How are you doing that
• Who is doing that

The badge has multiple purposes

• Students know they did something right because they received a reward for that action— a reward/badge.
• Students receive a public display of recognition for a performance well done and it serves as a positive example for everyone else in the school — it’s public and visible.
• Teachers reinforce the performance that was shown or proven by giving a reward — we want more of this kind of performance.

Badges come in five different colours aligned to our unique POWER steam droplets. Badges have the added bonus of being public.