Recently we have been working with Gleadless Primary school to create striking house shields for their new house rewards system.

The school wanted to introduce a new house system to encourage pupils to work together in winning points. House systems are a great way of getting pupils to mix with students from other classes and year groups. They also promote positive behaviours and give pupils a sense of unity and team pride.

Gleadless wanted house shields that represented each house and helped promote the core values of the school.

Four colourful shields were designed to represent the different houses which are Innovation, Venture, Challenge and Enterprise. Each house is represented by a different colour which is displayed clearly on the shield alongside the schools existing purple branding.

Once the shields had been designed we turned them into beautiful enamel badges for the children to wear proudly. The school has communicated to parents that they want these badges to become part of the school uniform so that teachers can identify which house a child is in when they are allocating reward points.

The school badges help the children feel part of a team and help them easily identify other children that are in their house. They act as a constant reminder to the pupils to try and earn points for their house by displaying the core values in their behaviours.

Alongside the house badges we also designed and created two striking pop up banners displaying the four house shields and the school’s values. These are displayed in the infant and junior school reception areas. They show the school values and explain the different houses to visitors so that they understand the message the school is trying to promote.

The school held a house launch event where pupils were presented with their new badges and introduced to their new house teams.

Feedback from the pupils has been very positive. One pupil even designed a board game which incorporated the different houses and included the new shield designs. This just goes to show how reward systems can inspire children above and beyond their day-to-day behaviour.

Having a physical representation of the house system has helped the school to really promote their new rewards initiative and get the pupils more excited and engaged. When children are invested in a rewards system it is far more likely to get results, which is great for the school and great for the pupils.