The Carrot Rewards parent and pupil engagement platform was launched in 2015 to address this, and is proving so popular that it is a finalist in the BETT 2017 Awards – ‘ICT Tools for Teaching, Learning and Assessment – Whole School Aids’.

This new engagement platform motivates pupils and parents, encourages positive behaviour in the classroom, greater dialogue with parents, and saves teachers’ time and effort when it comes to managing a whole school rewards scheme.

Northway Primary School teacher Yasmin Daws said: “Carrot Rewards definitely drives positive behaviour and promotes learning in the classroom. We have seen a remarkable improvement in behaviour with children who were previously disinterested in our old star chart system. One of our pupils went home raving about it so much that her mum, a teacher at another school, got in touch to find out more. Her school started using it this September.”

Made up of three components, the Carrot Management Platform is the core hub, which makes it simple for schools and teachers to manage their rewards and engagement strategy. Schools can choose to customise their own unique reward scheme, or replicate reward and motivation best practice. They are able to create anything from class league tables to complex, multi-layered, whole-school competitions with access to up-to-the-minute data.

Teachers simply decide what they want to track and reward, anything from behaviour through to hard work, teamwork or attendance. They then encourage pupils by giving out rewards by simply ‘dragging and dropping’ a reward onto a pupil’s name or avatar, and this is then automatically logged online. Rewards can be given out from any device and automatically sync with all classroom devices. This means that teachers can move around the classroom, as updates from a smartphone for example can be shown on the whiteboard.

Students like to keep track of their rewards on the MyStickers mobile optimised website and app. Pupils genuinely engage as they receive instant praise from teachers when they are given a reward, and then ongoing recognition as they see their rewards grow. Pupils can also trade points to personalise their avatars, and if schools want rewards to be exchanged for prizes there is a Carrot online shop.

Parents also become engaged as they can choose to be contacted when their child receives a reward. They are also able to log into the parent section of the MyStickers site to see how their child is doing, and even leave messages of encouragement, helping them to share in their child’s learning journey.

Carrot Rewards is being used by many Primary schools, and even with KS3 in some Secondary schools, and across schools that are part of LEA School Clusters, Behaviour Partnerships and Academy Groups.

Neil Hodges, managing director of School Stickers, the team behind Carrot Rewards said: "We are looking forward to exhibiting at the BETT Show 2017 and demonstrating the new Carrot Rewards platform to teachers and school leaders. We will also be officially launching our new "Groups" functionality, another huge step forward in providing teachers and classrooms with the flexibility to reward their students in the way most relevant to them."

Go to www.carrotrewards.co.uk, or call 0800 988 0080, to find out more, sign up for your free teacher account, or register for an online demonstration.