Excellence awards

As a Choice Theory, positive psychology school, we know that acknowledging achievement before peers is an important developmental right of passage. Everything we do at Joey Banks is well researched and with good reason. 

Sir Joseph Banks High School's Excellence Awards acknowledge growth and success. Rewards are ineffective long term, as the motivation is the reward, not the achievement. 

Our merits acknowledge growth and achievement. They recognise the development of the ‘whole child’ across three areas:

Community Champions are THINK awards that recognise a student’s contribution to our school community. Students can earn THINK awards for being Truthful, Helpful, Inclusive, Necessary and Kind. This could take the form of Volunteering, Exceeding Expectations and Representing the School.

Zero Heroes are RESPECT awards that recognise attendance, punctuality, attitude and application. Students can earn RESPECT merits for ZERO absences (95% attendance with a satisfactory note for any absence), ZERO lateness (95% punctuality with a satisfactory note for any lateness), ZERO negative incidents on Sentral and ZERO N-warnings/Lack of application letters.

Learning Legends are LEARN awards that recognise learning growth, academic and sporting excellence. Students can earn LEARN merits for Academic Excellence, Academic Growth and Sporting Excellence.

Students earn 1 merit each time they demonstrate excellence in Community Champions and Learning Legends which is recorded on Sentral. For every 5 merits earnt students receive a Bronze Award, for 25 merits a Silver, for 50 a Gold and for 3 Golds a Platinum. The pinnacle of the awards structure is the Most Valuable Pupil Award (Me>We @ SJB MVP). For this a student needs to have earned a Gold in all three award areas.

Teachers do not award merits for Zero Heroes. This data is collected through Sentral where attendance, lates, negative incidents and N-warnings/lack of application letters are automatically recorded. This happens at the end of each term. 

Our students demonstrate excellence every day. The new SJB Excellence Awards structure provides another way for us to acknowledge this excellence. Progress up the ladder can be tracked via Sentral’s Student and Parent apps.