The Behaviour for Learning Policy is the new system started up by Mr Reeves from September 2009. He spent an entire period explaining to everybody how the new system works. It has changed and been tweaked each year since. Perhaps recently some of the more drastic changes were seen with the change from record books to an online site, and when BRGS decided Vivo was too expensive they swapped it for their own achievement point system which can get you, at most: some certificates, skip to the front of the queue lunch passes (which is flawed as not everyone uses the canteen/canopy), and a chocolate bar if your Head of Year is feeling particularly generous.
Supposedly, teachers "will give you the chance to correct your behaviour. You may at this point be moved, or given a few minutes outside to cool down. If your behaviour does not improve, the teacher will issue penalty points via the school network" (from the 'blue folder') however this act of kindness and believing in second chances is rarely seen and teachers are more likely to just straight up give you a penalty point.
In the past getting no penalty points or having a high number of merits was rewarded with a trip such as laser tag or bowling, or at one point school even brought in an ice rink to the bottom astro.
Nowadays, rewards like this seem very out of reach and we can only dream of getting more than a certificate for our efforts. (However, some select few who get the most achievement points in their year group get to go to "High Tea with Mr P" although this is out of the reach for the remaining 98.888% of the year.)
Note: people with the most achievement points are not actually those who have earned them, but simply those with teacher such as Miss Ogle or Ms Marti.
The majority of teachers (or at least the ones I've had) in the 2019/20 school year have admitted to not handing out achievement points as they consider having to log into the computer etc too much fuss, in fact a number of these said they handed out something like 3 in the first week and haven't done any since.
At 30 penalty points:
At 50 penalty points:
If you cross the next threshold (70 penalty points):
Mr Reeves, it is his system, surely he will be enforcing it, can be known to spot bad uniform quickly so pupils quickly sort their uniform when going past him!
Ms Marti will give you achievement points for just breathing. You don't even need to be in the lesson!
Miss Rowan - Answer an (often extremely easy) questions during her class to earn a tick on the whiteboard. Get 5 ticks and you bag yourself a reward point. Other ways of being rewarded - win a competition (the highest amount she has given away for one competition is a grand total of 25 rps!), or smile at her, or be in her form. Unfortunately, for those of us who are actually good at the language she's teaching, she seldom asks us questions (no questions means no answers which means no ticks, which means no reward point) except if its one a French speaker of 30 years would know the answer to. However, she has actually just started giving out reward points if your name isn't on the board if she just likes you.
With the new system, everybody is required to have a book to track merits and penalties (called a record book, but some teachers instead refer to them as "your book", "merit book", "record card", "<insert colour of book here> book", "penalty book" or "penalty point book" and possibly some others), if this is forgotten, a temporary book (never laminated and always a different colour to that of 'The Book' from the current term)is used just in case 'The Book' is required because if it is, and you don't have it on you, you (are supposed to) get an instant detention (though this is commonly not the case).
If you lose your book you go to your Head of Year or your form tutor for a new one, and you get a penalty point. 'The Book' has two halves, the front half is merits, the back half is penalties. Unless you are a goody goody in every lesson, you are more likely to have the book signed in the back half. In the first term it was blue and in the second term it was green and laminated so it didn't fall apart. Then it was a vibrant yellow... whatever next? Well, we found out the answer.... another vivid blue! The books are always laminated without any names on the front and so you are supposed to write your name on, despite the fact it will have rubbed of within a few days.
'Vivos' are used instead of merits, as staff saw that pupils did not have much interest in certificates. Vivos are usually meant to be given out in groups of five, but as is found, they are nearly always alone. Vivos are the equivalent of gift vouchers which can be spent in some shops or online. Teachers never mentioned the value of a vivo, but compared with prices are actually quite negligible (saving up from Year 7 to Year 11 wouldn't be enough for some products).
The record books are still issued as before, with merits (even though they were replaced) in the front and penalty points in the back. Teachers do not sign vivos in record books but assign them to students online. The vivo reward system does not apply to sixth formers, but neither do penalty points. Those who are in years 7 to 11 do get a card to pay using vivos and an internet account on www.vivomiles.com to keep track of their vivos. Parents can also make an account and follow their child(ren)'s progress.
Usually you must gain 5 merits to achieve a commendation, but you must gain 10 merits to achieve a commendation in Year 10 and Year 11.
You would get a certificate for each commendation in assembly.