Golden Time

Golden Time is a positive behaviour system to use in your class or even as a whole school. Many schools use it and adapt it to meet their own needs. The way I use it is based on Jenny Moseley's ideas (she has written a lot of Circle Time books too).

Basically, you share with your class the six Golden Rules:

Do be gentle
Do be kind and helpful
Do work hard
Do listen to people
Do be honest
Do look after property

For me, this has replaced the need for any other class rules. You could adapt them if you wish, but these seem to cover most things.

I make a chart with all my childrens names down the side, and the days of the week accross the top. This is a bit like a star chart, but using smiley faces and egg-timers instead.

At the end of each day, you ask each child if they have followed the Golden Rules. It's worth spending ten minutes or so daily on this for the first week or so, but they get faster, so it isn't too time consuming at the end of a long day.

Ask the children if they need a smiley or timer and to give you an example of something they have done following the Golden Rules. They are very good at evaluating their own behaviour and are usually very honest. This isn't a time to tell them off for discovering they weren't gentle because the hit Johnny in the eye! If they do want a timer, I usually say something like, "Well, you have started to follow the Golden Rules again by being honest, so well done!"

We have Golden Time for the last half hour of Friday afternoon. This is their special time where they can choose what to do, bring in games and sometimes we have structured treats like cooking or art. For each timer a child has got, they miss 5 minutes of their Golden Time. I use a five minute egg-timer and they watch this sitting on the mat whilst the rest of us run wild! If they have 2 timers, they have to miss ten minutes and so on.

Believe me, if they get timers this week, they will work their hardest to ensure they have none next week!

The children love their Golden Time and work hard to earn it. It is a big treat for them, and I am more than happy to justify to my boss the need for that special half hour in our timetable - it can always come out of the PSHE time anyway.

What I really like about it is that it works from Reception to Year 6 (although I have used the term Funky Friday instead of Golden Time with the older ones).

Any other ideas for Golden Time activities would be appreciated.