The Pieter Zeeman Lyceum in Zierikzee has begun rewarding its students for turning up. Every quarter, those present 95 per cent of the time get something nice with a note saying it is great that they are there so often. Students who attend nearly every lesson for a whole school year are given a day off, which they may take when they like — just not on a day with an important test.
The school also draws lots among the near-always-present for two amusement park tickets, and the winner has to spend the day off to go during school hours. Lateness and truancy are punished as before. Absence is rising in every year group, says Carin Gabriels, who runs teaching and quality at the school, and parents are part of it: two lessons on a day are easily skipped. Her own line is that being rewarded for what is actually normal behaviour is rather nice.
So…:
What do you take for granted that people would notice you thanking them for?
Source:
Picture:
Pieter Zeeman Lyceum (press)