the power of the positive

Positive Noticing is simple, practical and highly effective. It is an everyday relational strategy, any time, any place.

Catching children doing the right thing and marking it with positive acknowledgement is not just kindness, it teaches behaviour. You get more of the behaviour that you notice most.

The impact of positive noticing is both immediate and long-lasting. It helps build self-esteem and confidence in children and shifts the culture in the classroom so that the right behaviour is always the most sought after behaviour.

positive noticing in action

Last year, Positive Noticing Day was celebrated by over 600 schools that have been able to share improvements in their learning culture, their peer-to-peer relationships and the sense of school community throughout the year.

Last year, we were delighted to see the creation of Positive Postboxes, Positive bands, labels and badges. We saw positive noticing for learners, staff, parents and even pets. Positive Noticing is something you can make your own and share with us online using #PND2023 or by tagging @PaulDixTweets

working with home adults

Positive Noticing Day is an excellent opportunity for schools to engage their wider communities. It is a chance to work with the adults at home to wrap children in relational practice.

You can send a label home, encourage your learners to positively notice their home adults, share some of our resources to help adults at home and encourage them to start noticing and acknowledging when their children are doing the right thing.

the power of the positive

The idea is that every learner leaves school/college on Positive Noticing Day with a positive label tied to their bag/wrist/blazer/hair (they can of course choose to keep the positive label private and not display it).
You can make labels using our templates or buy them at a Post Office or by searching ‘brown luggage labels’ on Amazon.
Talk to learners about Positive Noticing - what it is and why it matters. You can watch our briefing for some ideas. It is really important that you set them up properly so that it is a serious reflective moment in the day. We don’t want positive labels being used for negative comments.
Make sure every learner has a label. Ask every learner to positively notice the person next to them/their partner. Ask learners to swap give and receive labels once they have been written. You could do this in Tutor/form/Pastoral time, as a large group in assembly or as a 10 min break in teaching
Make sure every learner leaves with a label.
Tell us about your day, share images of your labels or learners (without showing their faces) using #PND2023 #Inotice @PaulDixTweets