BOSCOMBE school Bethany Church of England and the Joy Café in Churchill Gardens have joined forces to help reward students for representing their school well.

The scheme was set up by the school council, which consists of students in years five and six at Bethany Junior School, as a way to promote positive behaviour and helping others in their local community.

Head Rachel Hoskins said: “We hope that the scheme will encourage students to have good manners and choose healthier snacks.

“The scheme will help encourage the students to practice two of the school’s values of confidence, by making their own order, and showing compassion towards others.

“At one of our recent assemblies, I asked students to share what nice things they have been awarded tokens for. One boy was awarded a token when an old lady in the café knocked over her chair and the boy picked it up. It's little things like that.”

Staff at the cafe can award children tokens for smiling and showing good manners, showing compassion to others and being confident enough to order their own food or drink. Since its creation, the scheme has been a real success with many students going out of their way to help others and put a smile on people’s faces.

Holly James, a year five student and a member of the school council added: “We want to make the Joy Café more popular and some children go there quite a lot after school. It would also be good to get more children to eat healthier snacks.

“We hope that this can go on for quite a long time. It would be good for the council next year to keep it going.”

Each class has a jar to put their tokens in and, at the end of the academic year, the class with the most tokens wins a selection of cakes from the café. The individual who collects the most tokens in the school will win a voucher for a free snack from the coffee shop.