For many schools, the annual sports day simply would not be the same without ribbons, medals and a trophy presentation at the end of a long day.

Key points: Reward-free schools shift focus from competing against others to bettering yourself

Reward-free schools shift focus from competing against others to bettering yourself Principals say it pushes back against a culture of constant praise

Principals say it pushes back against a culture of constant praise But some experts warn it fails to prepare children for competition in the real world

But at St James' Parish School near the Victorian town of Ballarat, there is no such fanfare or memorabilia.

Instead of competing against each other, students compete against themselves — attempting to better the times and distances they recorded at the start of the year.

Children celebrate not with a shiny piece of satin to pin on their shirts, but with the warm inner glow that comes from achieving a personal best (PB), and working together to beat the total number of PB's set the previous year.

Ribbons were the last bastion of a bygone era when the school went reward-free five years ago.

Children at St James' Parish School practising for their school carnival. ( Supplied: St James' Parish School )

Co-principal Peter Fahey said he was initially nervous about changing such a traditional event but said the reception had been nothing short of brilliant.

He said students were especially grateful because they were able to let go of their anxieties about not coming first, or about coming last.

"It was like a relief. It was like this whole pressure just dissipated," Mr Fahey said.

"It was an absolutely beautiful experience to see.

"In the past children competed but it was at the expense of another child. Now they all gather around and cheer each other.

"The whole focus has changed to practise, practise, practise and try your best.

"There's a wonderful sense of collaboration and community."

Peter Fahey, co-principal at St James Parish School in Victoria, has done away with rewards. ( Supplied: St James' Parish School )

Stickers and certificates junked

The school started phasing out classroom and whole-of-school rewards 15 years ago, hoping to teach its students that success requires hard work, and shifting the focus to reclaim the love of learning instead of focusing on the prize.

Once its teachers relied on stickers, prizes, and merit certificates to motivate students. Now they are now all gone, and school assemblies are no longer about the presentation of certificates.

Merit award certificates have been removed from school assemblies. ( ABC News: Rebecca Carmody )

"We're creating a community which has challenged and removed many pre-existing practices of a bygone era and what is emerging is simply inspiring," Mr Fahey said.

"The diet of constant reinforcement and praise — where children are told they can do anything, they are bubble-wrapped, cotton-woolled and pampered in an attempt to raise their self-esteem — is having dire consequences.

"Our children and society have become praise-dependent and we have cheapened the things we truly value by making everything special."

Westmead Public School in western Sydney started its journey of phasing out rewards last year, after a group of teachers researched the benefits and convinced the school executive and parents to give it a go.

They wanted to try something new, believing rewards were making students more anxious and competitive and undermining their sense of fairness.

Westmead Public School in western Sydney is the biggest K-6 school in NSW, with 1633 students. ( Supplied )

At Westmead, achievement certificates are no longer given out at regular school assemblies and end-of-year awards have been abolished for Years K-2, replaced with a "celebration of learning" event.

End-of-year awards are under review for Years 3-6.

Some of the school's 80 teachers have stopped giving out stickers and instead provide feedback with post-it notes.

Deputy principal Emma Smith said it was a work in progress but they were happy with the results so far.

"It's not about the removal of awards, it's about maximising student engagement and intrinsic motivation," she said.

"We're challenging attitudes and values that have been entrenched in our culture as we've grown up.

The reward-free move has proved a hit with Westmead students. ( Supplied )

"We really want our kids to be focusing on their own individual race, giving them feedback about where they need to improve, rather than them worrying about how everybody else is going.

"We want them supporting each other."

Students who have gone reward-free were asked to write down their thoughts on the transition.

"We should have no awards ceremony like last year, so people don't feel left out. Everyone accomplished something." — Mridul, Year 3

"They [students who got awards] already think they are the best so they won't improve." — Kavinmathi, Year 3

"I liked last year because the teachers used to write what we did well. Last year, we got to write about what we did well and that made us think." — Aabha, Year 3

Rewards work for pets, not children: advocate

Wellbeing advocate and author Helen Street has been encouraging schools to banish rewards for more than a decade.

She said a small but growing number were coming on board with the concept and reporting excellent results.

"I don't see any need to give rewards for anything in schools," Dr Street said.

"If we bribe our kids to behave in certain ways, we might be getting short-term compliance but we are not supporting self-determination or intrinsic motivation.

"Children are not pets who we want to be obedient and compliant, under our control for life."

Dr Helen Street is the founder and chairwoman of The Positive Schools Initiative. ( ABC News: Rebecca Carmody )

Dr Street said she particularly hated rewards for being nice and kind, and whole-of-class rewards, where students worked together for a group prize.

"Schools mistakenly think it will bind children together but it doesn't because kids are really resentful of kids they think are holding them back from getting the reward," she said.

"The temptation of rewards distracts children from focusing on the process of learning academically, socially and emotionally; they are cut off from the many intrinsic rewards that come with this.

"Without intrinsic motivation, we lose engagement, interest and the possibility of connecting with our lives."

Concern lack of rewards may disadvantage students

Not everyone agreed with the idea of going reward-free.

Glenn Savage, a senior lecturer in education policy at the University of Western Australia, said in an ideal world teachers wouldn't need to offer rewards and prizes, but the classroom reality was a different story.

"It's difficult to make one-size-fits-all statements because, in any given classroom, young people will invariably respond differently to different approaches," Dr Savage said.

Dr Glenn Savage from UWA said a lack of rewards could disadvantage students. ( ABC News: Rebecca Carmody )

"Some will respond extremely well to a rewards-free environment, whereas others will respond positively to rewards.

Dr Savage also said rewards were an integral component of real world life and children needed to be prepared for this.

"Removing rewards and prizes from schools can risk establishing unrealistic norms in the classroom that shelter and insulate young people from the real world," he said.

"Beyond school, young people quickly learn that society and the economy are highly competitive and full of rewards, prizes, grants and other limited symbolic goods.

"Young people also often rely on rewards and other forms of recognition when applying for scholarships to high school or university, so regardless of whether we agree or not with rewards, a young person whose school offers them no opportunity to accrue status items like rewards or prizes may actually put them at a disadvantage."