Farewell to the naughty corner!

But that's all set to change, if an innovative scheme being piloted in South Yorkshire spreads across all the country's primary schools.

Teachers in eight schools in Rawmarsh, Rotherham, will soon be ordering pupils out of the classroom for behaving well.

And instead of standing in a dark corridor, the youngsters' destination will be a futuristic 'Praise Pod' where children are interviewed on camera about what they have done and why they think it worthy of praise.

The footage, rather like that produced in the Big Brother 'diary room', will then be used in school or presented to the children's proud parents.

Pupils have already been sent to the Praise Pod around 4,000 times in a successful pilot scheme at two Rawmarsh schools. The brains behind the scheme, Rotherham Primary Care Trust worker Richard Crook, explained the 'power of praise'.

"For too long we've had a culture in our schools of waiting for things to go wrong, but I think we underestimate how useful praising children is, and how little praise some of them get," he said.

"If children get regular positive responses, they're more likely to be able to act effectively upon negative feedback."

Mr Crook, aged 39, from Nether Green in Sheffield, said video had proved to be a particularly effective tool.

"Video is powerful and immediate and, unlike a sticker or anything else children might get for doing well, it allows them to watch what they did and why it was good. For parents we've been able to produce DVDs of their children's visits to the pods, and the feedback has been very positive. Very quickly the pod became a normal part of school life, and teachers said it helped them to identify good behaviour."

The prototype Praise Pods consist of an egg-shaped chair for the pupil, a normal chair for the interviewer, and a video camera - but Mr Crook hopes to develop a futuristic capsule of a pod, which children will climb inside.

Their footage could then be recorded and sent immediately via mobile phone to a parent or teacher.

"I've already had some enquiries from schools in Barnsley and Sheffield, and several companies have shown an interest in developing the idea. Eventually I'd like to see a pod in every new-built school in the country."

Claire Sneath, headteacher of Redscope Primary, said:"Children love the Praise Pod, and strive to be sent there by behaving and working well! Teachers say it has made a difference to the atmosphere in their classrooms and they use it regularly."

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