Critical DevelopmentsFrom First Principles Works

Critical Developments · Product 05

HP Source

Make recognition timely, fair and visible.

House points, rewards and recognition.

See HP Source in actionSee what it solves

The gap

Recognition should be more than a number with confetti.

House points can reward effort, animate collective life and ensure that good work is noticed. They can also become a formula-heavy spectacle whose rules are invisible and whose rewards arrive late, if at all. HP Source treats recognition as a chain of accountable acts: evidence, calculation, decision, follow-through and, only then, celebration.

  1. 01

    House-point exports are rebuilt through private spreadsheet formulas.

    Duplicates, missing rows, rule changes and corrections are difficult to trace.

    Checked imports preserve source evidence while a visible, versioned policy derives scoring and reward results.

  2. 02

    Pupil points and House Cup event bonuses are combined in one mutable total.

    The published score cannot explain whether it came from pupil activity, an event or a correction.

    Separate pupil-point and Cup ledgers reconcile into the official score without changing pupil totals.

  3. 03

    A threshold is calculated but no person owns the reward.

    Pupils appear on a list while recognition remains unissued.

    Rewards Due records entitlement, owner, due date, issue state, notes and correction review.

  4. 04

    A leaderboard becomes public by default.

    Pupil names or sensitive cohort information travel beyond their legitimate audience.

    Staff analysis, aggregate display and individually approved recognition are separate permission and publication decisions.

  5. 05

    A presentation rebuilds the House race by hand.

    Event order, corrected points or tied results can drift from the verified ledger.

    Report, Showcase and Grand Finale read one frozen snapshot; reveal order may change the drama, never the result.

Feature map

Find the tools for the task.

Choose a school task to see the relevant tools and their boundaries, then open the walkthrough.

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Areas 7Features 31

School tasks, the tools that help and the boundaries to keep in view.

Prepare the pupil and points evidence

  • Place pupils in the right Houses

    Import the approved minimum pupil, Year, form and House information. Resolve missing House membership through reviewed mappings, with the appropriate configuration and import permissions.

  • Keep dated evidence useful

    Bring dated achievement and behaviour evidence into the scoring workflow. Imported behaviour remains available for analysis; it affects scoring only where the school has explicitly chosen a category rule.

  • Check before committing

    Reuse column mappings and review compact summaries of accepted records, duplicates and exceptions before committing an import.

  • Compare and correct

    Compare a chosen import period with an explicit school reference. If a batch needs correction, an authorised user reverses it while preserving the original evidence.

  • When only annual totals exist

    Use a cumulative pupil total when dated transactions are unavailable. This route supports annual rankings; it cannot be mixed with active dated transactions or used to invent weekly or term history.

  • Connect through Wonde

    A read-only Wonde connection can bring supported roster, activity and deletion information into the import process. Before activation, the school needs approved scope, agreed mappings and credentials, followed by a school-specific demonstration and checked setup.

  • Review lesson-to-points links

    A permitted, reviewed lesson command can be accepted from a connected product. The products must be licensed, the destination permission current and the school's event catalogue approved. Draft lessons do not automatically become points.

School setup required. Compare results with the school's own records and demonstrate the chosen workflow before school use. Import checks do not certify supplier data. Discuss the required licences, data approval and connection setup before relying on a live integration. No automatic connection or invented point values are promised. Wonde and lesson-to-points connections need approved school scope, relevant licences and checked setup before activation.

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Compare House and pupil progress

  • Preview the scoring approach

    Review category rules and compare raw or per-pupil scoring before saving a new policy version. This is a school decision; earlier published snapshots retain the policy they used.

  • Explain the House race

    View raw House totals or points per average active pupil. Per-pupil scoring uses dated active membership rather than an assumed fixed House size; a missing population does not produce an invented score.

  • Choose a useful ranking

    View pupil rankings for permitted school, Year, House or form groups. Week and term views require dated evidence. Equal results remain tied rather than creating an artificial winner.

Rankings describe the available evidence and the school's chosen rules. They do not establish a pupil's overall contribution or guarantee improved engagement.

Open this walkthrough

Follow through on earned rewards

  • Define earned rewards

    Set named thresholds and reward items for earned entitlements. A pupil's earned total is not a spendable balance, and issuing a reward is not described as deducting points.

  • Keep ownership visible

    Record an owner, due date, notes and issued state with the entitlement. Reassigning responsibility does not grant new pupil access or send a message.

  • Preview: rewards needing attention

    Preview queue options bring due, overdue and review cases together, prioritising unfinished permitted rewards. Issued rewards remain separate, and the list does not widen pupil access.

  • Preview: default responsibility

    School or tier defaults can use linked tutor, Year lead, House lead or coordinator responsibilities. Missing or ambiguous staff links leave the reward unassigned rather than guessing.

Preview options. Reward permissions and current pupil access still apply. Responsibility, entitlement and issue are separate records. Ask about availability and school setup for the preview queue and default-responsibility options.

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Run the House Cup with a clear record

  • Record reviewed competition results

    Enter a placing for every active House and freeze the reviewed scoring scale. Tied occupied awards are shared fairly without inventing a single winner.

  • Keep adjustments explicit

    Record discretionary House bonuses separately from pupil totals. Correct a transaction through an equal-and-opposite reversal while keeping the original visible; repeat reversals are rejected.

  • Retain the season's history

    Preview academic-year rollover and keep final standings and historic champions. Changing a finalised Cup season requires deliberate reopening, so historic corrections remain explicit.

Cup transactions and pupil points serve different purposes. A House bonus does not silently change individual pupil totals.

Open this walkthrough

Share recognition with the right controls

  • Approve first-place recognition

    Prepare recognition for first-place results within the selected scope. Inclusion in a snapshot requires the school's approval, current pupil access and individual approval. No pupil name is published automatically.

  • Preview: fixed publications

    Preview publication options preserve one set of standings and approved content. Later scoring changes do not rewrite it; a new publication replaces earlier active links, and a publication can be withdrawn.

  • Preview: display choices

    Preview options include dated Report charts with table alternatives and a slower reception Showcase. Choose treatments without changing scores or rank. Only approved frozen content is shown; reduced motion keeps the information available.

  • Present the Grand Finale

    Reveal verified House events at the presenter's pace with reconciled running standings. The reveal order never changes points, results or the champion.

Preview options. Dated charts need dated evidence. Private tutor totals stay separate from public presentation content. Ask which preview publication and display options are available before planning their use.

Open this walkthrough

Preview reports for the right audience

  • Preview: save a report definition

    Choose the report's permitted group, period and audience, then publish a fixed result. A saved definition provides a repeatable starting point without silently changing an earlier publication.

  • Preview: private tutor totals

    A tutor can read the published numerical totals for their currently permitted pinned form. Private pupil totals remain outside public display content, and current permission is checked when the report is read.

Preview options. These preview options require additional reporting setup and confirmation of availability before school use. Private pupil totals remain separate from public displays. Preview reporting: ask about availability, the required school setup and permitted audiences.

Open this walkthrough

Control access and keep records responsibly

  • Separate named and aggregate views

    Named pupil records follow ordinary pupil permissions. Aggregate-only views can omit pupil names. An assignment or administrator role alone does not grant named or sensitive access.

  • Preview: sensitive analysis

    SEND and disadvantage analysis each require separate permission, which administrators do not inherit. This scoped preview option is subject to availability; confirm the permitted view and school setup before use.

  • Review retention before changes

    Preview which records a retention policy would affect, and use deliberate controls before deletion or removal of identifying information. Legal holds can preserve records that need to be retained.

Preview options. Retention periods and live use require school and data-protection approval. These controls support school decisions; they are not a compliance certificate. Sensitive-cohort analysis is a preview option; confirm availability and the separate permissions required.

Open this walkthrough

This does not claim a live Wonde feed, enabled email delivery, deployed public display, school approval or certified outcome.

Compare with competitors

Find the right fit.

Official published descriptions checked 27 August 2026. Feature sets change; procurement requires direct verification with each vendor.

  1. 01

    ePraise

    ePraise foregrounds a broad engagement platform: praise points, badges, certificates, biographies, House leaderboards, shops, draws and more. HP Source is narrower, concentrating on verified point evidence, versioned scoring, owned Rewards Due work, a separately reconciled House Cup ledger and controlled recognition.

    Compare the complete cost Request a complete annual HP Source quote including shared Account, Wonde MIS integration for the agreed scope, ordinary hosting and processing, standard setup, updates and remote support. Compare equivalent users, features, integrations and support, including any usage charges, using current written quotes. Supplier details · Request your complete annual quote

  2. 02

    Class Charts

    Class Charts foregrounds data-rich seating plans joined to rapid achievement and behaviour points and analytics. HP Source approaches the same point data from the other end: source verification, policy application, reward follow-through, House competition and frozen publication.

    Compare the complete cost Request a complete annual HP Source quote including shared Account, Wonde MIS integration for the agreed scope, ordinary hosting and processing, standard setup, updates and remote support. Compare equivalent users, features, integrations and support, including any usage charges, using current written quotes. Supplier details · Request your complete annual quote

  3. 03

    Arbor Behaviour Points

    Arbor foregrounds recording points from the homepage, lesson dashboard, pupil profile or behaviour dashboard. HP Source does not replace MIS point recording. It accepts the minimum evidence needed to reconcile rankings, rewards and House scores.

    Compare the complete cost Request a complete annual HP Source quote including shared Account, Wonde MIS integration for the agreed scope, ordinary hosting and processing, standard setup, updates and remote support. Compare any additional modules or integration charges within your current MIS package, including the work needed to use them. Supplier details · Request your complete annual quote

Best fit
A school that already records points but needs one inspectable source for reward thresholds, House standings, corrections, follow-through and carefully governed celebration.
Not intended to replace
The MIS or classroom behaviour-entry system, safeguarding or pastoral casework, the school's decision about what deserves recognition, or the human act of actually giving the reward.

Editorial perspective

The argument behind HP Source.

House points can reward effort, animate collective life and ensure that good work is noticed. They can also become a formula-heavy spectacle whose rules are invisible and whose rewards arrive late, if at all. HP Source treats recognition as a chain of accountable acts: evidence, calculation, decision, follow-through and, only then, celebration.

The spreadsheet is not the neutral option

Many reward systems begin reasonably enough. Points are exported, formulas are added, rankings appear and somebody promises to tidy the workbook before the next cycle. Over time, the spreadsheet becomes both calculator and constitution.

The problem is not that spreadsheets are wicked. It is that consequential rules become difficult to inspect. HP Source keeps imported values as evidence and makes the policy that interprets them visible and versioned.

Celebration is not made less joyful by being accurate. It is made less embarrassing later.

One number can hide several kinds of point

Pupil-earned points and House Cup bonuses may both contribute to a House race, but they are not the same record. HP Source keeps those ledgers separate, appends reversals rather than editing history and treats tied placings as ties.

These rules allow a score to remain explainable when the excitement has passed and somebody reasonably asks how it was produced.

Rank is not a theory of human worth

A leaderboard is a view of recorded points under a defined policy, not a moral inventory of pupils. Staff analysis and public display are separate. A ranking does not automatically authorise publication of a child's name.

Reaching a threshold can create an entitlement and an owned item in Rewards Due; it does not guarantee that the reward has actually been issued. Celebration that never reaches the pupil is just an impressive chart of unfinished work.

Drama without creative accounting

Grand Finale can reveal verified events in an order designed to preserve suspense. The boundary is simple: presentation order changes only the reveal. It does not change dates, results, points or the champion.

A tied final result remains a joint result; software does not invent a tie-break because a singular crest would look better on the last screen. The ceremony may build tension. The ledger must not.

Timely recognition needs an owner

Rewards Due identifies what has been earned, who owns the next step, when it is due, whether it has been issued and what requires correction. This prevents the product from claiming success at calculation while the human act of recognition remains stranded between an export and an inbox.

HP Source cannot decide what a school ought to praise. It can make the chosen rules inspectable, the evidence traceable, the follow-through owned and the celebration faithful to the result.

With and without

Where the work gets lighter.

The point is a shorter reward cycle, consistent thresholds and less staff time rebuilding rankings and notification lists.

  • Faster reward cycles
  • Consistent thresholds
  • Timelier tutor recognition

Calculate reward earners

Without HP Source
Copy exports into a formula-heavy tracker and manually investigate duplicates or missing fields.
With HP Source
Validate one import and apply the school’s saved, visible reward rules consistently.

Prepare group summaries

Without HP Source
Rebuild tutor-group and year-group rankings and charts for each reward cycle.
With HP Source
Generate the agreed staff views and small graphs from the same checked dataset.

Follow up rewards

Without HP Source
Compile and send separate lists, then rely on informal follow-up to deliver rewards.
With HP Source
Use the Rewards Due list to identify earned rewards, organise follow-up and record delivery.

Measure it properly. Any published time-saving figure will come from the same task measured before and during a school pilot.

Security · UK GDPR

School data deserves more than a padlock icon.

Security and data protection are part of the product boundary. Certification, school approval and live use remain separate decisions.

Collect less

Define the minimum fields needed for each job, validate imports and avoid copying wider MIS records into the product without a clear purpose.

Control access

Use role-based permissions, least-privilege defaults and auditable administrative actions for data that should not be visible to every member of staff.

Protect and delete

Treat encryption in transit and at rest, tested backups, retention controls and reliable deletion as baseline technical requirements.

Make procurement evidence available

Prepare a clear data map, processing agreement, subprocessor list, retention schedule, technical-measures summary and practical DPIA support before contracting.

School-facing boundary: the school will still need an appropriate lawful basis, privacy information, access policy, retention decisions and—where the risk requires it—a DPIA. The supplier’s job is to make those decisions informed, documented and technically enforceable.