Already losing the will to live - report writing.

[2kidsintow]

It's that time of year.

I've got a full class of 30. We are expected to write personalised comments for Maths, English, Science and a general comment.

Then add them to the incerts generated reports comments into the report template.

That should be it, but the incerts comments are do clunky in phrasing that you then spend absolutely HOURS proof reading them.

Yawn.

[IsItFridayYetPlease]

I'm on serious report avoidance at the moment, hence my time on MN now! //wine

[IsItFridayYetPlease]

Well that failed! Try again, have some to get you through!

[PickledPorcupine]

17 separate boxes on mine and I spent nearly all of half term writing them. We're also completely banned from any copy/paste at all. Still need to proof read. Makes me so angry when people call teachers lazy!

Keep going!

[2kidsintow]

Thankyou, for the encouragement and the .

We aren't banned from copy and paste, but can only use it if the comment still really suits the child.

It makes my heart sink when I'm at my child's school and the reports come out. Parents open them, flick through the pages to get to the 'general comment' about the child. I understand as a parent that it's that bit that is most interesting and relevant to the parent, but all the same...

Due to being off sick when the rest of the school had their parents' evenings, I've got two of them this week. At least writing the comments for the reports means I can use them for the parents' evening too.

Small mercies.
Lots of - but not until after I've written my few last comments for tonight.

[RinkyDinkyDoo]

Wish we only had to do the core subjects and a general. We have core and all subjects, general and targets.so that's 11 boxes plus a general. Have spent 11 hours on them so far and still have core and general comments to do.

[2kidsintow]

11 boxes - yikes. That's a lot of typing.
We do have boxes for all the other subjects and when we proof read we do try to tweak them to better reflect the children's ability.
But which parents care what their targets are in geography, PE or art? Madness.

I've spent all day today and two other afternoons. I now just have the general comments to write.

Then the proof reading will commence.

[breward]

17 Early Learning Goal boxes (4 sides of A4), a general comment (half a side of A4, with a one line Head teacher comment) and three Characteristics of Effective bloody Learning boxes (1 side of A4) here!

Plus next steps for Reading, Writing, Number and Shape/space. A pupil page and ELG Outcomes grid.

A 4 year old's report at my school = 9 pages!!!!!

I've had 2 children go through the school and have never read a whole report yet!

[petalpower]

2kidsintow - we use incerts too and I agree, the comments are clunky ('starting to begin to' .... that sort of thing). In some ways I wish I could just write everything myself. We've still got three weeks before reports have to be with the head but it's there like a nasty little gremlin on my shoulder.

[2kidsintow]

I just resign myself to rewriting the comments into more friendly speak - that's the point where I end up not using copy and paste, but find and replace so I can replace everywhere they've used a ridiculous phrase "Can almost... " with something better.

2 weeks tomorrow the head teacher wants ours. I always aim to be one of the first to get them in to get them out of the way. ;)

[partialderivative]

How is cut/paste avoidable when you are required to enter the same shit for every child?

There is another thread on chat (I think) where parents have typed what they actually want to read... no surprises; they want to read more than two lines that are specific to their child.

I am a parent and a teacher, I will sift through the guff to find the stuff that actually refers to my kids.

I'm certainly not bemoaning teachers, just the strange way report writing has been sullied with over the years.

[Nonie241419]

I've nearly finished mine, subject to tweaks when we do the final summer assessments. However, I don't have a full class set as I'm in a job share so we split them. I really appreciate that at this time of year. Hope you all manage to get them done and out of the way (until this time next year!).

[echt]

We have so many mandated forms of expression and a teeny tiny free comments box, I have no shame in cut and paste.

As far as I am concerned, all my work has gone into detailed feedback on students' work, so the report is a summary/ attainment, with points for improvement future. If the parents haven't seen these feedback sheets, then they need to cultivate a better relationship with their children.

There should be no surprises in a report, especially as two tick box progress reports will already have gone out. But still, they are surprised.

[Lara2]

Haven't even started mine and supremely pissed off because we have to do it in bloody Target Tracker which means they can only be done in school unless I do hideous amounts of copy and pasting!!!!!! Hate, hate, hate Target Tracker and my stupid Leadership Team for insisting we do it like this! Where the hell am I going to find the time? I'd much rather work late in the comfort of my own home then at school where I'm constantly clock watching until kicking out time.

[Lizziewarmington]

One of my colleagues worked out it's the equivalent of writing up a PhD !

[IsItFridayYetPlease]

Can't you ask school to let you download Target Tracker on to your home computer? - we all have and it's great. TT is cloud based and all you need is to download from their website and get the user key from school (We all copied it onto a memory stick). We all signed confidentiality agreements as it is pupil data out of school, but it is no different from taking a piece of paper with all their NC levels or APP sheets home, or even their books as they have NC levels and targets in. It might be worth an ask?