No written school report?!

[Tearsofthemushroom]

My DS is at the end of Year 7 in a local grammar school. We had a parents evening in the middle of the year and at the end of each term get a list of effort and achievement grades, but there hasn't been a single written report throughout the year. I'm not concerned about my DS's progress but it would be useful to understand how he can improve and for any parent whose child is having problems it must be a real issue.
Does anyone else's school run reports like this?

[bestbefore]

We've had 2; one like a benchmark and one after their tests around Easter. Maybe give them a call as it sounds unusual these days with all the blinking assessment and testing and predictions?

[user1471530109]

Yes. Normal at our school.

But the kids should no how to improve in
Their books. Plus, those that DO need to improve will have a comment or target. This way you don't get a one off report of copy and pasted comments and you actually get regular feedback.

[noblegiraffe]

No written reports at KS3 at my school either. They’re a waste of time in general, excessive workload for little return so have been binned.

Your child should have plenty of idea of how to improve from feedback in lessons. Parents evening is the opportunity for discussion, unless there are serious problems in which case you should have been contacted.

[SueDunome]

At our school, reports come out at the very end of the summer term, when it's too late to do anything about it 🙄

[MongerTruffle]

At our school we have one summary report with grades and one written report. The dates for these vary so that teachers don't have a huge number of them at a time.

[noblegiraffe]

Having written a large number of reports over the years, even if the dates for year groups vary, the number of pupils taught per year group (even in maths) means that the amount of time spent on an individual written comment is necessarily tiny and will most likely not be unique.

[TeenTimesTwo]

We don't get words either.

Generally I have found it fine. I look at exercise books on the rare occasions they come home, ask for DDs to bring tests home, and if need be email a teacher.

[noblegiraffe]

I think it can be a big change for parents in Y7 from the personal touch in primary.

Primary teachers spend all day every day with your kid, they get to know them really really well.

Secondary teachers see your kid in a big group of kids for less than an hour at a time less than a handful of times per week. We really don’t get to know them in the same way.

When I wrote reports, I did the naughty kids first, then the really keen beans because I could think of things to say. Then there would be a mass of reasonable kids in the middle and I’d have to find different ways of spinning out the word ‘fine’ into a written comment.

[Dancingdreamer]

I have a real issue with just effort and achievement grades. I had no idea how my son was doing in reality. The grades looked good so I thought everything was ok and at parent evening we were assured all was well. It was only when I pressed for more information that it turned out my son actually had some of the lowest grades in the school.

It turned out he has a severe form of dyslexia. If I had not pushed for more information and relied on grades I would never have known this.

[Dixiechickonhols]

DD year 7 at Grammar. Towards end 1st term we got report with grades for homework and effort, and whether meeting/above/below expectations. Plus a parents evening. End term 2 as above plus short written comment from each teacher. End term 3, same as term 1 plus exam grades aswell.

[LoniceraJaponica]

There are 270 students in each year at DD's school. Teachers simply don't have time to write personal comments about each student. The reports just outline target grades and currently working at grades. They also get graded for effort, behaviour and home learning.

[TeenTimesTwo]

I agree that 'achievement' grades do need to be given with context. I know noble doesn't like flightpaths as they can give a false degree of accuracy, but some indication of 'if they carry on like this they look vaguely on track for whatever kind of grade' is needed somehow to put things into context.
I continue to be amazed by schools that give out reports without any guidance as to what the grades mean.

[LoniceraJaponica]

"I continue to be amazed by schools that give out reports without any guidance as to what the grades mean."

And I continue to be amazed that parents don't understand how time consuming report writing is. In a primary school where the teacher has only 30 pupils it is doable, but for subject teachers who might teach over 100 students for their subject only it is a big ask. Isn't that what parent's evening is for?

[noblegiraffe]

I wouldn’t mind a vague banding that suggests a student is either in a group that you’d expect to get a high grade at GCSE, that is expected to pass GCSE or that will struggle to pass GCSE. I think that level of info is doable (and amendable as the years go on). It’s the flightpaths that say ‘little Johnny got 108 in KS2, therefore he will be getting a 7 in 5 years time’ and ‘to meet this target he should be a 5B in Y8 and he’s only a 5C therefore he is below expected progress’

[TeenTimesTwo]

Mind you, up to now DD, finishing y8, has been on a projected grade 4-5 for French. If that doesn't change to 1-2 this term, I might stop believing in the whole system.

[Floottoot]

Dancingdreamer, we've just had a similar experience with DD. Her school gives a termly report that grades 1-5 for attitude and attainment; 5 being outstanding, 4 being excellent etc. No suggestion of what they're on target for in GCSEs, at the end of year 9.
DD for 4's in biology, teacher wasn't at the only parents evening of the year. When it came to the end of year exams, we realised that DD's book has never been looked at by the teacher, and that all work was copied from the board; DD has SpLD which means she finds copying difficult, and her work was littered with mistakes, incomplete etc. Neither has she been set homework.
Despite her "excellent"s in the previous data capture, DD scored less than 50% in the exam, the class average was 40% and the teacher clearly had no idea how that class was actually performing.

[Rosieposy4]

Never mind 100, i teach 327 different kids each week ( not including those who come to extra curricular stuff). I cannot imagine how i would write meaningful reports on all of them every term
We only have to do written reports on our tutor group, and so yes if your kid is in y7 you have yet to get written feedback, but you have had 5 lots of effort, achievement and target. The students know what they need to do to improve from my feedback, maybe have a look through your childs books.

[ReservoirDogs]

We have numerical reports during the year and a written at the end of term. I assume year 7 hasn't actually ended yet so you may getbit when it does.