Have you ever been annoyed/irritated by your child's school report/teacher?

[faithfulbird20]

Not at your child obviously. But more at the report and thought Jesus which clown has written this? Does he/she even know my child? I honestly look at some reports and honestly they're so subjective rather than facts obviously. Even my own reports I used to open them and feel so disappointed as a child at the crap that was written about me. Secondary school reports are okay I guess but primary school ones...not so great. Same with parents day. Have you ever clashed with a teacher or corrected them to say err hang on what are you on about?

@Crepescular

Reality check for all of you whinging about your child's secondary school reports.

When I taught English at a secondary school - only a couple of years ago - I taught 150 students each week. Each fucking week. And had to write detailed reports on all of them, covering but not limited to their progress, achievement, behaviour and additional learning needs.

Just stop a minute and try imagine 150 individuals that you know or have encountered regularly over the past year. Now try to write a detailed, individualised report on each of them.

This is on top of the ten or so different 90 minute presentations you'll be giving every week to groups of 30, tailoring each presentation to the individual needs of each of those 30 people, many of whom are disinterested and disruptive, making sure you thoroughly assess them to ensure that they've learnt what was in your presentations. If they haven't - or if you haven't developed their critical thinking skills or writing skills or reading skills or verbal skills or maths skills or PSHE skills or citizenship skills sufficiently at the same time - you'll have to do it all again in a different way.

Not too much work for you? Now add all the data collection, recording and analysis that you have to do for these 150 people on a day-to-day basis every day and every week. Add the meetings, the e-mails and the continual professional development that make up the totality of most people's working days. And then add your extensive dealings with members of the public who think they can do your job better than you, despite not having a degree in your subject and a professional qualification and your extensive experience - thirty years' in my case - but who think they know better than you because they've been to school. Decades ago.

And you criticise teachers for cutting and pasting?

No I criticise them for not knowing how to replace a word in a document its basic copy paste all you want no one will really notice unless you use the wrong name

Greyhound. I know as if I'd let a 9 y r old wear eyeshadow ffs and she only own black or white trainer socks. It also said sparkly sunglasses. 🤷🏼‍♀️ proper random.

@Herecomesthesun70

Greyhound. I know as if I'd let a 9 y r old wear eyeshadow ffs and she only own black or white trainer socks. It also said sparkly sunglasses. 🤷🏼‍♀️ proper random.

I guess the teacher must be talking about dress up day or something, but about different child.

My most memorable

• P.E - Should aim for more participation in both lessons and ECAs. (Child spent 15 weeks with leg in plaster after being hit on zebra crossing outside school in term 2)

Rouge. I'd get that if they'd had any kind of non uniform day. The kids wear a proper inform it's a completely bizarre comment.

Have had some cut and paste fails with secondary school ones- wrong name, wrong sex, clearly about someone else.

In reality, there’s not much time for writing reports, so it will generally form a generic sandwich approach of ‘something nice, followed by a summary of the shit, summed up with a positive.’ I would expect something particularly tailored. Reports and parents’ evenings are the bane of teaching!

Generally happy with reports, there was one time with dd where (although it said her name) it was quite obviously the wrong child that i did have to contact the school

Wrong name once or twice but that’s understandable when a lot of the children may have the same first name

Yes and I had an apology when I questioned it as the teacher was out of order with what she said

I think my child is perfect and I wouldn't ever swap her (except when she won't sit still, never stops talking, doesn't listen, constantly falls over, breaks things, trashes the house and gets up to mischief). At the same time I know she struggles with social interactions, speaking, cluminess, rigidity in insisting rules are followed and a few other things.

Her reports have always been very positive but the staff are well aware of how she struggles and how hard she tries. Before her diagnoses they were not quite as supportive but still making allowances.

I think quiet children that just get on at school and never cause problems can become invisible easily if the teacher is focussed elsewhere within the class.

A child that is constantly disruptive will require more attention and is therefore better known by the staff that work with them.

I think that reports do mostly reflect on what the teaching staff are allowed to write/say and how the children are in class..