to think our school reports suck

[Niceguy2]

Didnt know where to post this. Here or in education. Anyway...I guess you lot win Hope you can bear with me.

Right situation is this. DD(14) gets a report home at the end of every term. Once a term the school gets the entire day off so we can (cough) meet the teacher. The meeting is for 10 mins with her form tutor who knows nothing of how she's doing from each subject other than a one liner written by each teacher and whats on the report I have.

With me so far?

The report is what can only be described as a matrix of random looking levels for effort, attainment and school target and FFT target. It looks impressive and complicated but when you drill down its full of holes.

So for example. My DD was targeted to get a 5c at the end of last year in German and she achieved 5a. Great! Fair enough? Yet this year her end of year target is still 5a. Oh but her autumn term performance is already 6b. Yet her FFT target is 7c! You'd think the logical thing to do would be to raise the end of year target? Nope. Apparently school never changes the target. OK so my daughter can now just sleep through her German class? After all, she's overachieved in her first month right? Confused yet? Cos I am!

That's just one example. And of course not being her subject teacher, form tutor can't answer any questions in detail. So ask a question like "Hmmm, i notice in Maths she seems to be struggling. In which areas should she focus on?" "erm........i don't teach her maths."

Oh and where did her French results go? I see an end of year target but no effort grade or attainment. When asked, form tutor didn't even know if she did French! Given she's not taken her options yet, you'd think he'd know if French was a subject they have or not!

AIBU here and being a typical asian parent who is expecting too much? Or should I be pestering the headmaster and telling him his system sucks.

Not sure about the numbers she's been set (my DS is only 4.5 so I've not got to that stage yet) but I think it's unreasonable not to see every teacher who teaches your DD. When I was at school when the dinosaurs roamed about 20 odd years ago, my parents saw all of my teachers in turn. I used to have to go round each teacher and make an appointment for my parents on a special form, then my parents would go and meet each teacher in turn. I'm surprised they don't do that now, but then the ConDems have probably put a stop to it, along with their other cutbacks.

I agree with Kitty - it is 4 years since my DD left secondary school, but we had parents evenings which involved seeing all the teachers in turn. I think a ten minute interview with the form tutor is ridiculous for a 14 year old pupil.

Does her report have any comments on it about her progress, or is it just numbers and grades?

Teachers should certainly be giving individual feedback about your DD's attainment. I would be inclined to tell the HT his system sucks - does he cope well with criticism?

I have just been to my dd's yr11 parents' evening tonight. It was dire and dull. Tbh most of her subject teachers have no clue anyway and her art teacher was downright rude.

Am I to assume that you have a termly meeting with her form teacher and then a yearly parents' evening in order to speak to subject teachers?

If that is the case I wouldn't get too riled about it. It's probably a way for the school to give you a chance to raise any concerns you might have. It doesn't sound like your dd is a concern as she is doing so well.

Targets are a nonsense and I ignore them. So long as your dd is thriving and enjoying school I'd be concentrating on that continuing.

Niceguy2 YANBU. Though I'm yet to enter the world of schooling as a parent, one of my friends recently told me that all the school reports at her kids' school are done through drop down menus. The teachers don't really have to think too hard about what they write if it's all pre-done, do they? When I was a teacher, many moons ago, report-writing was a huge job to do BUT I always found it very motivating as it gave me an opportunity to focus on each individual in my class and assess their progress, performance, and future targets (set by me). Teachers should be given the time and opportunity to review all of their students in this way, otherwise it's a complete waste of everybody's time and money.

one of my friends recently told me that all the school reports at her kids' school are done through drop down menus.
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don't I wish :)

We have similar reports from school. We get a set of numbers for effort, attainment, behaviour etc 3 times a year. We don't get any written comments from subject teachers.

Regarding the targets, I believe that the targets for DS are too high in a couple of subjects. The school have said they cannot change them because they are based on KS2 SATs results. So on some subjects by the end of KS3 DS will exceed his targets and on other subjects he may not meet them. But the targets cannot be changed in year 9 based on achievements (or lack of them) in year 8.

Remember old school reports? Levels A down to F, and a bit about how crap/good you were at school?

These reports now look like gobbledegook. God knows how parents who have little education understand what the hell is going on with the kids. Why does it all have to be so complicated?

Sounds totally crap.

I would be mystified too. What is the point if you can't get an answer to 'why are they doing badly in maths?' - without an answer you can't try and do anything about it!

Students had to go to parents evening too at that age. Totally horrific for me having to sit and try and explian my unbelievably up and down marks in front of parents and teacher (I expect that was the point!)

I know what you mean, OP. DS1 went from primary school in Scotland straight into Year 8 and suddenly everything was being 'levelled' in this mysterious fashion. If you've no prior knowledge of SATs, these mean less than nothing, regardless of parental attainments. It only started to make any sense once he was following GCSE courses and grades followed the A*-C pattern you'd expect.

I help by going in to school to listen to the children reading on a regular basis (primary school). This week I have been asked to listen to all the children (not just those known to need support) so that the teacher can incorporate my views into her comments for the upcoming parents'evening. I am not a teacher, just a mum who offered to help out, don't know whether to be flattered or appalled that my opinion should count for anything!

southern - I think you should take it as a compliment. If the teacher doesn't have time to hear the children reading, IMO that means you are the reading expert for that class. And why not? Parents should be involved with their children's education. Based on this thread, I applaud the teacher for (a) caring enough to seek your opinions rather than just trotting out a formulaic report; (b) not being so egotistical as to pretend that she know everything when it's clear that she doesn't.

Oh, and 'just a mum' is one of my pet hate sayings . I'm sure you're much more than that - I am!

YANBU but at least you get some kind of report!! All I get is a sheet of my DDs target 'now' and what she may be 'at end of term'

We have these ridiculous things Niceguy. They call them 'Target Settings'.Total waste of time for me trailing on the bus as the form teacher does not teach DD (that's all he ever says!) and that she is a delight to teach.

These reports now look like gobbledegook. God knows how parents who have little education understand what the hell is going on with the kids. Why does it all have to be so complicated?

Totally agree with you Donkey. I was horrified to see a D on DDs sheet, in a subject she is in the top band for and although I got the eye rolling from DD saying it is all differnt now and D is good (wtf?) I still had to grill the form tutor and get him to explain in detail how the grades work. I must have sounded a rather pushy mum. But even after he explained I came away none the wise I'm afraid. and I wouldn't consider myself uneducated.

Thank god they still have a proper parents evening once a year where you can see individual teachers. But not sure they like me so much because I have a A4 sheet of questions for them

FFT targets are not set by the school & the schools are meant to report them, not to change them. if the child exceeds/underachieves, then that is what you need to know - a target is set for them to get, if they do or don't make it, you don't want it to be constantly changing.

schools are then judged on whether they meet those targets, so they don't get to change them. the target tells you what, on average, pupils with the same results as your dd, have gained in the past, so she should aim for that.

schools are obliged to give one written report, max of 50 words per pupil per subject, per year. these termly updates are meant to be 'snapshots' of data, not a full report.

you should also have the chance to have a teacher conference once a year - fairly common practice is a once a year subject by subject consultation, with an additional 'pastoral' chat with the form tutor.

pupils in yr9 usually take one modern language. some schools teach a range, and different sub sections of the year group will be taught a different language - so the form tutor could have a mix of different languages within one form. however, as a form tutor, i would never go to a consultation without having the child's timetable in front of me, so i'd know which language they took.

if you don't get to speak to subject teachers at all, i'd contact the teacher directly.

fwiw, i'm assuming you know if your daughter takes french? again, the fft target will have been generated by the agency outside the school, to show how pupils with your daughter's ability, typically do in that subject. they don't know if your daughter actually does french or not.

hope this answers your questions, though the form tutor should have been able to.