...to roll my eyes and sigh heavily at this mistake in my son's school report?

[Tokamak]

Final Parents' Evening of the year last night. DS has done really well in Reception and has exceeded expectations in nearly all areas. This produced a warming glow of paternal pride in the old chest.

He also got a glowing report. However on reading it, I saw this is in the section on social development: "...he is aware of the way his behaviour effects others."

I did think about pointing this out to the teacher, but as she's really nice and DS has done so well and been so happy in her class, I bit my lip. I used to be a primary school teacher myself and am well aware how easy it is to make a typo in reports, so maybe I can give her a pass on that; but if she really doesn't know how to use 'affect' and 'effect' correctly, it's a bit saddening.

O Tempora, O Mores.

I did complain to DD reception teacher last year. 4 or 5 typos/grammatical errors was poor. Getting her date of birth wrong was rude. And having a report that said zero about her personnally (only a cut and paste job with the poor grammar connecting the sentences) was unacceptable. If she had had a class of 30 I may have let it go and just chalked it up to my expectations clearly being too high. However she had a class of 6. Yes 6. And she wrote a totally crap report. We rejected it. She rewrote it. Head apologised.

Slips ups allowed. Sloppiness for one of 6 reports not. 6 FFS.

Tokamuk I'd like to go against the grain here and say I think you sound a lovely chap. I too have an Inner Sanctum of Grammatical Purity at home.

My kids' school (OFSTED rated "outstanding") reports habitually feature errors of the affect/effect variety, which I have let go as didn't want to appear pedantic. However, when I saw errors of the their/there and it's/its type going uncorrected in my DS' workbooks, I pointed it out to his teacher, who just said "Oh, yes." Not bothered at all.

I think this is is unforgivable. If I were a head teacher, there would be a "three strikes and you're out" policy for teachers unable to identify basic grammatical errors. If they can't teach children what is grammatically correct and what is incorrect then they should not be in education.

As for the "it might have been a typo" comments, what tosh. If it was a typo, the teacher clearly didn't check through the reports before sending them out (lazy) and if it wasn't a typo, the teacher doesn't even know it was an error (ignorant). Laziness and ignorance are not qualities that should be excused in those charged with educating children.

Affect/effect I have never got my head round this one, so I would have noticed or cared.

However, since it's a stock phrase for reports it's one she ought to learn to keep the pedants at bay.

High schools genderless cut and paste annoys me far more.

They did....

I want to know what DD1 did.
She's dyslexic and eccentric I know you have lots of them to do, but these reports do not tell me if despite her difficulties she is holding her own in your class.

Never mind I'll see you at parents evening.

(They can cut and paste all they like for conventional DD2)

I am amazed no one picked up on the software for generating school reports mentioned earlier in the thread!

At primary level, I would prefer one side of A4 that was clearly about my child (heck, half a page would do) rather than four pages of cut and paste edu-speak that tells me nothing.

As the school report is the only individual written communication you receive from the school about your child, and as it is only once a year, I do not think it is too much to ask that a bit of care goes into it.

Ithaka, we used the comment banks for termly reports in a secondary school. They were used in conjunction with short written reports from subject teachers (who have hundreds of students' reports to to write). Teachers are still expected to sit down and write something about each child.

Be kind.

Assume it is a typing error not a grammatical error.

My son's form tutor has utterly confused him with another child! I would have settled for a typo and a report that was actually about my child.

Oh no Karma. Did they use the wrong name or was it obvious from what he was saying about the child?

Already postpone left wing

The principal is your pal

That should have said already posted one:

The principal is your pal

So a principal, e.g. Of a school is with pal ending and a principle e.g. A tenet is ple

I don't think it's unreasonable to nail badly spelling teachers to trees right alongside the people who drive at 30mph, regardless of the road conditions.

I used to teach and once got some A level reports back from head of sixth form because I had written practice instead of practise . I never made that mistake again!

MulberryMoon, it was obvious from what he said about ds - he talked about a shared hobby that my son doesn't even have!

No report as yet but had parents evening tonight - it was lovely to hear that DS is 'progressing much more quickly in numeracy than writing'

My DS report refers to him as HER in several places......I don't think I'll raise it but it does make me think the teachers must be so busy not to re-read and sense check the reports.

Let it go. The reports I wrote this year contained 45,000 words.

Of course I proof-read it all and used the spell check on the computer but I'll bet you anything I missed a mistake somewhere, and no doubt the parent of that child immediately rushed to MN to write about what a lazy awful teacher I am.

Do love these teacher-bashing threads.

Badgercub..and if you had 6 reports to write? 6. Then? And the head had 45 in total to maybe proof read? Not bashing teachers. Love the teacher. Trusting them with my DS from September. Hated their report-writing. Last year DD in reception had:

Wrong date of birth.

Wrong gradings from the EY curriculum (computer had not updated the graph properly apparently - teacher did not bother to check what my DD actual gradings were matched what was printed out).

Written report was a series of cut and pastes from the EY tick lists joined together with poor typing (spelling/grammar). Nothing personal about DD at all.

In this situation with a newly qualified (though mature) teacher do I just let it go? When there are 6 in the class. And imho no excuses for such sloppy reports. Class of 30 - fine. Class of 6 no. I did not let it go -I needed an accurate report for my DD. The teacher needed to learn from their mistakes - not in a vindictive way - but if no feedback then no improvement/learning.

Ohhh sorry...rant over...can you tell it touched a big nerve for my first ever school report for pfb . I did get report re-written BTW.

OMG! The teacher used 'effect' instead of 'affect'!!!

Obviously she's not qualified to teach your genius child.

I write approximately 135 reports three times a year. They are FULL of grammar and spelling mistakes, typos and other mistakes. Luckily they go through a self check, a form tutor check and a second check before they do to parents. I have no doubt the odd mistake will still slip through though.

Recent howling mistakes I've spotted in my own reports include:
'Handwriting and speling remain areas for development'
'X has been an absolute delight to pleasure to teach this term.'
referring to a boy called Chris as Christ twice in the same report
'Unfortunately, he faces challenge with an unfortunate attitude'
'X should aim to proof read her work for avoidabel errors.'
'This term Year 6 have been developing there use of ...'

I know perfectly well how to spell spelling, Chris, avoidable and their for possession. I also know not to use the same word twice in a sentence and certainly have no wish to pleasure my pupils! But these things happen.

My DS has a flare for music, apparently.

To OP,
I wonder whether your child's teacher has ever had cause to roll her eyes or sigh a bit at your DS's lack of ability to perform some basic skills that would normally have been acquired within the family environment.

Just a thought.

We had a comment form sent out with our reports which your parents had to sign to show they had received it, but they could also write whether they agreed or thought some of the comment were unfair, complain if there were mistakes etc.

Perhaps that should be more common?

I had no issue with the DT's reports (they're Yr R so first ever reports, v exciting!) BUT I did have an issue with the letter - presumably issued to every single parent in the entire bloody school - which came WITH said reports, from the HEAD TEACHER for gawd's sake. In the very first paragraph, she says that the school will be re-structured into "three tears". This is the Head who's been drafted in to raise standards in, er, literacy.

FishFingersAreOK I agree that not checking 6 reports would be laziness.

I've had to have words with colleagues before about this. Yes we all make mistakes and are pushed for time but there should be some degree of checking and editing before sending anything out!

To everyone saying the EYFS profile is a cut and paste job, in many schools the profile itself generates the report so it's not a case of cut and paste, rather it's that the school has instructed its teachers that this is how their reports should be produced. The teachers may have very little say in it.

My colleagues edit the profile text if they feel the wording is unsuitable for the child or family, and add a general statement about how the child is doing but otherwise the report is essentially a long list of which early learning goals each child has achieved.

The Head checks all of ours. So he/she might have changed it...