To think DDs teacher was drunk when she wrote her report

[Pantone363]

At the end if YR2 DD was:

Reading: 3C
Speaking and listening: 2A
Maths: 2B
Writing: 2A

This year YR3:

Reading: 3A
Speaking and listening: 3C
Maths: 2A
Writing: 3B

The report says its a shame DD hasn't made expected progress with reading (which er she has if I'm correct about two sub levels?). Mentions nothing about the fact she hasn't made expected progress in Maths or speaking and listening. Informs me that to improve DD needs to read more at home (she's just finished the fourth Harry Potter at 7). And then lists her main strength as um reading

It also tells me how much she enjoyed the school trip she didn't go on.....

Does this woman even know who your dd is?

That is terrible and unprofessional.

I think that is a classic case of End Of The Year Fatigue mixed with Cut & Paste Report Technique Failure.

I think you deffo fill out the return slip at the bottom with a carefully worded and slightly passive aggressive little missive.

Sounds like a use of statement bank.

I hate statement banks, they are an awful way of spending 3x longer to write a report that is less accurate as you pick the least inappropriate statement. I worked in one school with them with no scope for a personalised comment. The next school had space for 3 open paragraphs. Writing 3 paragraphs was quicker and easier than selecting 6 sentences from a list.

I agree, let the teacher know, that you know, that he/she was blatantly pissed when writing the reports!

That's sloppy and lazy, even if you are shattered after writing 35 reports, you sleep and then proof-read every single one. Then you get someone else to check them.

I did get a Y9 Spanish report covering DS's negligible progress, participated class activities but poor oral skills, homework good. Level around 4A I think.
He dropped Spanish at the end of Y7.

I once got a report for my ds that started to refer to 'her' and 'she' halfway through. total cut and paste job. it's a special shame because it makes you feel you can't believe any of the nice bits!

I think I'd show the report to the head, and tell him/her exactly what you've told us here.

I think all reports should be box ticking.

I'm a secondary teacher, and it is impossible to write anything meaningful on the hundreds of kids we teach. When I was teaching in the UK I would have between 4-500 reports to write. There's no way you can write paragraphs of individually relevant information without a fair few mistakes.

Reports really should be taken with a pinch of salt - I'm a firm believer that anything of note should be communicated to parents immediately, not to wait for report time. So, phone calls for any moderate misdemeanors, and praise cards regularly for positives.

To be fair, looking at those levels DD hasn't made expected progress in maths or speaking as listening- 1 sub level = 2 points. Expected could be 3 or 4 depending on school.

Shame about the rest though. As a teacher who ha just finished writing 29 end of year reports I must say it is a hell of a task, but one I feel a huge responsibility to get right!

Oh I see you said it hasn't mentioned maths etc. sorry, end I year itus! I have clearly lost to ability to read (it's mother wine honest guv! )

Gah! Can't type either!! End of year, it's not the wine...

I don't care about the written content. I do care that they have t mentioned the two areas she didn't meet expected progress and the one area that she did they said she didn't!

As a teacher, I would say go in and ask for clarification on the comments in relation to the grades. If it transpires it is erroneous insist on a reprint. Also, point out the trip comment. I always make a note of any children absent on trips to avoid this! My friend had one saying how much her child had enjoyed a club she never attended and would have loathed!

I once worked with a teacher who wrote a science report for a boy who had died 6 months previously. Thankfully it never got to his parents.

Ds1's school always post you the reports so that they arrive after the last day of term. I guess that way no one can question them. I don't bother filling in the comments as they clearly don't read them anyway.

as a teacher who has to write bleedin hundreds of reports - this is a mistake
most schools have to use a comment bank which automatically inserts text into the reports - she has clicked on the wrong one OR (as has happened to me) she has got the wrong child in her mind - a very easy mistake to make when you teach 500+ kids

The OP's child is in primary school though, so the teacher will be writing reports on 30 kids i would think. I think she has written the comments meant for a different child OP. I'd not go to the head over it but i'd ask for clarification from the teacher.

This is a ks1 report, so the teacher clearly isn't teaching hundreds of children. It's a really poor report to send home and I think OP should point this out to the school.

Mine are cut'n'paste-tastic, although generally more accurate than that!

Complete & utter waste of everyone's time.

If a parent isn't happy with how their dc is getting on, or just not happy with me, they are encouraged to email me (or ring so we can then play phone tag for the next 48 hours or so. Email's better).

Equally, if I'm concerned & need to speak to a parent, I email/write/phone.

Lengthy (& therefore comment bank/cut & pasted) annual reports really aren't a terribly helpful C21st way of communicating between school & home.

That said, I think a 'Were you pissed when you wrote this one?' comment on the parental feedback slip, would, in this case, give the staffroom something to talk about....

My DD just got her report yesterday.
I am taking it with a pinch of salt.
There is only one truthful teacher out of 10 or so who had the courage of her convictions and gave our girl the mark she deserved for being disorganized.

I HATE cut-and-paste reports using comment banks where you get the same bland comments about every child. They are apt to go wrong, as in the above example, and they don't give the impression that the teacher has formed a relationship with the child. Dull, dull, dull.

I think it actually takes less time to write an expressive single sentence like 'Bloggs's eccentric stories about Rumple the Talking Cushion are a delight, but his reading comprehension is not quite there yet and he is sadly totally unable to do sums' than to decide which of an interminable series of boxes to tick, tick them, and eventually fall into a cross-eyed, vaguely homicidal stupor as you decide that 'Bloggs shows competency in constructing complex sentences and using appropriate spelling, grammar and punctuation. Bloggs shows competency in factual recall. Bloggs does not yet show competency in evaluating authorial intention or understanding bias. Bloggs is significantly below expected competency benchmarks with regard to long multiplication and division'.

Grades along the lines of 'Z12.579P' aren't much use either.

Yes, I'm stuck in the Bunterish idyll of the 1920s. So sue me.

McGee, while I get your point, a comment like yours would get knocked back. Teachers are more or less made to use comment banks by the restrictions placed on them on what they CAN say, e.g. nothing negative, all comments must be related to objective criteria, etc.

I used to write individual reports, but as soon as the restrictions came in, I cut and pasted like a good 'un.

I think I'd chalk that one up to end of term brain fade.

Then I'd arrange to see her new teacher early next year to discuss maths progress.

Talking to the teachers is essential practice for secondary school. Y7/Y8 reports are a barmy collection of bland computer phrases and levels plucked out of a bingo machine.

Fortunately, in person, the teachers make far more sense.

Not good enough. Challenge her on it.