Bad school report

[Meme2019]

Just got my sons school report for year 2, it’s not good. Do we discuss the report with him?

Yes, why would you not?

What age is Year 2?

In what way isn't it good? Progress? Behaviour? Attainment?

Why wouldn't you? I really don't understand it when parents keep schools reports away from children?

Not good how? I didn't think they were allowed to be properly negative on reports these days.

I would.
I discuss the good and the bad bits of DS's report with him.

Yes but please mention all the positives too! (no matter how small they seem!)

I'm a year 2 teacher. Yes, you should discuss it with him. It's about him after all. What do you mean by 'not good'? If behaviour then absolutely you need to talk.

Ronald year 2 is 6-7. Yes you discuss it with him. In what way is it bad op? Not achieved expected levels but a happy, well behaved child who has really tried their best is completely different to behaviour issues, disruptive etc.

Depends. If he works hard but isn't attaining well then I'd congratulate him on working hard but wouldn't express concern about his grades. If his behaviour is poor then stern words would be had.

Nothing behaviour related just Working below national expectation.

Across the board, certain subjects? Is he having difficulties grasping concepts or just distracted? Have you had previous indications from school or have the opportunity to discuss results in a wider context? Worth finding out more before raising with him.

Agree with the others, I read out the good comments (which for mine tend to be tries hard etc). Then I’ll say, Mrs X says you need to do some more practice with whatever. Then something positive again.

We haven’t had poor behaviour but I guess you use the same shit sandwich approach. Most schools take the approach that reports shouldn’t be a surprise, had the teacher not discussed issues before?

It’s only a bad report if he could do better but can’t be bothered. But he’s only 7, you need to be positive and tell him how you are going to support and help him to be the best he can be.
Are his weaknesses across the board, or just writing?

No, don’t make a massive deal of this at all please. He is 6/7 and does not need to made to feel stupid or inferior in some way because he isn’t yet meeting national guidelines.

Buy some workbooks and plough some work in through the school holidays, ask the teacher how you can further help him as well.

If he’s trying his best then there’s nothing to be gained from telling him he’s not achieving as well as his classmates, in fact quite the opposite. In y2, so long as they’re making an effort there’s not a lot they can do about it and it’ll serve no useful purpose.

IMO nothing in a report card should be a surprise. Were you made aware he was needing/ getting support for any subject?

Was anything mentioned at his parents evening appointment about his attainment?

If its just that he is working below level expected I cant see what good it would do for him to know that. They are what we tell then they are. It could affect his self belief to be told he isnt doing well. Tell him you are proud of his behaviour and think of fun ways to help without telling him. Play cafes and get him to work out change. Word bingo. Read together. Let's write a story together. Help him. Dont tell him he has a bad report. He is little. He needs to know mummy thinks he is wonderful. If he was being badly behaved I would say tell him. But not cause he is struggling to keep up and not whilst he is only 6 or 7.

My DS got lowest scores on Writing so I just said we would need to practice that over the holidays. Nothing critical.

Sorry just seen that Y2 means he's only 6...sorry I'm based in Scotland and wasn't sure what age group that was.

I wouldn't make a massive deal to be honest but if you're concerned you could ask for ways of supporting him at home....reading together more, writing in chalk outside, measuring heights of plants together or something.

But surely "working below national expectations" just means "tries hard, behaves well and just isn't academically able"?

Not all children are clever. Some children for whatever reason try their hardest, behave well and just don't achieve. And that's fine. If your child is trying their best then there's nothing to criticise and it's not a "bad" report.

As a teacher, I would say no. The report should show you the areas he needs support in - focus on providing that support, without him knowing what you're doing. Pointing out his weaknesses will damage his self esteem.

If he's working below ARE then he'll probably already know that there are things that he finds difficult and that some children in his class pick things up more quickly than he does.

Praise him for all the positives in the report eg behaviour, progress and things that he is able to do.

Don't explicitly say that he is below ARE but say that there are some things that his teacher says he finds difficult and choose a few to work on over the summer.

The most useful will probably be to read with him every day and to work on his maths fluency eg addition number bonds, doubles, counting forwards and backwards in 2s, 5s and 10s and his 2, 5 and 10 times tables. Lots of rote chanting combined with fun games on the Internet eg Hit the Button.

In that case you need to figure out why this is happening. Is your ds young in his year and not very motivated about "sitting down and working"? Is his concentration poor? Does he have particular problems w reading, or w writing? Not everybody is academically inclined but most can master the basics w support. If there is a clear mismatch between his oral and written abilities it's probably worth trying to work out what's going on.

Bad school report

Nothing behaviour related just Working below national expectation.

Could you explain to us how its bad ?