To think its harsh to not find one positive thing ??

[supermario10]

Just read my DS school report and honestly can not find one single positive thing 🙈 any thing remotely positive is then followed up by a negative....

Feel really sad for him 😞

Maybe he's a pain at school ?? Although I have not been told that by school if that is the case. He's definitely a reluctant writer but other than that is doing well at school..

He is in Year 2 ...

I’d be upset too op - my son is HARD WORK and they’ve managed to be nice about him.

What kind of thing do you mean?

I suppose it depends which part you're looking at? The typical reading/ writing/ maths parts of ones I write will typically be a mix of "can do x and should now work on y" or "needs to continue to work on z" type things, which I suppose could come across as not all positive. But the final box for teacher's comments will be something much more positive.

I mean this gently, If nothing positive I’m not sure he is doing well to be honest. Book in an appt with the teacher to discuss. What sort of thing had they written?

Talk to the teacher. It could be the teachers style of reports. If there really is a problem you should have been informed before now.

DD's first teacher at school managed this, along with not having said one nice thing to me about her for the whole year. DD also used to come home calling herself 'stupid'. A word she didn't hear in my house. DD has SEN and got a diagnosis that year.

The burning hatred I feel for that teacher hasn't abated in 5 years.

Fortunately every other teacher DD has had is wonderful, caring, sweet and kind.

Even the teacher comment was very general...nothing positive..."he is beginning to" ... "he is starting to" "when he remembers to" and then that he liked the antarctic topic ?? ... I promise I'm not being super sensitive , I honestly cannot find anything...

@Bluntness100

@Bluntness100 did you mean that? Or NOT doing well ??

@MrsTerryPratchett my mum still hates one of my brothers teachers and he’s nearly 40. When he was 8 then at a parents evening my mum was told he was a loser, who would never amount to anything. How can you tell that about an 8 year old?! For clarity he has a doctorate from Oxbridge

I think you need a conversation with the teacher before you feel sad. If he is being reported excessively negatively, I'd be cross. If he's being a toad, I'd be cross too and want to knwo why I haven't been advised this was the case.

Primary school reports are usually super positive even for the most ‘difficult’ children so I’d assume that there’s something going on that you don’t know about. I’d make an appointment to speak to his teacher about it.

I’d be quite shocked at that. With my children’s schools I find that even negative points are worded really sensitively. Its not hard to think of a positive way to describe behaviour, for eg hyper and annoying could be described as energetic and enthusiastic. I wouldn’t expect a report to be completely sugar coated, but you shouldn’t give one that’s completely full of negatives.
What exactly did it say?

My DC’s school report was so generic, nothing personal to my DC at all.
In fact I think they probably did a cut and paste with the names for most of it.
At yr 2 I wouldn’t care too much as long as they were changing teachers at the end of this year.
If not I would address.

I think Bluntness means that if the teacher has nothing positive to say, then your DC isn't doing well at school.

my mum still hates one of my brothers teachers and he’s nearly 40

Good grudge-holding that woman!

This happened to my son once. I complained to the school and the Head phoned to apologise to me. He read the report and agreed it was unnecessarily negative.

Copy and paste generic sentences. Most reports are breathtakingly uninspired

Isn’t that positive op? That he is beginning to, he is starting to etc? That’s progression right?

There should never be any surprises in a school report. Any issues should be brought to your attention well in advance of a report being written.

My friend works in a school and she’s just prepared all of the primary year pupils reports. All of them… even though she doesn’t personally work with all of the children. The teachers review and may amend but that’s why it may be impersonal.

@Bluntness100

Isn’t that positive op? That he is beginning to, he is starting to etc? That’s progression right?

That’s what I was thinking. What’s the end of those sentences? So he has been previously hard work but now he’s improving in multiple different areas? I think you’re misunderstanding and taking things the wrong way

But surely the 'He is beginning to...' ones are positive (assuming you mean things like beginning to make progress in x, y or z, or beginning to to things he's been asked to do etc)?

If there are no comments you regard as positive, and no negative comments about behaviour etc, what kind of comments are there? Just ones saying how he needs to improve?

I just got my year 4 child's report and his teacher didn't even spell his name properly.

Make an appointment to talk to the teacher and remind him or her that positivity breeds positivity.
TBF after writing 30 of these reports I would start to flake too.

I bet some teachers would like to write what they really think of our little darlings

@supermario10

Even the teacher comment was very general...nothing positive..."he is beginning to" ... "he is starting to" "when he remembers to" and then that he liked the antarctic topic ?? ... I promise I'm not being super sensitive , I honestly cannot find anything...

Most teachers have to use report writing software to write reports these days. School management usually insist on it. You have a list of copy and paste statements for all the subjects that you click on to add to the report. There are statements for emerging learners (basically, those who are struggling and not where they are expected to be yet), then statements for kids who are about on target, then statements for kids who are ahead of the learning objectives.

The language used in your son’s report suggests that he is an emerging learner and isn’t quite where he’s expected to be yet. If that sort of language is also used re: his behaviour and relationships at school, it suggests that he is not behaving very well either and has some issues there. It is infuriating because I’m sure most parents would rather be told straight that their child is struggling with school work and behaviour than have it hidden behind this sort of language. As she’s used this language in her own comment it seems as though she’s copying the ‘tactful’ language from the statements for each subject. It can be difficult to write a positive sounding report for a child who is struggling with learning and behaviour, especially if they’re not particularly enthusiastic. I’m not saying that your son is definitely like this, but this is what I would believe the report to mean (ex teacher, so au fait with ‘teacher code’).

I would make an appointment to see the teacher to have an honest discussion about what your son is like in school and where you can go from there.

Do you have an app such as class dojo to message the teacher? I’d use it if so and ask further questions. If they haven’t personally told you he’s a pain in the arse and he’s never been in serious trouble then how can you be expected to know this? You need to ask.