Primary school reports

[PeskyIsland]

AIBU to wonder what they're for? What's the purpose?

Is it:

a) Constructive feedback giving the child a tool to improve the following year?

b) Useless and just a nightmare for poor teachers and another tick box exercise?

c) A place to have some subtle or not so subtle digs at children who don't fit the mould?

My children get quite lovely reports with the occasional "could focus more".

I think reports in primary school are an outdated concept and I can't see how they help in a child's education.

Think it's just to keep the parents in the loop.

I expect how useful they are depends on the school's culture and the attention and efforts of the individual teachers. DD had a good report with some very specific issues raised that we can work on at home. Her friend had a report that flagged a possible future issue. It was clear the reports were very personal to each child. If you have a generic box ticking exercise they're probably fairly pointless.

Schools legally have to report to parents on attendance and attainment.

So that there is a way of documenting anything untoward.

I found my DS’s report really useful, especially after the year we have just had. It detailed where they expect children to be and where he is, there was some specific suggested learning points. Also as he is changing Key stage next year there was an outline of what the expectations will be going forward.
There was also all the standard attendance stuff which I think they have to tell us.

Such a mix.
Have worked in schools where the report is f*ing onerous. Essentially ends up being paragraph upon paragraph of curriculum statements about what the children have ‘enjoyed’ doing over the last year. English (split into reading writing and speaking/listening) Art, history, geography, science, French, cooking, the list goes on (and on). For 30 kids with 10/11 curriculum areas plus an individual general comments box it’s a lot of work and there is inevitable cutting and pasting which makes a mockery of the whole thing.
The best places I worked asked me to give ticks for effort and attainment in main curriculum areas but expected a large and completely personalised section about each child and what they were like in the classroom. It enabled me to really have the time to sit and think and write about that child. Also came hand in hand with regular parents evenings and communication home.

I agree with you OP. Parents in DD2’s school are so obsessed about them !! I think teachers have some standard templates. Once my daughter’s report got swapped with another child’s. I realised wording in both reports was exactly the same.

I would really, really prefer a measurable output, rather than these report. As a foreign person, I also struggle with translating them from British to English - on the surface, it reads as heaps of praise, but on the second reading... there seems to be a passive aggressive undertone to everything said.
If my child behaves as a little prat in the classroom, TELL ME, my fragile little world won't break. I need to know it, not try to guess between the lines.

This year they have been useful for us as we haven’t done parent evenings - but with parents evenings I don’t see the point. In primary anyway. I would prefer to have an extra 5 or 10 minutes per parents for parent evening to have a more detailed discussion than spend the time on school reports. If there’s an issue that needs raising then the parents should already be aware anyway, it shouldn’t come as news in the report. If children are doing well it’s nice for parents to have that in writing, but hardly essential. Time spent writing reports could definitely be better spent in other ways.

@coodawoodashooda

So that there is a way of documenting anything untoward.

Not strictly true. Any issues should not be raised in the summer report, nothing should be a surprise. A good teacher will have raised concerns long before a report.

It’s to keep parents informed. They are at school 5 days a week for a huge chunk of the day, it’s so you know how they are getting on i thought

I just find the whole approach outdated, maybe feedback on google classroom at the end of each term would be better? Also the written part I s so subjective yet it's the ultimate judgement of their whole year.

It just seems a bit victorian.

I think that they are really helpful. Covers areas where child is where they need to be, areas for improvement, things to focus on etc.

What don't you like? That it is a hardcopy or something specific

Useless. I wish they did keep me informed and let me know how they're getting on etc but they are just absolutely glowing about my children and everyone else's, nothing useful that I can use to help them next year. last year my yr 5 daughter and her friend had the exact same wording, just the names replaced. So in my opinion, let teachers write constructive reports with the real info or give them that time back and scrap reports.

They are so positive as to be meaningless. I write them and I can tell you that the vast majority do not wish to read anything even slightly negative. I try to give some useful feedback but I am always having to think about whether the parent will be upset. I really see no point to them whatsoever. We are also told to write about the clubs the children attend. Odd when a parent surely knows if their kid likes volleyball already.

I just find the whole approach outdated, maybe feedback on google classroom at the end of each term would be better?

Why would putting it on Google Classroom be any better? The format, style and frequency of reports will certainly affect how effective they are, as will how good the teachers are at writing them. But I don't see why there is anything inherently outdated about a typed report (whether it's on a screen or on paper).

Reports are only a meaningless exercise if they are done badly. They are not 'a way to have digs at children who don't fit the mould' - what an odd idea! I quite like writing reports as a way of giving feedback on pupils' progress. It's easier to be careful and considered about what you really want to say on paper than it is in person, so tyat you can give the most useful pointers and advice.

I always end up feeling massively sorry for my middle child. DC1 and 3 are hugely academic so always excel across the board and they’re always above average in the tick boxes for every subject. DC2 is below average for most things, she always has been. She isn’t hugely academic but is fantastic at sports, this isn’t showcased in the report because it’s always very core subject related. It makes me feel enormously sad for her.

Also hate the bit about attendance, one year they tried to say my DC would achieve more with better attendance. They had been off for a week with chicken pox and 3 days with norovirus, the school knew this!

I think its really useful. Especially now we aren’t even allowed to talk to the teachers in the playground. Gives me somewhere to start from in preparation for parent’s evening / being called by school.

In the way they are done in most secondary schools (I don't teach primary) they are pointless - utterly pointless. They are basically a list of the statements from each subject specification saying the child 'can do' them. They have become more and pointless as managements and some parents demand more and more volume. They are usually generated from a comment bank as it would be physically impossible for a teacher to complete such lengthy reports on every child.

I long since gave up writing negative comments on children on reports as frankly many parents don't want to read them - and can become very agressive on parents evening. I know that's not helpful to parents who want to hear the truth about their child's behaviour and attitude but I just could not sit through another parents evening and deal with that level of hostility and aggression again. I find it far more effective to phone home at the time to raise concerns about progress or unexpected poor behaviour rather than wait until the end of year report goes home. Too late to address it then. I find this approach far more effective and the majority of parents are happy to assist and are grateful I took the time and trouble to raise any issues early on.

What I do put on reports is a far more toned down version of what I would really like to write. So, for example "X can behave appropriately and at times listens to instructions and sometimes works well with others in the class". This means than for most of the time X does not work, does not get on with others and disrupts the lesson.

In my opinion it would be much better to go back to what we used to do. Far brief, but far more personalised reports. I am not suggesting we go back to handwritten reports - but when we did them that way - and wrote just one paragraph then the report actually had meaning. It was not just a load of edu mumble that most parents either don't care about or don't understand.

The purpose is to report attainment and attendance. They’re statutory.

www.gov.uk/guidance/reporting-to-parents-at-the-end-of-key-stages-1-and-2

Parents must be given the opportunity to discuss them, so if you’re unhappy or just want more, contact the school. At my school we have parents afternoon to coincide with reports.

maybe feedback on google classroom at the end of each term would be better

Do you mean you want a video conference every term? Or just an electronic copy? You should be invited to parents evening each term. Prior to the pandemic, this was usually a face to face discussion. Over lockdown they’ve moved to phone/video call. I think some schools might keep this model, but I think there’s a lot of value in children sharing their work and school environment with their parents.

A report like the one suggested by Roald Dahl in Matilda might be quite amusing.

I like the way primary school reports are done in the UK, something I miss here where it literally is a box ticking exercise (boxes to tick whether they are sufficient, excellent, or working towards each subject, or in the later years, which grade they get for each subject and whether or not they progress to the next year) with no personal comments about the child, nothing about their strengths and weaknesses or what they enjoyed learning that year, that's the kind of thing I want to know as a parent, though of course their actual attainment level is good to know too.