To think schools release reports right at the end of term to avoid being answerable to parents on what's in them

[Yellowlegobrick]

Why do schools do this? Its 2 weeks until end of term and still no reports.

It leaves no time to talk about interventions that might be needed or strategies to try and improve things. It also doesn't give time for parents to support on weak areas at home.

In theory there should be no surprises as there are parents evenings, but ime those aren't reliable, its when something is written down it counts.

They should be provided by spring half term so there's time to plan for the following year.

No shit.

It's always been thus.

My dc's high school send them out in the post the day after term finishes. They definitely don't want any discussion from them!

I don't know. My child's has never been terrible so not too much of an issue. But last year's definitely had content that was a surprise to me.

So I'm always a bit wary now

Every secondary school I've worked in has staggered them throughout the year so different year groups are released at different times. It makes sense to do it that way because we do reports 3 times a year.

For primary school reports, I've always viewed them as a summary of how the year has gone with some idea of what needs working on next year. I'd not expect an end of year report to be the first time I hear of any concerns.

We always sent reports out before Easter - and some parents complained it was too soon - can’t win
We did this so that any targets for improvement could be worked on

Contact the school and ask to discuss any concerns you have. Most schools send a form out with the report for parents to acknowledge the report and to comment

They are a summary of the year and include end of year assessments. There should be no surprises and interventions/work with parents should be ongoing through the year. Summer term is a bit late really. If the report is a shock speak to school leaders and boon a meeting with the next teacher in September to ask for a plan for your child.

No, it’s an end of year report.. given at the end of the year. My daughters school gave a report a few months ago in addition to this.

They should be provided by spring half term so there's time to plan for the following year.

The end of year exams would then need to be straight after Easter, to allow them to be marked and reports written. The curriculum would need to be chopped down to allow that, and then there would be 7 weeks to fill afterwards.

Nancy

These are primary kids, in most years there are no exams.

School reports shouldn't contain any surprises. Any issues and concerns should have been discussed with you during the school year and then the reports should be a summary of that year.

Most schools do parents evening, parents evening, report. All 3 terms are covered that way.

I agree with you OP. I have thought this for a long time (dd currently in Yr 6). We have parents’ evening in October and March and then nothing until the school report second week of July. I get that the reports reflect on the year but over the years it would have been helpful to know about areas my DD struggled with much earlier so we could discuss then with her current teacher. She particularly had a tough year in Year 1 and the report read as a bit of a downer and there was no opportunity/time left to try and work on the issues.

You are being ridiculous. You will get test scores or measures of your child being 'on track' or similar through the year.

Reports are an overall summary of how your child has done, they are no use for discussing interventions. Parents evening is far more useful for that. No clue why you think written is better.

It doesn't matter when a report comes out, if that is your only engagement with school then it won't achieve much.

These are primary kids, in most years there are no exams.

There are, they just aren't as obvious and formal. The principle is the same- diagnostic, terminal assessment is a big undertaking and can only be done when the child has completed the content

@donquixotedelamancha not sure about other people but I’ve had no test scores or measures through the year. Report due end of next week. As @Yellowlegobrick says, it’s too late for intervention by school or parent.

My Reception DC get their reports on 11th, then SEN meetings re: ILPs for Year 1 are on 13th, and all parents have been invited to book slots after school with class teacher to discuss any concerns before the end of term.

That's possibly not the norm, though.

Ds's primary and secondary usually gave out a week or two before parents evening which made much more sense. Especially in secondary as you could skip parents evening for those subjects where you had no questions and focus on the others.

Yeah they have secret conspiracy meetings for the sole purpose of annoying parents

There are assessments every term. The vast majority of school do end of term tests to support with this. For instance, most schools use Whiterose for Maths now and there is an arithmetic and reasoning test for the end of each term. These are used to inform assessments so sending out reports before these end of term assessments doesn't make sense. Nothing in a report should be a surprise and it's just a written down version of the same sort of information given at parents' evening so I don't find it any more valuable that them and I'm well aware of where my children need help from those meetings. I don't want an end of year report until the end of the year. Most schools give them out close to the end but allowing time for queries etc.

Yep, you're absolutely right.

But realistically nothing going to happen in the last couple of weeks even if they were sent sooner. If there's anything that needs to be done, that should have been dealt with much earlier.

Reports are just a collection of generic phrases. DS1 once got some lovely headteachers comments, brought a tear to the eye, then I read DS2's which was word for word the same 😆

Teacher here - that sounds like bad report writing! We have a parents meeting in the spring term so things can be mentioned in time, but we're always strictly advised that the end of year report should never mention things which are unknown to the parents, if there was something to mention then they should have been contacted already! If their report comes through and you want to discuss it, then definitely email the school saying you want a meeting as soon as new term begins!

I find parents evening far more useful than the written report. If there are issues, raise them as they occur, and the teachers shouldn't be waiting till the report to raise them.

I would much be more than happy to not have the reports at all, so much effort and stress for the teachers.

March to July doesn't actually have that much teaching time though, with Easter and May half term. It's unlikely there will be major issues not raised in March. Sadly, I don't think most parents are as diligent as those posting on the thread anyway. In many, many cases the best intervention would be to read with your child regularly, but very few parents do it.

Exactly this