oohhh yes, I am as cynical as you. Here in the U.S. the children get 4 reports a year - each report shows the grades from the previous reports. All B grade students get 'Honour Roll' and all A grade students get 'Superintedents List' Very hard to acheive either of these in the first quarter - quite hard not to acheive one or the other in the last quarter. The grades my children get year on year seem to follow a formula - a scattering of As and Bs to start with, all A's abd B's at the end.
I also think your number 3 is relevant to my children as especially my oldest is quite eccentric!