Are school reports worth much?

[Peaceflower]

It's been the season of parents evenings, etc. After my own experiences and chats with a number of other parents, I am coming to the conclusion that...... Deep breath, i'm going to be shot down.... Are school reports just "cut and paste" templates that teachers use?

It seems to me that standard platitudes and education targets which may or not apply to the individual child are being trotted out. I have come across some really blatant examples like "your dc should aim to know x key words" when in the previous report, it states the child has exceeded that target. Another one is "your ds's next target is to manipulate numbers up to x" when its already been achieved previously.

It seems to me there are probably numerous other instances.

Am I imagining it, and being too cynical, or is it a case of the teacher slipping up after being overloaded with reportitis? No excuse mind, as lives are affected by their comments....

There are a number of computer programmesout there - report writer - report king etc that are supposed to cut down on teacher workload (personally hate them as they are so disjointed).
Also I've worked with a teacher who wrote what she thought parents wanted to hear because she wanted them to like her it was a nightmare for the teacher who taught them the following year. So like anything use your own judgement...does it sound like your child or not?

They are dreadful these days-and I speak as a teacher! At one time we just wrote a short report on the DC with whatever we thought relevant. Now every subject has to have a comment. I would challenge anyone to write a different, meaningful comment on a 5yr old for RE! When I have read my own DCs they irritate me no end-the only part worth reading is the teacher's personal comment at the end and the Head teacher's comment.
People basically want to know if their DC is above average, average or below average for the class, how they behave in school and whether they mix well with their peer group.

they are hilarious copy'n'paste jobs these days aren't they?

I cherish some of mine from the good old days when they wrote only what was pertinent

big evidence of copying & pasting on dd's report a couple of years ago (in year 1), half way through the report, the name changed, it started talking about 'stephanie', dd is not called stephanie!

The trouble is that there has to be a comment on every single subject.

I think a progress tick for each subject is adequate and then a long personal comment at the end about behaviour, strengths, particular high points of the previous few months etc.

it depends on the school - at my dcs' primary they are ludicrous cut and paste jobs - my sister and I both have kids in the same years but different classes - they are also very different academically and have different strengths and weaknesses, but you wouldn't know it from their reports as they are literally word for word in most subjects

ds1 however goes to a private secondary and his reports are absolutely on the nail - I read them and think they really know my child, good and bad!

I write individual comments for literacy, numeracy and personal/social (incl whether children are above/at/below average), and cut and paste everything else with group comments. We stopped using Report assist because it was so formulaic.

I agree with several people on here who think it's ridiculous to have to make long comments on RE/history/geography for 5 and 6 year olds!

I think this year, we are going to trial report writing against the headings of the draft Rose Report. (Roll on May and June, eh?)

And yes, Peaceflower, you will be shot down if you're too critical!!! They take hours, and hours, and hours to write!

lucykate, that's hilarious, with the name change part way through.

trickerg, it's not a dig at teachers in general, it seems there are good and bad reports, for myself, I don't take them too seriously, but I have had friends, notably those with a first child going through school, extremely upset, because they think their children have gone backwards, as they are being set targets that they thought had been met. Their children too have been extremely upset. My sister was a teacher, and I know reports take much effort. Thank you for your comments.

I agree pf. I know lots of parents like to know levels, but these do change and can drop or stay the same (particularly between Y2/3). I'm quite against reporting levels in the earlier years (I read MN a lot and know how hung up some people are about them - and how some parents think they are the be all and end all of life on earth - one slip and the 6 year-old child's off to a tutor 3 nights a week!! ) We do report attainment and effort in KS2.

Targets are tricky - often you think they've got it... only to be disappointed in the next piece of work! So, I agree, I think we should be careful to make targets achievable, and make sure they've actually been achieved before reporting on them!

I've just finished mine. I did 160 (secondary).
No copy and paste.
Although i can't imagine that they're all excellent quality, after about number 100 my brain turns to mush!

My DS1's are rubbish all tick boxes (Primary) apart from class teachers comment at the end which is the important bit. Mine (secondary) are of course very honest and are generally individualised however occasional 'one size fits all' statements do crop up - so and so has made some progress and usually contributes to class debates etc..A bit bland but yeah when you have 2 year groups (170 in a year) to do...

Do dcs typically just get a report at the end of the year or each term? I've no idea as new to all this.
When I were a lass at school we'd get one every term and it had class rankings etc. I used to love getting mine as I was a girly swot

As a tear group we giggle and compare notes as to the number of things the teachers have got wrong - attributed skills where they don't exist, down played areas of strength - but as long as they screw up both ways we don't get too upset - we realised that there are bits of our child within the report and take it in a general rather than individual context.
Bit of a waste of time given all that though.

When I write reports for my class I produce a coversheet that provides a summary of the subjects we've covered, trips we've been on etc. and use that to give a picture of the learning experiences of the class during that year. I then add an attitudes to learning box which is a series of statements and corresponding code e.g. interacts with adults and peers appropriately might be consistently, sometimes, rarely or never.

This is followed up with individual comments for each and every child related to their progress and effort in each subject. I take great care to check their reports from previous years when starting the year so I only re-set targets if absolutely necessary. I pride myself on writing personal and useful reports as I believe it's important for the report to be an honest reflection of that child's time in my class.

Properly written reports can take forever but I tend to set them up part way through the year and add bits and bobs as the year (and pupil) progresses.

SE13Mummy, can you come and teach and my school

I have twins and it is very obvious from comparing their reports just how formulaic school report writing has become. Their reports have been extrordinarily similar right through from pre school- they are now in y6- whether they have had the same or different teachers and in 3 different schools. There is generally very little sense of the personality of child or teacher in any of their reports, yet they are both characterful kids and have been taught by some cracking teachers who I'm sure could have come up with something more creative and honest if allowed. I tend to think it reflects the target setting culture and national curriculum in schools, tbh. It's a shame really- there'll be very few stand up comedians quoting from their school reports in future, I reckon- too dull! Maybe some of SE13mummy's pupils will buck the trend, though.

Maybe I should become a stand-up comedian - some of the reports I write are hilarious and have had the Deputy/Head who countersign in stitches (not deliberately). The greatest compliment I've had reports-wise is, "when I read his report I know exactly who you're describing".

Ds's Yr 1 report was pages long. I was astonished. However, the first half dozen pages were formulaic box ticking and generic comments and told me nothing about my child. There were 6 lines on the last page which reflected the teacher's opinion of ds and frankly, this was the only bit I valued. The rest was a pointless waste of her time and delivered no useful information whatsoever. I felt quite sorry for her having to go through the exercise for every child.

Would love to read one of your reports SE13Mummy as from your first post it all seemed very PC and not that hilarious I must say - Only jesting btw.