ds' nursery report is identical to all the others, is this normal?

[saadia]

Ds1 got his end of year report from his nursery, which is attached to the school he will attend from September. Comparing it with two of his classmates' reports it became apparent that they were identical - word for word - with just the names changed.

I understand that schools/nurseries have to inform about attainment in particular areas but it just seemed bizarre that they had done this completely unthinkingly. For example, all the reports said that the child could count to 10 - I know ds and the other two children can count higher than this, so they have obviously not given any consideration whatsoever to the individual child's accomplishments - I just wondered if this was the norm now?

Ds is very happy by the way.

"happy at the nursery", I should have said.

I think it is pretty common in primary school too..

eg in science maude has learned to think for herself when given a problem to solve, she has worked in a team building a space rocket and watched a demonstration of minor brain surgery etc

tbh saadia whether they can count to more than 10 will be irrelevant - it's about hitting specific targets for that year not about personal achievements - such are the realities of mass education I'm afraid.

ELG's - Early Learning Goals at Foundation Stage are very much "tick boxes". A common sentence would be "X is working in line with the early learning goals for maths" or something similar.

Thanks everyone. That is what I suspected. It seems very much like a conveyor belt approach, rather a rude awakening for me as I was hoping for some more personal comments.

last year I got "DS1 can make marks on paper with a variety of implements"
???
Fortuinatley this year is nursdery teacher *did8 write a few personal comments as well but, as the others have said, they do have to write that they can fulfil the aims so they do all end up being a bit samey.

lol at the "variety of implements" Tommy

They have a data base which throws up a variety of sentences which they the cut and paste.

It does get incredibly annoying when it ocmes back with English

Maude recognizes that a story has a beginning middle and end. She can read simple sentences blah blah

and she can't

Yes it's quite obviously totally formulaic and IMO virtually worthless. At nursery level I know what ds's countin, writing awareness of the world are like, but I don't know how he behaves with a large group of children in a fairly disciplined environment, and this is what I would have liked to know more about.

Ds1s reception report was similar - lots of cut and pasting from the foundation stage goals booklet.

Tbh, I'm not that bothered - the part about his personality and the general comments were obviously thought about andthe others were just about hitting targets. So similarly to you, it went on about how he can count and recognise numbers to 20 whereas he, and plenty of others in his class, can do hundreds! And I know they have actually done hundreds in class because he's come home telling me! They are really just saying where they have reached in terms of the foundation stage goals and not what they can do beyond that.

Like I say, in a way it would be nice how far beyond that ds1 is (from reading his report I know he has scored 9 on nearly of all the categories and he's clearly way past as he's on year 2 reading books!) but OTOH, as long as he's doing what he's meant to be doing, does it really matter?

Gobbledigook you're right it doesn't matter as long as they are keeping up. But I just remember my own reports from school which were, if I recall correctly, much more detailed and seemed like the teacher actually knew who he/she was writing about. These are so homogenous that they literally could be about any random child.

I agree - would definitely be nicer to have something more obviously personal. OTOH, I don't know, but I get the impression there is far too much admin and paperwork for teachers nowadays and I'd rather have a cut and paste report (at this stage anyway) and she spend her time teaching!

I'm very, very happy with her teaching and ds has made amazing progress since last September - maybe that's why I'm not so bothered. Also we get a chance to talk to the teacher and look at dss work on Thursday anyway.

is pre-school different from nursery?

I've just had my DS' end of year report and it was basically a paragraph about how he had been at pre-school and what his character is; the foundation goal doodahs I understand go straight to the school (which suits me fine as they are the only people interested in them, I certainly don't have GOALS for my three year old - well, playing with others would be it really!) And the report I got was lovely, completely personal and had my DS down to a 'T' - it's nice to feel they have looked at him as an individual.

Saadia, you could ask for some more feedback from them about your DS' general time there I would think? It does sound very limited, the info you've had!

Yes completely the norm I am afraid. Having just finished doing the reports I can safely say that many teachers find the tick boxes tedious as well! However, it is a requirement, and at well over an hour for each report (that is with copy and paste) x 30 reports, on top of 45+ hour week, it is just the way it has got to be. I still write a personal bit as well, but most of it is proving that certain targets have been hit.

thanks all for your comments. I know teachers are under a lot of strain from all these targets, so I do sympathise. I guess it has to be this way.

sparklemagic I have asked about how he's doing and they always say, "oh he's lovely, behaves well, plays nicely, confident" so I don't actually have any concerns, but I think all us parents were just a bit gobsmacked that the reports were identical.