Reports: what would you rather?

[SE13Mummy]

I've been reading the report threads with interest both as a teacher and as a parent and am wondering which style report you'd prefer...

• a very personal, anecdotal style with comments about how your DC is doing but also about some of the behaviour/attitude related things that need to improve (the sort of comments that say 'when he wants to X can do blah blah blah')

or

-a formulaic style that simply states the objectives that your DC has achieved e.g. X can count up to 10, X is able to design a fair test, X uses multiplication facts to solve word problems but doesn't include anything about attitude to learning or those things that might be preventing your DC from making progress

If you'd like a mix, how honest would you like the report to be? Are you a fan of positive comments only or would you prefer that the report included information about some of the less positive aspects of your DC's school experience?

My personal preference would be for the first option; personal and anecdotal rather than a list of objectives. I find personal reports much easier to write as I like them to reflect the child I'm writing about but wonder if there is anyone who would prefer the report to be purely 'academic'?

First type most definitely.

absolutely the first one. I don't want a load of box-ticking, that wouldn't fill me with confidence the teacher knew my DC.

and I'm not too bothered about them telling me things like 'DD can write in sentences' or 'DD can do column addition' because I'll be helping/supervising DD with homework so if I'm attentive I'll know that stuff already!

I also don't like the idea of 'no negative comments' on reports which I've heard is some schools' policy. it makes me uncomfortable. if my DD is misbehaving, or has difficulty concentrating, I want to know about it! how can I help her otherwise? nowt wrong with constructive criticism - negative doesn't necessarily mean 'your DC is a naughty little git'! my friend (NQT in reception) was told to phrase EVERYTHING positively, even for the badly behaved children.

go to the top of the class.

Thank you MMM - do you also give out stickers?!

there's an idea!

Definitely personalised! I love to get a report that actually sounds like my child, good and bad, rather than a really boring list, like the latter, which leaves me feeling cheated.

Constructive criticism is useful!

Will be getting my reports later today, after managing to convince Head that last day of term was unreasonable!

The problem to me comes when the second approach is so formulaic that it doesn't even cover what your child can actually do. "Coryds has enjoyed learning about X" ime does not even mean that Coryds has been present while X was being taught, let alone that he has shown any interest in it: it is simply a silly and formulaic way of saying "this is what the class has studied during the year but I don't actually know what your child has done or if he was even there at the time". Ime Coryds' supposed "enjoyment" of a subject is no guarantee that he has ever heard of it. My children have a lot of medical absences, which means that I am very aware of this.

I'd like a graded level, so that I can see she's making reasonable progress from year to year. And a one-line comment on each subject that actually means something - whether positive or negative.

I do find the SAT's style grades helpful, because if I want to know what lies behind them, I can find the info on the internet.

I am totally not bothered about hearing that "this year, DD1 successfully identified the route from home to school on a map" - am quite happy to trust them to teach geography in geography lessons without having a summary of the curriculum!

I did laugh when dd got an A for Attitude in PE, though. She hasn't taken part in PE for three years- so of course she has a positive attitude about it; what teen wouldn't?

The truth,warts and all,If there are targets I want to know whether my children have hit them,if they dont listen I want to know,If they are the greatest thing since sliced bread,I want to know.
Im not interested in reading between the lines or guessing whats being said.

So, what about this comment? Too mean?

X is working at the level expected of a Y4 pupil as she is able to retain and recall factual information. She comes across as a keen, but rather haphazard scientist who uses scientific vocabulary appropriately but is less interested in making appropriate suggestions for investigating scientific concepts and often gets sidetracked. X requires a lot of adult support and guidance, without which she will often choose to wander around the classroom and try to distract others. Given her scientific knowledge I believe that X could be performing at a much higher level. In order to do so she needs to focus on her own work and try to answer the questions posed instead of going off on an unrelated tangent or to sharpen pencils.

I like smithagains idea.
I hate the way they are so obviously cut and poasted by the teacher for each child. Last year, DD's teacher even left another child's name in and his was reply was "oh whoops, they both joined the school at the same time and both came from the same county (we'd moved from far away) so I keep getting mixed up! Wow - that made the report really personal!

It's not a real one by the way.... was deemed unsuitable.

SE13Mummy that example is exactly the quality I would hope for, I really like it. I'm a bit miffed that it was deemed unsuitable. Obviously if my DD is wandering off and sharpening pencils () I'd be a bit disappointed, but I need to know about it! unfortunately though some parents are so precious that they would be on your back about why you weren't singing that child's praises.

cory - I hate the 'DSD has worked on blah blah this year' too (quite apart from the fact they may well have missed that day!). yes, thank you DSD's teacher, I know that, I do actually TALK to my stepdaughters after school! now how about telling me something about how they are actually performing in that subject?

I too would be fine with something resembling SE13's example. It would correlate more with how they were at home as well.

SE13 That report would be fine with me,tells me exactly whats going on and what needs to be done.

I offered to change it to, "X has had science lessons this year".... and then let the classteacher (I do PPA) write his own version instead. It got me wondering about what parents actually want from a report though, the criticism of mine (which I took to heart as I enjoy report writing and at my last school was praised for writing reports that reflected the child) was that they were 'too chatty' and made it look as though I wasn't taking any responsibility for the child's behaviour in my lesson.

Ho hum.

Just for balance, here is a positive one:

X is working well above the level expected of a Y4 pupil. He is a keen, competent scientist who is able to express his ideas clearly both verbally and in writing and uses scientific vocabulary appropriately, including terms that have not yet been covered at school. X is always able to make appropriate and well-thought out suggestions for investigating scientific concepts and utilises the features of a fair test when designing his own investigations. X consistently uses his mathematical knowledge and understanding to correctly interpret the results of investigations.
To make further progress in science X should continue to read around the subject (both fiction and non-fiction texts) and look for opportunities to think about the science behind everyday occurrences e.g. Species becoming extinct, the spread of deserts etc.
It has been a pleasure to teach X for science and I hope his enthusiasm for the subject continues for years to come.

I'd like marks out of 10 for each subject and a personal commentary about how DD behaves at school: is she cruising? does she concentrate? does she seem happy? how does she relate to the other children and to the teachers? could she do better if she worked harder? what subjects does she seem to enjoy?

[I know what DD tells me, but it would be good to have the teacher's perspective!]

This is all possible in a village school with small class sizes. It would be a good mix of objective measures of progress plus a more subjective measure of attitude.

As with other posters, I am not interested in 'She has completed a map of the village' - I can see it, it's in her book bag.

I like the honesty of SE13's example, but if it was my child I'd also like to know if this was just an isolated example or consistent behaviour.

1. I guess I want to see the levels he has reached in comparison with what he is expected to reach. That is enough. I don't need to know what they have been studying and how well he has learned to grade pebbles or whatever it is. We already know the area that they are studying each term.

1. A class teacher and head teacher summary of how well he is doing socially and the effort and enthusiasm he shows in school.

1. What he needs to address next year.

SE13 that's another great report. I'd be ecstatic if that's what my DC's teacher wrote. was that one allowed?

Personalised report which addresses both academic ability and behaviour. I do also find having the NC levels very useful.

Our school added them onto the report this year for the first time, and it was reassuring to know where the dd's were. In previous years, I had guessed their levels from the comments, which was not ideal.

I would love a personalised one but am pretty sure that the ones I will get fron Ds tonight will be the very same copied and passsed sentences as the other years.

MMM, that one was allowed .