Headteacher comments on reports -worth it?

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This is more a general question really -and I'm not sure who else to ask! I'm head of a 2-form entry primary school -around 400 pupils.

We're right in the middle of report time and I'm making my way through a headteacher personal comment on every report. I've always done it -I think it's important that we acknowledge the child. I try to make them personal to each child. It takes me ages!!!

Another HT I was talking to yesterday said she doesn't bother and that no-one cares anyway. That made me wonder if all these hours are worth it.
Does it matter to you if the HT comments or not?

As a HoY (of 150) I used to read their reports and then produce a summative comment which took a lot of time. I don’t think a HT should duplicate this.
As a mum I’d prefer a HT to relay anecdotes, personal interactions known about them, family things etc. The suggestion of confining this to Year Six is genius.

I like the headteacher comments. I think it's important the head has an overview of how each child is doing. Casting an eye over their annual report and write a sentence or two is valuable.

When you put them through co-pilot for checking you can get it to generate a comment that you can then tailor to make it more personal, I’ve found that’s a good middle ground. I think parents appreciate them but it is so, so time consuming.

Our school does this as well - it’s always an SLT member, not necessarily the head teacher. Could you do that?

Ours is infants only, and I donot expect the Head will comment next year in the larger school, but yes I love reading the comment from our Head, who knows each child so well. I read it out to my DD and she gets such a burst of pride hearing the lovely comments. Come to think of it, my secondary Head would write in every one of our reports too (1100 pupils then), and she was a truly excellent headteacher. Her opinion always meant a lot to me each year.

I think it is really important if you can do it and shows you know and care about every individual child in your school. It's a credit to your work ethic and dedication. It is a huge amount of work though, so ensure you structure in the time to do it, perhaps a work from home day without disruptions.

Oh god no please don’t waste your time! You’re already stretched so thin. As another poster said, I’d prefer it if the time was spent on doing something else for the kids. I do like the suggestion of only doing year 6 when you really know them, but only if you want to. Teachers are amazing.

I think if they are personal and not stock phrases then I would be delighted. I would also understand if you stopped because of time pressure.

my dd report last year was utter drivel by a teacher who had taught her for 2 years running. I showed it to a ta and she was gobsmacked and commented had they got the wrong child!

At primary, they were split between head, DHT, AHT or any other senior teachers, depending on who was available. They seemed to be a comment on the report, so probably were a proof reading thing too. But there was nothing new in them. We've just had DD2's secondary report. That had a tutor comment rather than anything from a senior teacher. When I asked DD2 about the tutor comment, she said that they'd just done a self assessment and then the tutor wrote the comment from that, so that it looked like the tutor knew all of this stuff about DD2. I wasn't very impressed - the tutor has 12 tutees.

So unless you have a child who barely speaks at home, im not sure what the point is.