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Primary education

Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

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Original poster

Does anyone feel disappointed with their childs school report?

21 replies

cascade · 03/07/2009 21:08

Well I have waited all year for dd school report and im so disappointed. The report is so inpersonal, it could have been about any child. The report was full of statement bank sentences. There was one part of the report that did not match her ability or even sound like her in a particular subject and I was actually really disappointed.

Well tonight I was at football and was talking to dd best friends mum. We got talking about reports and low and behold they have the same cut and paste lines.

The other small issue I have is that there are no NC levels on the report. Dd is in year 1, is this normal not to put levels on the report?

Im a secondary teacher andd i just don't know whether im being a bit picky. I have to write hundreds of reports all year, plus progress checks to parents and I try to make them as personal as I can. Has anyone else found this with their childs primary school report?

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letsgostrawberrypicking · 03/07/2009 21:20

mine came today (Reception and Yr 5)with levels and very personal comments, and this is the 3rd primary over the years I have had reports from. they have all been very personal and not at all cut and pasted as far as I can see. Such a shame for you to be disappointed, esp when you have waited all year for it.

That's pretty bad if your dd's friend has similar! There is always a section for "parent's comments" can you put something in there about your concerns?

mrz · 03/07/2009 21:31

NC Levels are only required for Y2 and Y6 reports but some schools choose to put levels in their reports.

duckyfuzz · 03/07/2009 21:34

my twins are in reception and got their reports today, they are academically very similar but very different personalities, which has come through in the reports despite alot of cutting and pasting (and typos, punctuation errors etc) so I am please they are doing well, but disappointed the reports aren't more personal

mussyhillmum · 03/07/2009 21:43

Hi. DS1's primary school reports are also cut and paste. He did have levels for year 1 but they didn't seem to tally with the comments. Certainly at DS's school, all parents seem to be told their child is "fine" unless they are seriously behind and require extra support. I often wonder whether DS1's teachers really know the children at all.

Kbear · 03/07/2009 21:50

I feel disappointed I haven't got it yet when parents evening is next Tuesday. Same old story, DS will bring his report home on Tuesday and I won't have time to read and inwardly digest before meeting the teacher!

Original poster

cascade · 03/07/2009 21:53

Yes thats how dd school works unless your child is behind, every other child is told they are doing well. That is the underlining issue I have is, they dont really know her and their assessment proceedures are lacking.

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cat64 · 03/07/2009 22:02

This reply has been deleted

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hana · 03/07/2009 22:05

it's so sloppy when teachers cut and paste and don't change names (YES!) or pronouns to suit the report. At the school I work at lots of teachers contribute to end of year reports so they are on a central system and I see so many mistakes when I fill my bits in

agree they should be more personal - we do a few lines that are common for all reports on what has been covered in the various subjects, then a blurb on how that child has performed in the same.

Original poster

cascade · 03/07/2009 22:08

Cat i didnt want one original, I can completely empathise and understand how long and arduous reports are to write. I just wanted a report that sounded like my daughter.

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oandemum · 03/07/2009 22:26

mine is awful too, we could have swapped with anyone else in the same class as they all said exactly the same thing! i too am very annoyed we did not get the levels he is working at, our school refuses to do it, but that feels wrong to me. i think they worry that parents stress out over them and compare their children to others. i think they should credit us with some intelligence and give us the information, it would just be nice to have an indication of how they are doing compared to the national average, does not mean we will stress about it or push them harder etc. i am on my high horse tonight sorry, but it is so disappointing when you dont feel the teacher has made an effort to truly represent your child!!

Quattrocento · 03/07/2009 22:29

I wonder if you are entitled to the information under the Freedom of Information Act?

Although it might not help you much if they tell you ... as one who did not have the foggiest what the terse line "Assessed NC Level 4a" actually meant.

myredcardigan · 03/07/2009 22:37

I cut and paste bits and pieces on what they have done but not how they did in it/performed at it.

So I might say something like, 'In D&T, X has been learning how to design, make and evaluate their own pair of slippers.' I'd probably have 3 or 4 ways of wording that so a third/quarter of the class get that exact line. But, then comes the individual bit like, 'X's design was thorough with clear annotations. His slippers were of a reasonable standard initially but unfortunately separated quite quickly. However, X showed excellent evaluation skills by pinpointing exactly where he went wrong and now understands the need to round off his stitching at the end of each line.

I't maybe adds 5 more minutes to each report. Oh and it's my job!

morningsun · 03/07/2009 22:55

cascade ~I found this last yr when ds was in yr1,so I asked to have a short chat with the teacher to find out if he was doingok,well,very well etc in the subjects,because all I had to go on were comments about ordering numbers etcwhich I knew he could do.
The levels are given at the end of yr 2[though I wasn't given subdivisions in mine] and reading ages etc in the juniors.

I commented on my parents slip that I wanted to know how he was coping in comparison to what was expected,what he was good at and any problems with work,behaviour,sociallyetc

All was absolutely fine when I saw the teacher[and she did know him well],it was just that the format of the report was very bland.

PerfectPrefect · 03/07/2009 23:01

My DTDs are in seperate classes.

They have a sheet to say whether they have met all of the "Learning objectives or not".

DTD2 has fully met all of her learning objectives - which I would expect is accurate, based on the feedack she gives us.

DTD1 - who is academically stronger in most areas as only partially met most of her learning objectives. In particular - 2 topic area's which she was very passionate about, teaching ME about, got sent to show the headmaster her project book about only got a partially met in these areas (which I know that doesn't necessarily mean she has met the specific learning objectives).

One of the teachers has got it grossly wrong (could be either - but I do believe it is DTD1). I think that having DTDs in seperate classes is quite telling actually.

melissa75 · 04/07/2009 11:48

It is really disapointing when you get a "cut and paste" report...speaking with my mum hat on, I would be really saddened if I got one, os completely understand your frustration. Speaking with my teacher hat on, I can somewhat see how it can happened. Personally, for the foundation subjects, I do a lot of cut and pasting, because there is only so many acheivement comments one can make about geography say! What I try to do though is move the sentences around within the section and change some individual words so it is does not read exactly the same...
With the acheivement levels, my school reports for all year groups, for the core subjects (math, literacy, science and ICT) but I know of plenty of schools where this is not the case, and they only provide the end of key stage results which is all they are required to report (result wise)

Do they give you a comment form to fill in to give your feedback re report? I would put in it if they do, your disappointment with the obvious nature of the "cut and paste" aspet.

bruffin · 04/07/2009 11:48

Our reports are two pages with no levels. The first page usually covers each subject. It has boxes for

working below expectation
working at exptectation levels
working above expectation

Also something similar about effort

There is a paragraph about what they have covered and then usually a little about the child's weaknesses, strenghs and how they can improve.

At the end of the report there is a paragraph about the child usually covering behaviour and social skills.
I thought DD's was due on Friday but she didn't have it, it make come on tuesday with her sats results

melissa75 · 04/07/2009 12:15

forgot to mention, as someone also did, re the end of report "general statement". Thats my favourite part of writing the report, because you can really say there how they have got on during the year, their social abilities etc..and can comment on their personality. Did they have that in your reports cascade? What was that part of the report like?

Original poster

cascade · 04/07/2009 12:53

The end of the report was PHSE/Teacher comment. Even these comments were statement bank type comments. One personal comment saying could be a bit chatty at times. Alot of the comments were just about what they had studied this year and then a comment about how dd had enjoyed this. The word enjoyed appeared a number of times throughout the report.

No im not going to say anything, dd enjoys school is doing well and so in the grand scheme of things its not something I should make a fuss about. Its just im disappointed. Stupid really.

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trickerg · 04/07/2009 15:25

Ugh. All those hours at half term wasted again.....

EccentricaGallumbits · 04/07/2009 15:28

DDs last report started off in her nam. DD has done x y and z this term. and half way through flicked to some other childs name x has been doing q r and s. x was abover her in the register.

ver personal.

Hassled · 04/07/2009 15:33

This year's have been fine, but last year's was a complete waste of time and effort re DS2 - randomly switched his gender throughout ("She has enjoyed our project on...") and called him by 2 different boys names, apart from his own.

I do appreciate how busy teachers are, but it is absolutely pointless even bothering with reports if you are then going to make them meaningless. I complained long and loudly to the Head.

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