WWYD? School report is partly a work of fiction.

[Al1son]

DD1 is 13 and attends a Mainstream Autism Base in High School. She does a part time timetable, attending mainstream classes for some subjects, covering the curriculum in the Base for some and has dropped others entirely.

She's brought her school report home today and three teachers whose subjects she has not done at all and who have had no contact with DD1 this school year have given her current levels, personalised comments on her behaviour and skills, target levels and whether she is on track and grades for effort.

We had a similar situation in December when her progress check contained similar works of fiction. I emailed the head of year who phoned me with a list of reasons why this had happened and reassured me that it was a one off caused by staff sickness, and other misc difficulties.

So what would you do? Let it go as they are meeting her needs fairly well at the moment and it's not worth upsetting the applecart, email the head of year again or write a letter to the head, copied to the chair of governors.

The funniest one is the teacher who has given her very good for effort but says she should participate more in class discussions! She'd have a job!

Bloody hell.

I don't think I could let it go.....

I think you'll have to send it back with a note to say that there was an error and that she does not take those 3 subjects. Can't believe this happened twice

This is bonkers, I think you should say something (in writing, like they have!!) Contact the head of year (and maybe the head, because it's quite serious) listing the problems, and asking for a revised document that reflects the truth.

At the moment it may not be causing a problem (if they've said positive things) but it would only take for something negative to be said on there later on, and you'd have deep poo to contend with for not saying something earlier.

I really don't understand how this error could have been made once, let alone twice. How can a teacher not realise that they are writing comments for a student they've never taught? And how can they have levels and targets for her in classes she doesn't take? Did they just make it all up? I would be wondering if anything on any of the school reports is even vaguely accurate.

Same thing happened years ago in relation to my brother in mainstream school. A teacher gave him a lousy report for a subject he wasn't studying.

some years ago my son had a report that said 'he may have a latent ability' in a particular sport - however he was a GB international in this same sport !

I really wouldn't let it go. I would be concerned aobut all of the other parents out there who are getting reports that are a pile of crap.

As a teacher I can understand how this happens. Some teachers may have 5 classes in a year group and no idea who all the children are. They write blanket reports for everyone who is on their list. Sad but true.

Thanks for the insight mnistooaddictive. I understand that there are challenges involved in working in large schools. Is it just accepted amongst staff and governors that reports are fiction?

The cynical says it will just be swept under the carpet again if I do raise it again.

The idealistic me says that there should be records about each child for the teacher to refer to when writing a report.

I'd rather have no report than a bit of cut and pasted rubbish which has nothing to do with my child.

I wonder how many children in the school are not attending some subjects and nobody is aware. I'd have happily believed that my DD was doing these three subjects if I'd not know different.

I might flag it up, but then my DS (NT pretty much) has a predicted grade of C in GCSE French having not studied French since year 6.

I imagine your DD appears on their lists and they have been desperately trying to work out who she is. The predicted grades are probably from the computer system, and they may have asked others for the comments.

It isn't really acceptable to have a system in which teachers don't know the children in their classes though. It's even worse to pretend that isn't the case by getting the teachers to write generic and fictional reports.

I'm not having a go at individual teachers here, btw. It's the system that's the problem. I sincerely doubt many teachers wanted to be providing such impersonal education and that most of them do try to get to know the kids.

Mummytime, that predicted grade might be based on projected data - they take data from, for example, key stage 2 tests and CAT tests and use that to extrapolate what a student could achieve in other subjects, even those not previously studied. So a student with a decent degree of literacy and logic skills, say, might have the ability to get an A in GCSE Latin - but obviously this is only relevant if they actually end up studying it!

i agree with mnistooaddictive i gather majority of schools do this its very bad it happened at all let alone twice if your really bothered (and i would be too) id email head of year , the HT and even possibly the govenors but at the end of the day id mainly see what yr DC's reports/ levels are for the subject they do do as thats more important but ill never look ata school report quite the same now ive read what happened to you

This is dreadful. what happens at A level and predicted grades. Un iversity offers can stand or fall on this and it would be unforgiveable of there's an error to the child's detriment

I'm glad other people are as shocked as I was by this. The head of year was pretty unphased by it when she rang me in December. It seems like it's considered acceptable within the school environment.

I might do a bit of a straw poll amongst the other parents I know.

"Dear HT I am concerned with DCs report as I would have expected far higher grades in subjects X Y and Z, could the teachers confirm which homework and lesson modules they were not happy with"
Blow the monitoring system wide open.
Go for it.

I'm really shocked by this, even taking into account possible problems with the system, rather than individual teachers, its still nowhere near good enough. How on earth can not even one of those teachers concerned have noticed your dd isn't in their class?

As you said, its bad enough that it happened once, but for you to raise it with the school, only for it to happen again is frankly disgraceful.

I would write to the Head asking for reassurance that the system has looked at and changed to avoid it ever happening again. As you have already raised it with the Head of Year - without a successful outcome, you are within your rights to move up a rung in seeking a solution to the problem. There definitely needs to be a paper record of that you have raised the issue with them, even if you'd rather not term it a complaint.

I do understand that there are a lot of pupils in some of these very large schools, but imo there's no excuse for a teacher not having enough documented evidence of a child's achievement or otherwise to be able to write a meaningful report on them. What about all their classwork and homework fgs? Fair enough, I perhaps wouldn't expect them to actually 'know' every child personally, but surely they should at the very least have a paper trail that can inform their report writing. How on earth can you write a report for a child that has never completed one piece of classwork or ever handed in a homework assignment set by you for a certain subject?

It makes a complete mockery of report writing, they might as well put the time to better use if they are just churning out generic reports. In some ways I do actually feel sorry for the teachers, as if the system is this unfit for purpose, they must be very frustrated at having to carry out what is essentially a monumental waste of their time.

Out of interest, what happens at parents' evening? Do the teachers never notice that child X's parents have never attended a single appointment with them?

Whatever happened to Every Child Matters!

Ahem - 'paper record that you have raised the issue' not paper record of that you have raised the issue' - oops!

I'm not particularly surprised. I'm a twin, and several times lower in the school, my bro and I's reports had the exact same sentences copy&pasted in. I remember once, my brother, several of my friends and I all had the same music report about how we could "sing confidently in the choir" despite never having sung in any choir or group.

Your situation is a lot worse though, and quite frankly ridiculous. Complain!

I took it furher when my DS had reports for two subjects he didn't do, taught by the same teacher.
She thought he was Matthew apparently. Despite not having taught him at all that year, and the report being in April.
The other reports from the teachers that knew himwere spot on, personalised and helpful. I just assumed it was her being muddled.

Our reports are done on computer and when I do get a student on my list who I have never taught, or who on one occasion had newly transferred to the school and who I had done little more that given an exercise book to, I naturally leave it blank. To which I receive a snotty email from the "Information Services Team" telling me my reports are not complete.

FWIW I write personal reports, as do all the English staff at our school. I have heard teachers from more than one department say that we're mugs for not using comment banks though...

I too can see how this will have happened. Many schools use a computer system for reports - comment banks which you simply click on (the comment banks are written by the HoD in my school - they're not completely generic) to create the report. I teach a total of 12 classes in KS3 alone, and by Christmas, was still not 100% secure with who all the children were - I knew their names and could talk about them if they were in front of me, but couldn't be completely sure that I had the right Charlie, Chloe or Jack if I was given a Year Group list. Like coastgirl, our reports are sent back to us if one is blank (although unlike OP's DD's teachers, I would then call the relevent person and point out that I do not teach that child)

It's not an ideal system. I am embarrassed to say that I happily went along with it for KS3 classes (never KS4 or KS5) until I got reports from school for my DTDs (in reception) which were clearly comment bank reports, and said exactly the same as each other. I really felt that this rendered them pretty much meaningless, and am now far more careful with my own reports, however long it takes.

OP, I would be very straight with the school - write or phone, and point out that your DD does not do these subjects. It will not "blow the system open", as TalkinPeace2 suggests, as I bet you won't be telling the school something it doesn't already know - it will be individual teachers who need to be corrected, not the "system".

So should I write to the head or one of the parent governors?

I would write to the Head of Year, and copy it to the Head. The governors would pass it back to the relevent member of staff, I expect. If you go straight to the Head, he/she would be likely to pass it to the Head of Year to deal with.

Thanks.

All I have to do now is compose a letter which is reasonable but makes it clear that they now need to address this issue properly!