A Level Reporting Frequency

[7283413meyer]

Hi ,
I am doing a review of how different schools provide written feedback to parents of pupils in A Level.

Would you mind sharing your stories in this thread and also comment on how you feel about the frequency and style of this feedback.

The reason for my question is that my son's A level year has included one written report at October half term and a verbal parents evening in December.

It feels like too little and I am anxious that I don't really know what he needs to focus on as he aims at getting aspirational grades for A levels in May/June. I'm making the assumption that if it hasn't been provided to the parents, then it might not be clear for the pupil .
I have a younger daughter at the same school and am considering moving her and 'reporting' is one of the factors I'm considering for choosing an alternative school.
Thanks for sharing

I think the assumption should be that if your DS isn't aware what he should be focussing on then by A level he should be taking ownership of his own learning and asking.

The only rider to this would be is your DS has some kind of SEN.

At my DDs secondary school (up to y11) we get predicted GCSE grades at the end of each term (no textual commentary), plus 1 parents evening a year.

Y13 here. Two written reports so far. One end of October (basically settling in/have they switched up a gear yet). Second was last week followed by parent consultation this week. Also in between that there was a cause for concern meeting for those that needed it. Mocks are after half term. That’s a state school sixth form.

One written mid autumn, same mid spring term. One parents evening a year, one extra if concerns are raised.

Tbh at this point in their career they really should be 'owning' the process, not leaving it to mum and dad.

I hope frequency of reporting isn't the only criteria you're using for selecting a sixth form - quality of teaching surely trumps everything else!

Another who thinks that would be an odd way to choose a 6th form.

We've had an e-mail giving us the results of assessments each half term. Not had a 'written report' this year. We did have parents evening in the Autumn Term.

I presume if there were an issue, the school might have been in touch. But I do agree with others that this is an age when they do need to be beginning to take more responsibility that in previous years. After all, come September, you won't get any reports or feedback from the university.

Surely.the verbal feedback to students which goes on weekly is more important than formal written reporting to parents?
Who is doing these A Levels?

We've had a data report in October and a parents' evening in December. DS2 has internal exams towards the end of March so am guessing next report will be with those results. Not sure if that one or the summer one will be a written comments report.

I do two parents eves per year 12 and Y13 and one written letter year. Parents are informed if student progress is of concern. If you want more frequent written stuff you’ll get a school where teachers spend more time on accountability than teaching and that’s a crap school.

DD is at posh private school.
We login to school portal to see the written reports.
3 reports/yr.
It was (is) a very similar system at DC's state high school for yr7-11: 3 written updates/yr + 1 parent eve/yr.

That is standard for nearly all state schools for every year group OP.

You began your OP making it sound like you were doing some official survey!

You do know about the burden on teacher workload, I assume? The number of reports and parents' evenings are set in very very clogged calendars to spread workload. Once your DC get to uni , you will hear nothing!

Anyway, as others have said, feedback to students is by far the most important thing. If you had specific concerns, most teachers wouldn't hesitate to fill you in further if you asked.

It sounds fine to me. Feedback is really for the student, not the parent at this stage. I’m not sure I ever knew what the aspirational grades were. I just let my DC get on with it.

1 parent teacher meeting per year in sixth form, and termly (twice termly??) grades. Written report at end of year 12 that pretty much doubled up as the UCAS reference. As others have said, you need to be encouraging the kids to find out what they need to do to improve at this age, not do it all for them. Although I accept that that's easier to do when you have a confident, assertive kid with a clear path in mind for post-sixth form, and much less so when your kid is shy and lacking in direction. But I think it's better for teachers and parents to communicate re specific kids as and when that seems necessary than to add massively to teachers' reporting workload when for the majority of kids it isn't needed.

We get a grade card end of every half term and three parents evenings a year! Private school though. Personally I think this is overkill and would be just as happy with a termly card and one well timed parents evening.

I think it might have helped with one of my DD that she had always said she didn’t want to go to university, and as she wasn’t hugely academic, we were OK with that. She had always planned to get a job straight after school. She didn’t apply to university at all. This took away a lot of pressure. In the end she did fabulously well at A levels and applied to university the next year.

Y13, first progress report, just a grade card really, in October, parents’ evening in Nov, mock results and second grade card in February. One more grade card due after Easter.