Feedback in school reports

[OtterL]

Can I ask what kind of feedback/ how frequently you get feedback from secondary school? I ask because my son who is Year 9 (private school) gets very little. In primary (state) we were used to detailed school reports in how he was progressing in each subject. In secondary, we seem to be told he’s progressing ok face to face at parents evening and then we ll get a school report that indicates the opposite and you can’t get an explanation from the teachers for love or money. For example, his Christmas report said he was at the expected level in Drama. He decided he wanted to pursue drama at gcse evening - we met with his drama teacher 4 weeks ago who gushes about how well he was doing, and yesterday we get his Easter report which has just one word on it - “establishing” which is their grade lower than expected. No further narrative, no explanation and impossible to get hold of the school to discuss. This has happened in a few subjects. Is this normal in secondary that you just don’t get any detailed feedback? We are paying quite a lot of fees but I have no previous experience of UK private schools so was wondering if this is normal? My son is dyslexic so we are always quite worried about his progress.

No this isn't normal. DD goes to an outstanding state secondary and each term they send a report with a paragraph on each subject, summarising how they're progressing/doing. Then they have an effort mark for their attitude to work, plus their target grade and the current grade they are working at, given their latest assessments.

We get same as @Dacadactyl
Good state comp

We got detailed and accurate feedback from kids (private) school.

Thanks all, that was what I would have expected but didn’t grow up in UK so was doubting if this was usual. There is an “Attitude to learning” grade - they grade as emerging, establishing, expected, exceeding, excelling but just one word. Plus a “progress” column which is either a plus sign or a minus sign. But there is no consistency- it’s like they make it up each term. So in Art, at Christmas, he was graded as “expected”, met his Art teacher 4 weeks ago and was told he was working as expected, report comes through yesterday and it’s marked as a plus for progress but the grade is “establishing” ie a lower grade with no explanation. Similar in Maths, we were told verbally he was exceeding and report comes through and it’s establishing but progress is ticked as a plus. I think this is really shit (and worrying because he is heading into GCSEs and I have no clue if he’s doing ok or badly given the inconsistent messages) but mu husband thinks it’s fine.

We just get 3 marks for each subject which are something like effort, current working level, homework.
Teachers all have different views about how to assign marks, so it's very hard to pick out anything other than "there is something to worry about".

In KS3 they had working below/at/ahead of expectations. If your child was high achiever they were pretty much always working behind. I moaned to the school several times at the ridiculousness of that, but they refused to see my point.

So sounds very like you OP.
We do have the option to send teachers specific questions following the report which can be helpful.

DD in private - each term they get a progress type thing with grades, ATL and any worries - short and sweet and then in the summer a full detailed report.

Year 11 get extra reports and reports on the Mocks etc. (Got one today - plus parents evening tonight).

HM still spelling her name incorrectly after all these years 🙄

Very large state comprehensive:

2 terms a year we get a short report with a progress grade, and marks for organisation, focus, classwork and homework.

Third term we get all that plus a full written report and parent's evening is held a week later so you can ask all the questions raised by the report.

However you can also contact individual teachers and departments at any time if you have concerns, and the staff are not shy about ringing you if they have worries.

State school, 3 reports a year with target grade, grade they are at, attitude to learning and effort they are putting in. No detailed comments but a parents' evening every year with detailed discussion about what they have done and what they can do to improve and an open door policy. You can tick a box in their planner to ask for a call from their form tutor who they see daily. Emails to school are answered within 48 hours and usually an actual phone call back so you can discuss anything you are concerned about. School also ring if your child is doing incredibly well too.

For a GCSE mock Ds didn't do well at all, I emailed the teacher who emailed back a detailed, specific targeted response which made it clear to me what he needed to do so I was able to help at home and he increased his grade by 3 levels.

Most of the secondary schools I work in provide a ‘data drop’ in the autumn and spring terms and a more detailed report with comments in the summer term.

State school. Secondary. 4 numerical marks per subject a year uploaded to electronic register, 2 annual reports which only consist of numerical marks. Two in-person parents' evenings. Monthly from October to April an hour a week for parents to come in or meet the teacher online for a 10 minute slot. Twice a year a class meeting with all teachers, 2 class reps (students) and 2 class reps (parents)
If students and parents are only needing feedback at the final report stage, they've missed the boat to find out about progress/problems during the year tbf.

"Outstanding" state school in reality anything but!!! Get a basic report three times a year with their level, attitude level and an improvement code.
One parents evening which is online, constantly crashing or teachers cancel appointments the day of meaning that you can make others as the booking has closed. It's a complete shambles and there's no real indication of how the child is doing as it varies on the teacher- for example term one had one science teacher and dd got "working torwards" next term a different teacher and got "exceeding expectations +" how can she go up 5 levels in such a short amount of time?