Another year...

Two more weeks with my class until they move onto their next class... Two more weeks of talking to parents that I have built up a partnership with before the summer break and return to new children.
It's a strange time of year; children feeling all sorts of feelings , teachers too. Why is that? We teach children to challenge themselves, meet new opportunities, look for the positive... But that sometimes falls on deaf ears.


I told my class that I had finished their reports and given them to the Head to read and comment on. Their faces fell, one or two put their heads in their hands. What was going on? I abandoned plans and went straight into a circle time to address this. My class looked at me in disbelief when I said that I had enjoyed writing their reports (bear with me) as it was a great opportunity to celebrate all the things they had done well over the year. Still one or two looking anxiously at me. "There wont be anything I havent already told you in them!" I continued. One of the boys piped up, "You're always telling us what we do well..."
 Another, "and we know what we need to get better at..." (Hurrah)
 "Exactly!" I replied, and went on to explain how the reports are for their parents to have an overview of the year. The discussion carried on with children talking about things they had achieved over the year and we made a start on the child report comment.


What this made me stop and think about was, with all the changes we have made in schools, all the technology, some things have not changed at all- there are still children (and parents?) who have a built in fear/dread of reports. Where does this come from? We try so hard to build a positive learning environment, celebrating achievements, having clear learning goals...So why do children still worry about taking the end of year report home? And how can I overcome this?


Well, next year I am going to talk to the children much earlier about reports and maybe ask them to write their own in the style of the school one. Our reports go home really late- last week- get them out earlier so we can talk about them in class (if they want to ? or just go for it?)


I felt that somehow I had missed a trick when I saw this response; not for the first time. Talking to colleagues it seems that many children respond similarly. I would love to know how others have dealt with this; are reports looked on in this way widely? And how can it be changed if that's the case.


I suppose it can be compared to a teacher having performance management. "Tell me what has gone really well this year." Much foot shuffling and fidgetting; we spend so much time looking at ways to improve that it seems self indulgent to talk about successes. Maybe this is the issue here, and something to look at how to change.


Target setting, assessments, top tips; all dwell on what needs to be done. I think I need to spend more time asking children to focus on the things that they can do really well. We have celebration assemblies, reflection time...but maybe celebration time is missing.  Something to think about over the summer and see where to go from now...


Next summer I don't want anyone in my class looking alarmed at the prospect of receiving their report . (And I WILL look my head right in the eye and say what I have done well too :) )

End of year reports...

It is that time of year again. In the midst of writing end of year reports and asking myself how this can be made a more meaningful exercise.

We meet the parents in the Autumn and Spring terms for ten minute appointments at which they are given a written report on their child's progress and targets for learning. In the summer term we write a comprehensive report for each child. As any teacher knows, this takes a considerable amount of time.

We don't use report writers, each report is two to three sides of A4. As a parent, I really am not that bothered about knowing if my child "is able to enter data into a spreadsheet" or "has become more confident with times tables". I want to know if they are 1) confident in their peer group, 2) well behaved, 3) trying their hardest, 4) making progress and 5) if there are any areas which need particular working on.


A grade would suffice for 1-4 with 5 needing elaboration.
Hours and hours are spent writing reports, and I really question the purpose of this. How does a lengthy report help anyone?
I plan to raise this at school to see how we can make the report writing more meaningful and useful. Our children know exactly what they can  and can't do due to class targets... I appreciate that there is a legal requirement to report to parents, but how many parents actually want all the information we provide them with?

Secondary schools seem to favour a graded report with minimal comments whereas primary school reports tend to be far more verbose...Is it time to change this?