School report been copied

Takoda

To the person who asked about report writing software. I have used Report Assist in the past and it is quite good. Depends if school want to spend precious money on it though.

To the people complaining about the wrong gender. It is likely that the teacher concerned had a bank of comments for each subject usually at 3 levels - top, middle and lower. They then choose the correct level for your child's ability and copy and paste it in. Usually then they use 'find and replace' to change the name and gender. Sometimes they miss one and it gets left in. That's why Headteachers check reports especially in the days of computer generated one. I HAD to do mine like this this year as my school wanted us to do it that way but I don't usually do that when I've got a choice. I do find it quite hard to proof read on screen though and often have to print out a copy to read as I can't seem to see errors on the laptop.

The funniest thing is being given friends' kids reports to read and wondering why the parents are so happy with it when reading between the lines you can see that little X is a right royal pain in the rear! Or never shuts up!

I really wish that sometimes we were allowed to tell the truth about your little darlings but we're always told to 'be positive' so we don't upset you.

mrs_thrifty_2

Fact: reports take days with or without software. I have done reports using both systems and tend to prefer not using the software because some of its language is awkward and stilted and requires linkage. Also I found it took longer because there was so much choice of comment that I became confused. If copying and pasting ( and I would do this for general subjects sometimes) then I did all the girls first and then the boys and that way I avoided the he/she problems. Those who are complaining should try it first - Walk in my shoes for a year and then you have the right to moan about teachers.

Raksha

milliebear00001 wrote: »

This must be intensely annoying for you. I REALLY don't like the way some schools hand out reports on the last day of term. It means some parents inevitably have questions they can't get answers to until the next term. Is it possible your son has been given the wrong report? It sounds so different in terms of subjects etc. Are the subjects he no longer studies, subjects he only dropped this academic year - or has he not studied them since last year or earlier? Were you expecting such low grades, or are they a complete shock? I am inclined to think there's been a mix up - does your son have a common name?

To be fair, #2 son does have a bad habit of not handing over letters from school - even if I ask for them..... So he may have had it for a day or two before I found it.

The report has his name on it, he hasn't dropped any subject this academic year, they made their choices last year. The rest of his report is level's 4 and 5 (expected or above expected levels for his age. No, his first name isn't common, and his surname even less common (only one other child in the school with the same surname, and that's his brother!)

milliebear00001

Raksha wrote: »

To be fair, #2 son does have a bad habit of not handing over letters from school - even if I ask for them..... So he may have had it for a day or two before I found it.

The report has his name on it, he hasn't dropped any subject this academic year, they made their choices last year. The rest of his report is level's 4 and 5 (expected or above expected levels for his age. No, his first name isn't common, and his surname even less common (only one other child in the school with the same surname, and that's his brother!)

o are you saying he's received grades for subjects he definitely hasn't studied this year? If that's the case, then I can only think he has been given the wrong report! It does happen sometimes - esp in secondary schools with lots of children. The alternative might be that they are giving you his levels in the dropped subjects from the year he last studies them.

gregg1

Idiophreak wrote: »

LMFAO...you really don't have the foggiest what you're talking about, do you?

Let's forget, for a moment, that my gf will spend a good 2/3 of each holiday (whether one week or 6) catching up from the previous term and preparing for the next one and assume she actually has all of her holidays to herself...

One simple question...Do you actually know what teachers earn?

If you can make that figure into living PLUS 6 weeks in France and 2 weeks in Florida *peak season* each year, you must be a forking alchemist.[/QUOTE]


Brilliant - made me choke on my bacon sarnie !

janninew

Hello,

Just wanted to share my experiences on report writing. I work in a very large secondary school (approx 1,600 children) and my job is Deputy Headteachers Assistant.

I have overall responsibility for reports. As is the case in all professions, some staff members are very lazy when they write reports, others are very hard working and their reports are excellent. Most people dont understand just how many reports teachers write, our school gives a full subject report for each year, once a year, a tutor report for each year, once a year and the 3 mini reports for each year (mini reports show the target grades and the childs actual grade, plus grades for homework, effort etc). So much time is spent writing reports, its unbelievable! We have a system in place to ensure reports do not go out with silly errors on them (all reports are peer checked, then checked by the management team). This is also very time consuming but the majority of our reports are excellent.

I had the same opinion of teachers and all their holidays, but since working in a school i realise that i would not want their job,for the wage they get. Most people have no idea the pressures on teachers to meet targets, follow government guidelines and just keep some of the children in line everyday!!

alm721

whitfreak wrote: »

I thought the copy+paste nature of school reports these days is because teachers arn't allowed to be negative about any of their pupils anymore. And as such are restricted approved phrases. But judging by the thread it seems like I am wrong.

Actually this is probably true to an extent, we are not allowed to write negative comments anymore so tbh the value of written reports is probably slightly questionable anyway, unless parents can read between the lines to an extent its very easy to conclude that their child is an angel when in actual fact things are very different. I think its very sad that things have now come to this and in part encourage poor behaviour at school.

Raksha

Just found this weeks school newsletter - apparently the report #2 son was given was based on the 'core' subjects, but in his school they take their choices at the end of year 8 and therefore don't take all the core subjects in year 9, hence the poor grades in the subjects he doesn't take, and no grades at all in the subjects he now takes as his choices.

Why couldn't they have put that in a letter with the report? Bet there's some kids out there got a right talking too for such poor performance

AdamBrunt

Personally, depending on the year the pupil is in, I can't see a problem with what looks like "copy and paste" in reports. Our daughter is just finishing reception class. Along with the report, we were also given this bar chart with various "skills" along the bottom and 1-9 up the side. The idea being that at the start of Year 1, the 'best' you could be was at level 9 in all the skills. Now, clearly there are pre-defined 'steps' a child is meant to reach during the year and if software exists to present the achievement of these steps in a concise way then if the school uses it ... it is bound to give some children similar reports.

TBH all I want my child's report to say is whether they're at the stage they should be at and/or what they're falling behind in.

Savvy_Sue

Takoda wrote: »

The funniest thing is being given friends' kids reports to read and wondering why the parents are so happy with it when reading between the lines you can see that little X is a right royal pain in the rear! Or never shuts up!

I really wish that sometimes we were allowed to tell the truth about your little darlings but we're always told to 'be positive' so we don't upset you.

DS3's first two school reports, the Headteacher referred to him as 'interesting' - and I knew exactly what she meant! :rotfl: