What do school reports tell you?

It appears these days that they can only say nice things in reports so I get a teacher friend to interpret them for me!

They are now done on computers and can be full of gobbledygook.

When I say done on a computer I mean on a report writer programme. They give the teacher statements to choose from. They can be a bit pedantic.
The biggest problem is remembering to change he and she when cutting and pasting.

In 1990 DD brought home her first school report from 'big school'. It was computer generated (statements taken from a computer list)with lots and lots of 'information' on 20 A4 sheets of paper. 26 years later it is still in the drawer and still not read. All I wanted to know was whether she was happy, behaving herself and working well - everything else would then be fine.
As a teacher I was told in my later years of teaching that only positive things could be said on a report. Some said very little but no doubt the parents of the little darlings were thrilled that their offspring were doing so well !

Post PC and all that I am told that report writing is a real skill nowadays and it takes brains to know what is really being said.

Does anyone still have their own school reports and did they accurately foretell your future?

My school reports were very minimal. They gave our exam results and our place in the class in each subject as well as our overall place in the class. My conduct was always boringly 'satisfactory' - don't know what it said about those naughty boys at the bottom of the class!

Mine always said "must try harder" in primary school. Yet I passed my 11 plus and entrance tests for an excellent grammar school easily. Much later I (nearly) completed my OU degree. I always thought I would finish it when I retired, but it's too expensive now. I went on to hold pretty responsible jobs, so I am hoping now I have reached 64 that I could stop trying so hard now!

I think the answer to the original question "What do school reports tell you?" is "Not nearly enough".

Indeed my own reports often had just a mark and one word - a few excellents (English Dom Sci and RE mainly) and some 'could do betters' with a 'must try harder' as a conclusion.

That has made me smile, bless him xxxx

I had Angela is excellent in English .History, and Art, but needs to concentrate more in Math,, yup, still do,, haha Math was ok, until it came to Algebra and Equations,, and Geography, was "We could put Angela in the middle of anywhere, with a Map, and Compass and she would get us home", "BUT (and it was a BIG BUT" she has no idea where places are,," eg The capital of oooh lets say,,, Bulgaria ? does it have one or is it one?

My report from school said "sets a low standard and consistently fails to achieve it" and my army one said "looks smart in denims and works well under supervision " not really but close

Reports tell you little you don't already know about your child in terms of education unless it's test marks. Everything must be couched in positive terms, so 'Social skills are improving' = has stopped intimidating other children. 'Is participating' . . . = has stopped disrupting lessons. ' Is beginning to make progress' . . . = has found things difficult so far but is making every effort ( positive) or has finally stopped messing about (negative) A polite friendly child - works well = exactly what it says; well done, you have brought up a lovely child.
We aren't allowed report writers but there are only so many ways to say the same thing on foundation subjects so it's Important to have a female and male version to cut and paste from.

To really understand a school report you need to see the reports for the rest of the class. I used to teach Home Economics and comments varied from 'can prepare a simple dish with help' to 'can follow a recipe and work independently to produce a quality dish'.
All my reports up to the age of 16 said I was quiet and well behaved. My think I forged them.

Our daughter was very upset with her son's school report, it was totally negative in all subjects, yet she knows he has some good points. Her job gives her access to some senior education advisor (not in her son.s school area). She arranged a chat with one of these advisors, the advisor was appealed by the negativity, that it was of no help to the child whatsoever, no suggestions of a positive nature. Also, DD is concerned about his hand writing and spelling, again the advisor was appalled by the constrained nature of the teaching, teaching what suited the school, not the child.
When her son writes on paper he is reticent, when he uses a white board he is far keener. The advisor explained that some children are afraid to make a mistake, the white board allows him to erase his mistakes and put them right.
Daughter feels better about her son's progress now, but not sure how to deal with the school.

My school reports always said 'friendly, chatty, more than capable of any work set, but invariably puts in the minimum amount of effort required to satisfy the teacher's curiosity'. Not much has changed there then, I can do more or less anything that I set my mind to, but more often than not, CBA!

I wonder if they have the same reports in our Primary schools as my GCs have in Australia

They are ticked for rarely, sometimes, usually, or constantly and they are listed

WORK HABITS
Listens and follows instructions
Takes pride in work
Strives to improve
Completes task within set time
Contributes effectively in a group
Works independently when necessary
Works without disturbing others
Able to concentrate on a task
Seeks assistance when needed
Shows initiative
Punctuality to school routines
Attendance

SOCIAL SKILLS
Respects and follows class rules
Observes playground rules
Respects others and their property
Interacts positively with peers
Is well mannered
Responds positively to correction
Shares happily
Is responsible for belongings

They also get "medals" at the end of the year. My DGD got the "Academic Excellence" (I think that was what it was called) for her year and they have academic reports.

One of my reports said A must learn to control her exuberance in the cookery class!!!

I know there are many possibly apocryphal school reports, but my all time favourite was for a boy from his Geography teacher
"He does well to find his way home"

After over 25 years of writing reports and checking those of others, I deprecated the move to computer generated sentence banks as the start of a slippery slope. Far too many school reports of this type combine being too long with being quite meaningless at the same time.

Grandson gets very informative reports from school with details of how he does in each subject and information about the ones he is best at and those less good

The last decade of my state teaching career was one in which only positive comments were allowed on reports or tutor statements for university admissions. Even tearaways, the disruptive and bullies had to be praised. Completely useless for pupils and parents. Some of the statement banks were so generic and meaningless they might as well have said, 'sat in a room with others while some teaching was going on,' 'managed to breath in and out during the school day'.

If the parents really wanted to know the truth you could tell them on parents' evening but, even then, some parents being so used to nothing but praise would take exception to useful pointers for improvement. If parents started to take professional advice personally and became abusive, I'd switch to bland-speak sharpish.

I noticed a strange contrast in the parents at the prep schools my own children attended. Those parents often only wanted to hear negative comments and 'how little Johnny could improve.' Teachers who didn't shoot from the hip were considered 'soft'.

Primary school reports are very clear & very similar to Australian version above. There is then a section giving marks for each 'subject' & there is a large space for teacher's comments. They do stress the good points. Only had one report from 'big' school so far but it was very comprehensive & fair- I'm sure he COULD try harder!.
My father used to correct the spelling & grammar in my reports & send them back to the headmaster ( who also made bloomers!) This was a very good Grammar school in mid 60s. No comment was ever made to me but I bet they weren't very happy. I do see his point now- they were teaching ME so they should at least know the basics. My dad was a sweet, kind, even tempered man but he didn't like sloppiness..

I did like seeing the DGC's Social Reports Craftycat but do not have little ones at school over here nor teachers in the family teaching this age group so cannot compare with the UK. You can imagine that my DGD's differed greatly from my DGS's . There were no subject marks or subject comments on these reports.

I felt it gave an insight on how they are learning to learn and think it would give parents an idea of what they needed to do. They did get them at a parents evening so could discuss with the teacher.

My wonderful DIL scans and sends me them so I can keep up with what is happening.

I am no mucician and this was obvious from my school days:

MUSIC:
'Pen blows too hard down her recorder'

and the following year

'Pen must aim for a sweeter tone'