Parental reporting; what are the bsic requirements?

[beeswax]

Assessment, Attainment, Behaviour, and Attendance appear to be the basic information set for parental reporting. I've been doing a search online but can't really find any information less than about a couple of years old. It may be that my search terms need tweaking, but is there any more current information out there?

[tmcd0035]

My understanding is we should report to parents 3 times a year, although theres no guidelines as to what exactly. Internally we should be able to show termly progress for each pupil.

 

We are in the process of setting up our reporting cycle. We are looking at sending home a one page report three times a year showing the pupils current grade they are working at and a level indicator, this report will include attendance details.

 

Seperately we are sending an annual written report (using comment banks) that does not include any grades. This report contains sections for - an intoduction to the subject, the pupils understanding and progress, homework, and future progress.

 

Hope that helps.

[elsiegee40]

My teenagers both attend outstanding secondaries. Both schools take a similar approach to reports.

 

Kent works on a 6 term year. Both schools have an intake of roughly 150 each year.

 

Every term (so 6 times a year) we receive a progress report showing effort, target grade, current grade and likely result grade.

 

One term the progress is incorporated into a full written report subject by subject. While the 'what we've been studying' bit is clearly standard, neither school uses comment banks for the bit about the student or the targets for each subject.

 

Written report timing in both schools is such that parents get it a few days before consultations for that year group. Their distribution is spread out between terms 3 and 6.

 

I can feel some schools blanching at what these schools do, but they have both been Outstanding 3 times in a row for a reason.

Edited June 26, 2012 by elsiegee40

[mthomas08]

At the moment we report on the following(all accessible online): BAR Point system (negative/positive), Keystage reports, Attendance and homework. I am not fully aware of what we do because its all through a VLE which we are replacing.

 

Our new Frog will do all the above minus BAR which has been custom built for about 3-5 years.

[bossman]

@beeswax:

 

We have live reports through our VLE which report on everything you have mentioned above plus homework which they have read access to so they can actively engage with their child if they feel inclined to do so.

 

Its not Frog BTW

[philwaud]

Schools must give you a written report on your child at least once a year. This must include:

progress on all the National Curriculum subjects they have studied

progress in other subjects and activities

general progress and attendance

results in any National Curriculum tests and assessments

 

Thats from direct.gov site.

 

Most schools now include progress checks which arent full reports merely a printout of the progress data that the school holds. Unions (well, the NUt anyway), say this only needs to be done once a term, but its becoming increasingly common for it to be every half term.

 

Parents evenings have to be one a year.

[mleighton]

Parents evenings have to be one a year.

 

Is this the case? In line with many others above, we report 6 times a year on progress, including targets, attainment, work ethic, and colour coded progress to target (or should it be progress from baseline?). We incorporate one full written profile each year. We also provide an individual online homework diary for every student, and a version for every parent to display their child's homework. All this reporting is wholly online.

 

In the light of all this we have discussions in school about the worth of parents evenings - as parents already have so much data and information at their fingertips. Why do we need to regurgitate the same information to parents that they can already see online? True, parents are more judicious in who they choose to see these days, and often come with specific questions, not content with just listening to the teachers description of how their child is doing. But do we need these evenings?

 

If as you say we have to have parents evenings, then perhaps we should be targeting parents - see who we want to see? Maybe tailor evenings to different groups of parents? As quality of reporting increases, so the need for parents evenings decreases....or does it?

[philwaud]

https://www.education.gov.uk/popularquestions/schools/assessmentandperformance/a005519/how-often-should-parentspupils-receive-a-pupil-report

 

says...

By law headteachers are responsible for ensuring they send a written report to parents on their children once during the school year (or to the pupil where they are 18 years or over). Many schools provide more than one report a year.

 

https://www.education.gov.uk/schools/pupilsupport/parents/keepinginformed/a0010864/reports-for-parents

 

I cant find a link at the moment (havent really trolled many sites...) but it is both a requirement for schools to have parents evenings and a parents right to attend them. I hear what you are saying re more modern ways of communicating and I always find that the parents that dont need to come are the ones that always turn up, whereas the ones you really need to see are hard to get through the door.

[beeswax]

@beeswax:

 

We have live reports through our VLE which report on everything you have mentioned above plus homework which they have read access to so they can actively engage with their child if they feel inclined to do so.

 

Its not Frog BTW

 

Would it rhyme with doodle, but begin with an 'M'?