Reporting to Parents and Carers

REPORTING TO PARENTS AND CARERS

Policy

guidance

Please consult Training School website for CPD support materials and other useful booklets www.bhbs.hereford.sch.uk

Contents

Page

Purpose 3

Audience 3

Responsibility 3

Reporting to Parents / Carers – Good Practice/

Improvement Indicators relating to Teacher’s Standards 4

Subject Reports (Two Interim, One Full)

Instructions for completing KS3 and KS4 Interim and Full Reports 5/6/7/8

Suggested Structure/Examples for Subject Reports 9

Useful Tips 10

Form Tutor Reports

Guidelines for completing Form Tutor Reports – Written x 1 11

Template for Full Report/Writing the Form Tutor Comment 12

Full Reports – Action for CTL/HOH/Template for Interim Reports (x2) 13

Glossary for Full Reports 14

Reporting to Parents/Carers Policy 15-17

Purpose

The purpose of reporting is to inform parents/carers of their sons/daughter’s strengths and areas to improve in your subject area and to explain ways in which the student can improve and make progress. It also acts as a formal record of learning progress for the student. At KS4, reports can provide Information for external parties e.g. post 16 references.

Audience

This relates to parents/carers of the student. For this reason, the report should be written in the third person. In other words, keep the student in mind as you write the report, but remember that you are actually addressing the comments to the parents/carers.

If you wish to give praise to a student, it must be done through the parents/carers to whom the report is addressed e.g.

“James deserves praise for his efforts this year.”

The given name (as on SIMs) of the student must be used throughout the report i.e. Joseph not Joe

Responsibility

It is the responsibility of the author to proof read their own reports, thus keeping corrections to a minimum and saving the time of their colleagues later in the reporting process. It is good practice to ‘buddy’ with a colleague for proof reading purposes.

Part 2 - Teachers’ Standard / Good Practice / √ / Improvement Indicator / √ / Suggested Support
1c / “Teachers must have a understanding of and always act within the statutory framework which sets out their professional duties and responsibilities”. / Reports completed on time so that the process is smooth and nobody is held up or inconvenienced. / Late completion of reports. Deadlines not met.
Part 1 - Teachers’ Standard / Good Practice / √ / Improvement Indicator / √ / Suggested Support
3c / “Demonstrate an understanding of and take responsibility for promoting high standards of literacy, articulacy and the correct use of standard English, whatever the teacher’s specialist subject”. / There are usually no mistakes in written reports. They are written with care and checked, so that the process is not held up by errors being corrected. / Reports have too many errors - mostly spelling and punctuation.
6b / “Make use of formative and summative assessment to secure students’ progress”. / Reports demonstrate ‘depth’ regarding current progress and behaviours for learning together with clear guidance to parents / carers – regarding how to improve in order to achieve the next level / grade. / Reports are lacking in depth / developmental aspects. Lack of clear guidance on how to improve / support available.
8b / Develop effective professional relationships with colleagues, knowing how and when to draw on advice and specialist support. / Support sought re. ‘buddying’ / help with proof reading before reports are submitted. / Support not sought before final submission of reports resulting in rewriting / correcting them.
8e / Communicate effectively with parents with regard to students’ achievements and well-being”. / All steps have been taken and school policy / guidelines followed to ensure high quality reports are submitted. The teacher has set an appropriate example in terms of meeting deadlines, quality of written English and communication. / Reports do not reflect effective communication with parents.

Template for KS3 - Interim Reports (x2)

Course Description:
(Generic Statement produced by CTL area)
** Curent Level Achieved
Teacher Name: / From drop down box:
1. Excellent
2. Good
3. Moderate
4. Poor
5. Inadequate
Attitude to Learning
Completion of Homework
EOY Target
(entered via SIMS) / Current Level Report 1 / Current Level Report 2 / Current Level Report 3 / Milestone Level 1 (entered via SIMS) / Milestone Level 2 (entered via SIMS) / Milestone Level 3 (entered via SIMS) / Contribution in Class
Organisational Skills

Template for KS4 - Interim Reports (x2)

Course Description:
(Generic Statement produced by CTL area)
** Predicted grade based on current performance
Teacher Name: / From drop down box:
1. Excellent
2. Good
3. Moderate
4. Poor
5. Inadequate
Attitude to Learning
Completion of Homework
EOY Target
(entered via SIMS) / Report Grade 1 / Report Grade 2 / Report Grade 3 / Milestone Grade 1 (entered via SIMS) / Milestone Grade 2 (entered via SIMS) / Milestone Grade 3 (entered via SIMS) / Contribution in Class
Organisational Skills

Completing KS3 and KS4 Subject Reports

Full Report with written comment (x1)

KS3

Course Description:
(Generic statement produced by CTL area)
** Current Level Achieved
Teacher: / From drop down box:
1. Excellent
2. Good
3. Moderate
4. Poor
5. Inadequate
EOY Target (entered via SIMS) / Current Level Report 1 / Current Level Report 2 / Current Level Report
3 / Milestone Level 1
(entered via SIMS) / Milestone Level 2
(entered via SIMS) / Milestone Level 3
(entered via SIMS)
Attitude to Learning
How to Improve/make further progress: Teacher/Class – Start report with name?
(160 characters) / Completion of Homework
Contribution in Class
Organisational Skills

1. The course description will have been entered.

2. The end of year target will have been entered.

3. The level you enter will be the N.C. level that the student is currently working at.

4. Attitude to Learning ) all from ‘drop down’ box

Completion of homework ) Excellent

Contribution in Class ) Good

Organisational Skills ) Moderate

Poor

Inadequate

5. Only written element is 160 characters on how to prove/make further progress. After 160 characters, font will change to red/underline, as limit reached.

KS4

Full Report with written comment (x1)

Course Description:
(Generic statement produced by CTL area)
** Predicted grade based on current performance / From drop down box:
1. Excellent
2. Good
3. Moderate
4. Poor
5. Inadequate
EOY Target / Report Grade 1 / Report Grade 2 / Report Grade
3 / Milestone Grade 1 / Milestone Grade 2 / Milestone Grade 3
Attitude to Learning
How to Improve: / Completion of Homework
Contribution in Class
Organisational Skills

1. The course description will have been entered.

2. The end of course target will have been entered.

3. The grade you enter will be the predicted grade based on current performance.

4. Attitude to Learning ) all from ‘drop down’ box

Completion of homework ) Excellent

Contribution in Class ) Good

Organisational Skills ) Moderate

Poor

Inadequate

5. Only written element is 160 characters on how to improve/make further progress. After 160 characters, font will change to red/underlined, as limit reached.

When you have entered information, you must click ‘save’ in order to input your work. It is recommended that you do this frequently when entering data.

Outline of Reporting Process

The intention of this timeline is to show the overall process involved in the production of reports. It should be noted that the exact timings will vary, depending on the occurrence of holidays, INSET days etc. A detailed timeline will be circulated at appropriate times.

Action / Person Responsible / Timeline
Reports completed and checked by ‘buddy.’ / Subject Teachers / Week 1
CTLs checking / CTLs / Week 2 (Mon-Tues)
Reports printed for form tutors / CJR (SLT Lead – Reporting to Parents) /
L Arms (Reports Administrator) / Week 2 (Weds)
Form tutors check subject reports for errors & write form tutor report. / Form Tutors
CTLs ( can assist if additional support is needed)
CLTs (ensure subject teachers make corrections) / Week 2 (Weds/Thurs/Fri)
Week 3 (Mon/Tues)
Completed reports printed for HOHs / CJR / L Arms, Reports Administrator / Week 3 (Weds)
HOHs read, comment & sign reports – pass on to SLT / CTLs / Week 3 (Weds-Thurs)
Week 4 (Mon)
SLT read & sign / SLT / Week 4 (Tues/Weds)
HOH give out reports / CTL / Week 4 (Fri)

Subject teachers / Form tutors can access the reports on the SIMS and begin writing their reports earlier. However, errors on reports should not be sent to CTLs before the published date for the end of their checking.

NB. At the beginning of the academic year Line Managers are to inform CJR of the report ‘buddies’/peer coaching/mentoring required for full report writing. All staff are required to agree a report buddy.

Suggested structure for Full Reports

The course description, grades/levels, milestones and ‘behaviours for learning’ will all have been covered. Therefore, the comment should relate specifically to how to improve/make progress. What can the student do? What resources/support are available? If you have a high achiever, what extension activities/resources are there for him/her. No need to repeat what is already there eg: what they have been learning their grades/levels/organisational skills.

Examples of Subject Reports

Examples of ‘effective’ teacher comments highlighting how to improve/make progress.

ENGLISH

Cherry should aim to develop her use of imagery. She can do this by ------

MATHS

To improve homework Amy must attempt to show all working-out. She would benefit from using mymaths to revise.

Useful Tips

Check your character count (with spaces) before pasting from Word into SIMs (160 max).

Aim to finish reports 24 hours in advance of the deadline to allow for checking.

Check spelling of names and use of full legal first names.

Check it or avoid it (spellings).

You might find it useful to use ‘Word’ to write comments, then copy and paste.

Pair up and proof read with a colleague before entering.

Check where you have done “copy and paste” to ensure names are correct and pronouns match the name and gender.

Save as you go.

Check number of characters.

Although formatting in Word has many benefits, avoid special characters, symbols bullet points. These can ‘corrupt’ data leading to loss of all of your reports. If you get a blank page with the words ‘void’ or ‘nil groups’ – this is the likely cause.

Guidelines for completing Form Tutor Reports

Stage 1: Gathering subject information

1. You will be provided with a printed set of reports for your form.

2. From this information, you will be able to formulate your Form Tutor summary of the student.

3. If you notice any errors in one of the subject reports, then please return to L Arms/C Rushton who will email the subject teacher to correct the report. Inform the CTL who should be monitoring reports. It is the responsibility of the CTL to highlight errors at an early stage and activate corrections.

4. It is particularly important to forward any “blank” reports as soon as possible; this may well not be the fault of the subject teacher, but needs dealing with urgently.

5. When you read all the reports for that student, close the window. This will return you to the form list and you can continue from Step 3 for the next student.

Stage 2: Completing Form Tutor Reports

1. Log on to SIMS and select your Form Group.

2. You now need to enter the Form Tutor comment. There is a 300 ‘character’ limit for the comment (after this the font will go ‘red’ to show that you are over your limit). As there is a ‘drop down’ box for Uniform, Punctuality, Attendance, Contributions to Form/Assemblies, your comment will relate to overall progress/targets and contributions to extra curricular activities.

3. When you have entered the information, you must click “Save” in order to save your input. It is recommended that you do this frequently (eg after each student).

4. It is strongly recommended that you type your comments and targets using an editor such as Word, in order to take advantage of the spell-checking and proofing tools. It is much easier to read the comments in Word than in the e-portal screen and it acts as a backup.

5. Deadline for completion (date(s) will be sent as a reminder on email.

6. After this time, the HOH will sign the full report and check your form tutor comments. If you complete your reports ahead of the deadline, please inform your HOH – this will give them more time for checking and signing.

Template for FULL REPORT (x1)

Writing the Form Tutor Comment

Once you have read all the subject reports for a student and have a clear picture in your mind as to how that student has performed. You are ready to write their Form Tutor Report. As you read the reports, make a note of areas of excellence/concern that need highlighting in your tutor report. Contributions to extra curricular activities can also be highlighted. Rewards, Sanctions, Attendance and lateness will be entered in advance through SIMS.