Does anyone actually read reports?

It's that time of year when teachers are frantically trying to write reports ... as if we didn't have enough to do already! As I  was pondering on how I am going to get them written on time, I started to question if parents actually read them?

Have you ever read your son or daughter's report and thought that could have been written about any child in the class? Or I recognise that report writing programme? (Teachers may have noticed this!) Occasionally I have read a school report for one of my children and thought: 'The teacher knows and understands my child'. Therefore I always endeavour to personalised reports. It's great as a parent to read about a particular piece of work or event that your child has excelled at and that it has been recognised. 

Adding specific details and events to reports makes them much more enjoyable for the parents to read but inevitably creates a lot more work for the teacher. Fortunately there will always be children in every class who seem to be constantly excelling in virtually every area of the curriculum, thereby making it easier for the teacher to write about. However, there are also those reports that require more thinking time before writing, especially for those children who are getting on well at school and don't have any significant strengths or weaknesses. (I am aware that all children are gifted in something, although sometimes this isn't discovered until later on when they are introduced to new experiences).

So for me it's going to be a lot of late nights in order to get these reports finished and hopefully I'll have
satisfied parents who appreciate the effort I have put into writing them! 

(For anyone reading this who is thinking: 'Why isn't she writing reports instead of a blog post about writing reports?' I'm watching my daughter's swimming lesson. Plus everyone needs to take a break sometime!)