End of Year Reports – Dos and Don’ts
- Published: 15 May 2024
Guidance on completing reports provided by the Department in the past acknowledges that ‘there is considerable scope for schools in how they report on children’s progress and achievement’.
Circular 56/2011 requires schools to report on four areas:
- the child as a learner
- the child’s personal and social development
- the child’s progress with learning in curriculum areas or subjects
- next steps in the child’s learning, including ways for parents to help.
With approximately 6 weeks left until the end of June, it is timely to begin preparations for end of year reports. Best practice provides for issuing reports at least 2 weeks before the holidays. This allows time for parents to discuss any issue arising from their child’s report with the school and/or teacher.
Schools are advised to draw on a range of assessment methods and different sources of evidence and information gathered during the year to make statements about children’s learning and progress.
Schools may already have report templates embedded in their data-base system. These are usually based on NCCA Templates. Templates can also be customised and generated using the online NCCA Report Card Creator at www.reportcard.ncca.ie
When it comes to writing reports, the following are some ‘Do’s and Don’ts’ to consider:
Do
- Have clear guidance on expectations around report writing.
- Remind staff to be professional. In addition to reporting on progress etc., schools and teachers need to be mindful of their grammar, punctuation, spelling etc. This is the business we’re in!
- Outline expectations on the need to be fair and kind to the child in the first instance.
- Encourage staff to acknowledge effort and improvement as well as achievement.
- Remind staff of the importance of providing accurate information.
- Agree consistent ‘report’ language to be used across the school. (See IPPN Document: Sample comments for School Reports)
- Consider the impact the report could have in the child’s family and home.
- Note any special arrangements required for separated parents.
- In larger schools, consider delegating report sign-off to other members of the ISLM team where appropriate. Where this is done ISLM members would, of course, sign off using their own name.
Don’t
- Use ‘over-inflated’ descriptors which might cause difficulty for future years.
- Leave it too late to begin the process of report writing. Encourage staff to begin preparations early, thus avoiding workload and stress in the last weeks of term.
- Take responsibility for ‘correcting’ the class teachers’ work. Signing off on reports can be time-consuming and onerous enough. Setting clear expectations, as outlined above, is key.
“It’s ok to cheer for the kids who came in first, but make sure to stick around for those who finish last. They ran the race too!” - Anon
