Primary schools are recording more information than ever before about their children, but how do they share this information with parents? And are schools really giving parents what they need to understand how their child is doing at school?
With this in mind, Capita SIMS surveyed over 1,000 parents and 850 teachers at English state primary schools. The research revealed that over half of parents (57%) feel that school reports are either too generic or do not have enough information about how their child is doing. More than a third of primary school teachers (35%) agreed with this view.
Headteachers are mindful that improving reporting and other forms of parental communications should not increase teachers’ workload. The use of technology is important for keeping workload to a minimum and 85% of teachers feel progress-tracking technology positively impacts on their workload when it comes to monitoring pupil progress.
Is it time for the primary school report to evolve?
I know my daughter can name a circle, square and triangle. But the best comments are the ones that give me a real sense of her, that she’s an eccentric child who loves science and has a wide vocabulary.
Sophie Robson, parent