Although my girls grades were up and down I always asked if they were trying their hardest and that’s what counts at the most.

I take a balanced approach and if the kids are happy and doing well with the soft skills eg social no sweat

I saw a report of a child who got very high praise by her teachers for every subject for her work and standards yet low grades. The girl only has problems with one subject and has asked the teacher for help in getting a better understanding of it. Why the “conflict” of grades and comments? The teacher will be asked the questions in a meeting – if one is granted. Other parents have previously been given one. To have to wait for a Parent/Teacher meeting more than a month later only makes a genuine problem worse

I take all school reports seriously and discuss them with the teacher where I feel appropriate. You can view your child through a mothers eyes but their teacher spends more time with them than you do during the week and can be an impartial guide to their development

Great article. I used to worry about reports, when I was a child, and with my kids. Now with 3 in school, as long as I know what their strengths and weaknesses are and that they’re doing alright, that’s enough. I can help with whatever is needed, what the teacher recommends. I do like that they can indicate what my kids really enjoy at school as it usually reflects on the performance.

I think Government is nonsense, school agenda’s are rubbish not teaching kids what they really need to know. Start them on psychology and genuine human interactions; money budgeting, life-skills….

I agree that school reports aren’t that important. It’s far more important that our children are happy have friends and overall develop well socially, emotionally, physically and mentally.

There’s so much more than what one person grades your child.

There is definitely a lot more to life than a report card. In the grand scheme of things, writing on a piece of paper should not define a child. School reports shouldn’t just be disregarded either, as time and effort have been put into them. Teachers do an amazing job.

My husband and I are both teachers (I personally haven’t taught since graduation as I went straight into a stay at home mum) and we put a lot of stock in what our child’s teachers have all said. We read each comment carefully and see where our child is excelling and where our child is struggling. We most certainly do not think of ourselves or our child as failing. We see where our child needs help with better understanding and if our child would ever need our help with an area of education we will work with the teacher to further our child’s education! It is, of course, the reason we send our children to school!

I care my about the teachers comments and behavior than I do about how he compares to the other kids intellectually. He’s learning heaps and he’s well behaved (mostly) so grades don’t really matter yet.

It’s good to hear about behaviour and effort and things like reading you can work on but actual grades are what they are as long as they try.

It really annoys me as a teacher that we put so much time and effort into educating peoples children, assessing them against a government set benchmark and put hours and hours into writing reports for families only to have them say that they glance at it and not put much store by it. Yes, it is just one piece of paper int heir kids life but how about taking their education more seriously and putting some faith into what your teacher says about your child. They spend more time with them each week than their parents so they are very qualified to comment on your childs learning and should be respected for it.

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  • • mom290396 replied
    • 08 Jul 2019 , 7:32 pm

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  Absolutely! Couldn’t agree more! It doesn’t determine the type of person the children are, it does however, say how they are doing academically in an academic institution! We take the time to read the comments and every aspect of the report and we appreciate the time and effort put in by each teachers!