Guidelines for Report Writing

Amended T3 2016

Receiving a report at Parramatta Public School

If the student enrols prior to the term the report is being issued, a report is to be written for the student. However, if the student enrols during the term of which the reports are being prepared, then no written report is required. If this is the case, a parent interview is to be conducted instead, outlining student progress and teacher observations

o  If enrolled during Term 1 the student receives a report

o  If enrolled during Term 2 the student does not receive a report. (A three-way interview is required)

o  If enrolled during Term 3 the student receives a report

o  If enrolled during Term 4 the student does not receive a report. (A three-way interview is required)

Language As a general rule reports are to be written in British English (analog, behaviour).

Reports about student achievement must be based on quality evidence of what each student has actually achieved against syllabus standards. The evidence that leads to the overall judgement of the achievement level provides the detail for the written comments about areas of strength and areas for further development. All comments should be written in full sentences.

Comments

Focus on key aspects. It is important to identify those aspects of achievement that have been the stage focus over the semester and achievement that specifically relates to the common assessment tasks. The comment in this section should focus specifically on achievement against syllabus standards. The content of the report comment should make links between the areas of achievement specific to that KLA, student strengths and areas for further development. Consider external data as well. Information included in the areas for further development should provide a clear picture of necessary next steps for the student. This advice should be manageable and realistic. It is not helpful to write long lists of areas for further development.

General Comment

Report comments are to be written in a positive tone. There is always something positive to say about a student. Too many negatives are counter-productive. Be careful you are not repeating comments when writing in the General Comments section and always start and end with a positive.

NAP / EAL/D

Students in NAP withdrawal programs will receive a report from the NAP teacher as part of the report document.

Community Language/KLAs

Students who attend Community Language classes will need comments for all KLAs and are to be given an overall grading. Community Language students will also receive a report which will accompany the class report as an insert.

LaS

In the General comment box please make the comment that learning support has been received and how much support e.g. This semester … received assistance as part of the Learning and Support program three sessions per week or daily support. For some students you may need to be more specific with the amount and actual support. This also refers to students participating in MiniLit, MultiLit, withdrawal groups for English/Mathematics, language group and students receiving SLSO support.

School Activities

These are automatically inserted into the report. Please ensure that if you coordinate an activity that your student information is up to date.

Some considerations when writing comments

·  Report on the child’s achievement / progress / performance / strengths. Indicate areas for further development illustrated with examples

·  Make every word count. Each sentence and every paragraph should state something new and not replicate the KLA overview

·  Comments should be written in full sentences

·  Everyone has their own style of writing. It is often easier and more meaningful to use your own words and phrasing rather than relying on comment starters or comments others use

·  Be succinct. No need to fill up the comment box if you have already said what you wanted to report

·  Vary your sentence structure

·  Use ‘seems’ or ‘appears’ (unless you have irrefutable evidence of fact)

o  E.g. He appears to enjoy painting

·  Avoid the use of the word “will” as this is a definite with no room for variance e.g. she will improve. Use instead words of lower modality which are less definite e.g. should or may

·  Comment on student achievement, performance, progress etc. not on how the student makes you feel. Avoid comments like “Jill is a delight / pleasure to teach.” Avoid personal comments

·  Subject areas and sports should begin with capital letters when used as a proper noun. English and Chinese are to always be written with capitals

·  Words such as “well-mannered” include a hyphen when used as an adjective e.g. Bob is a cheerful, polite and well-behaved student…but not when used alone e.g. Bob is well mannered

·  When using ‘practice / practise’ …practice is the noun and practise is the verb. E.g. to practise. Another hint is to substitute advice/advise in the sentence to see which makes sense…ise or ice. Use revise or revision if you become confused

Verb / Noun / Examples
Practice / With practice, he will improve his fine motor skills
Practice / Requires more practice
Practice / Further practice
Practice / More practice may benefit
Practise / By practicing her sight words
Practise / Xx should practise sketching at home
Practise / Xx needs to continue to practise his writing skills

·  When using the prefix ‘self’, the term should be hyphenated, e.g. self-assessment, self-discipline, self-esteem, self-evaluation

·  Please use upper case versions for these: Semester One, Year Three, Term One, Stage Two

·  Single spacing is used after a full stop, not double spacing

·  Use a child’s name consistently throughout the report…don’t revert to a shortened version

·  Check ‘cut and paste’ spacing within your report

·  When using the word ‘however’ within a sentence, please use a comma before and after the word e.g. Shannon tries hard, however, or start a new sentence …tries hard. However,

·  When connecting two clauses with a conjunction (however), a pronoun reference should be used to support the sentence, e.g. Michael reads texts of varying lengths, however, he should continue to use his understanding of punctuation to ensure his fluency is not disrupted

·  Ensure that when using a conjunction, the two clauses are related. It is incorrect to start a new idea, e.g. Mary enjoys writing imaginative texts, however, her reading could be improved by engaging in more texts at home

·  Do not break or hyphenate words at the end of a line, e.g. sci-ence

·  Affect/effect - affect (verb) = produce an effect on, e.g. student attendance affected the test result; effect (noun) = result of an action, e.g. the effect of the remediation program was significant; effect (verb) = bring about, e.g. the principal effected change

·  When referencing attention, write focused not focused

·  When ending report comments with a qualifying statement, e.g. ‘Well done, Sally!’ note that this statement relates directly back to the preceding sentence and is providing support for an activity that has just been identified. Make sure you are not telling parents that the child should ‘keep up the good work’ if you have just told them that their child rarely completes homework

·  When writing numbers use a space (not a comma) after each set of three digits. Fractions are always hyphenated, e.g. one-third. Numbers up to 20 should be written in words (except when used as data) over 20 in numerals. Some exceptions may be used for clarity. Do not mix numbers and words, e.g. ’19 to 21’ not ‘nineteen to 21’

·  Apostrophes denote a contraction (such as don’t or shouldn’t) or ownership (such as Charlie’s reading has improved [singular] or others’ thoughts / peers’ ideas [plural])

·  When using particular terms, use quotation marks, not speech marks to enclose the word, e.g. He uses the terms ‘long’ and ‘short’ to describe objects of varying lengths

·  Ensure that the same tense has been used throughout the comments for each KLA

·  It is not necessary to make comments like ‘ finishes work early’, ‘enjoys running errands for teachers’, ‘lines up promptly at recess and lunch’, or ‘on time to class’

Other helpful hints

CORRECT / INCORRECT
ü  reluctant/hesitant reader / O  reluctant/hesitant to read
ü  hardworking / O  hard working
ü  artwork / O  art work
ü  in front / O  infront
ü  a lot / O  alot
ü  should improve / O  will improve
ü  writing / O  story writing
ü  student / O  pupil
ü  needs to develop expression / O  needs more expression (avoid the use of more)
ü  mathematical activities / O  mathematics activities
ü  honest and reliable student / O  honest, reliable student
ü  honest, reliable and happy student / O  honest, reliable, happy student
ü  considerate of others / O  considerate to others
ü  KLAs / O  KLA’s
ü  relate to others / O  relate with others
ü  work with teacher assistance / O  work with Teacher assistance
ü  centred on / O  centred around
ü  cross country / O  cross-country
ü  inquire, inquiry / O  enquire
ü  interschool sport / O  inter-school sport
ü  lifelong / O  life-long
ü  mainstream / O  main-stream
ü  no-one (pronoun) / O  no one
ü  one-to-one / O  one to one
ü  parent–teacher night / O  parent/ teacher night
ü  PowerPoint / O  power point
ü  John represented the school in soccer / O  John represented in soccer
ü  runner-up, runners-up / O  runner up, runners up
ü  school-based / O  school based
ü  semifinal / O  semi-final
ü  teamwork / O  team-work
ü  one- and two-digit numbers / O  one and two digit numbers
ü  self-assessment, self-discipline, self-esteem, self-evaluation / O  self assessment, self discipline, self esteem, self evaluation
ü  Newcombe ball / O  newcombe ball
ü  visual arts / O  visual art
ü  Project-Based Learning / O  Project-based Learning
ü  analog / O  analogue
ü  axis / O  axes
ü  rereading / rewriting / O  re-reading / re-writing
ü  bookwork / O  book work
ü  one-to-one / O  one-one
Is a life-long learner / O  continually learning
tell the time / O  tell time