Guidelines for Report Writing Amended T3 2016

Receiving a report at Parramatta Public SchoolIf 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 reporto 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 reporto 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/DStudents in NAP withdrawal programs will receive a report from the NAP teacher as part of the report document.

Community Language/KLAsStudents 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 ActivitiesThese 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 ExamplesPractice With practice, he will improve his fine motor skillsPractice Requires more practicePractice Further practicePractice More practice may benefit

Practise By practicing her sight wordsPractise Xx should practise sketching at homePractise 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 hintsCORRECT INCORRECT

reluctant/hesitant reader reluctant/hesitant to read hardworking hard working artwork art work in front infront a lot alot should improve will improve writing story writing student pupil needs to develop expression needs more expression (avoid the use of more) mathematical activities mathematics activities honest and reliable student honest, reliable student honest, reliable and happy student honest, reliable, happy student considerate of others considerate to others KLAs KLA’s relate to others relate with others work with teacher assistance work with Teacher assistance centred on centred around cross country cross-country inquire, inquiry enquire interschool sport inter-school sport lifelong life-long mainstream main-stream no-one (pronoun) no one one-to-one one to one parent–teacher night parent/ teacher night PowerPoint power point John represented the school in soccer John represented in soccer runner-up, runners-up runner up, runners up school-based school based semifinal semi-final teamwork team-work one- and two-digit numbers one and two digit numbers self-assessment, self-discipline, self-esteem, self-

evaluationself assessment, self discipline, self esteem, self evaluation

Newcombe ball newcombe ball visual arts visual art Project-Based Learning Project-based Learning analog analogue axis axes rereading / rewriting re-reading / re-writing bookwork book work one-to-one one-one

Is a life-long learner continually learningtell the time tell time