Not yet surely? It feels like we barely finished and despatched the last reports! Has Educater gone mad to suggest that we must think about this now?

The Annual Report to Parents: Highlight of the school year? Or the most feared season? After so many years in a classroom, the memory of the task sits amongst some of my least favourite. In my early years of teaching, the report was a handwritten missive, created over many, many long hours. After submitting the precious pile of documents, I would wait days until they were returned to me with a list of required changes. It might be a job for the Tippex, or indeed, on occasion, I remember being asked to re-write them for a ‘more professional finish’. That was no easy task with each one being four sides of A4.

Word processing changed things of course, and relatively speaking, things became easier. So much easier that it is, in fact, still the most common tool utilised in the task. It is very common for teachers to use a ‘master paragraph’, to copy and paste over multiple reports and then change the name and pronouns. Some schools tried to use report generators, although many of these were quickly ditched following parent feedback. The report sounded bland, and the child was unrecognisable amongst the vague sentences.

It is only with the more sophisticated report writing systems (like Educater), that you can have workload genuinely reduced in a way that produces reports and seamlessly share these between teacher, leaders and then easily emailed directly to parents.

So why then, if it is so easy, do we need to worry about this before Easter?

Well, to put it simply, a few small pieces of planning now can make the whole process even easier when it comes to the logistical execution of the process. Indeed like any report writing system, you are most likely to use this less often compared to your assessment tracker. By the very nature of intermittent tasks, we can find ourselves spending more time scrabbling about reminding ourselves what to do than we need to complete the task in the end.

Fortunately, as always with Educater, help is at hand. The ideal scenario is that before the May half term holiday, all teachers are ready to run with the reports. The templates are completed, and all allocated to the correct teachers. The teachers have had a quick reminder of the process and teachers new to the process have been given a walkthrough and pointed towards additional support available.

Here is a checklist for action so that your report writing season will be the easiest yet:

      • Check you have a system in place. Is it time to move away from the word processed version and save time for everyone? Book a free demonstration with us (Customer Services: info@educater.co.uk)
      • Visit the evaluation notes you made after last year. It is always wise to end the season with a diary ‘note to self’ about any issues which arose during the season: adjustments needed for the templates, feedback from parents or staff, etc.
      • Review training for the leaders. Save time trying to remember how to set up the report – book yourself on the ‘Annual Reports to Parents-SLT’ Live Webinar on 8th If the time doesn’t suit, simply watch the recorded version on the Learning Hub.
      • Get your template ready. If you need a new or revised template, Educater Customer Services can help you with this.
      • Set your timeline for reports 2022. In setup, enter the key deadlines for the report writing season. You will get timely reminders to keep everything on track throughout and reports to parents can be sent on time.
      • Set the roles. Who is writing the reports and who will be approving them?
      • Refresh teacher’s training and give induction training to newcomers. The live webinar ‘Annual report to Parents – Class Teachers’ runs on Tuesday 3rd  May with the recorded version will be available on the Learning Hub – you could watch it together and stop to discuss as you go along. If you would like more support, why not think about booking a remote session with an Educational Consultant?
      • Get writing! Remember, we are there to answer your questions on live chat and on the telephone.
      • Distribute the report to parents. Find support printing reports.
      • Review the process. Once the reports are safely in the hands of parents, spend a little time reviewing how things went. Let Educater know – good or bad, all feedback is used by us to improve your customer experience.

SO, here’s to the 2022 season! After the recent upheavals, let’s hope this is the smoothest and easiest yet – we deserve it!

Author: Karen Thompson