At the start of the lockdown, in March, we asked all the teachers to write the end of year reports for the children. At that point, we didn’t know how long the situation would last for.
The reports are a celebration of the children’s work and achievements from September to March only. There is no summer term data for most year groups – the last data input will have been in the spring term just as the school went into lockdown. The attendance data stops in March as well. We have also tried not to comment on life since the lockdown – we wanted there to be more to the children’s memories of Elmhurst than COVID! We do recognize, though, the huge contributions that families have made to their child’s learning during this time. Thank you!
The reports are almost ready to be posted out to you. They will be sent by Friday 3rd June in the post so please be aware that there may still be a delay. The year 6 children will be given their report to bring home with them during the week of the 29th of June.
There is a space for parental feedback – it is always valuable to read your comments so please do send them back. We are happy to receive your feedback via email rather than putting the slips in the post. Please send your feedback to office@elmhurst.somerset.sch.uk, marking them “Report feedback” or by submitting the online reporting form below.
You will notice that the front page has lots of previous data on it. If we have the information from previous schools on our system it will appear in the report. You may see your child’s assessment data from reception and the end of year 2 if we have it.
You will also see the teacher assessment for reading, writing, and maths from autumn and from spring. As we said earlier there is no summer data other than in year 6. The summer data for year 6 is the end of year Teacher Assessment that the teacher has “projected” that your child would have achieved had they taken the SATs test in May. There is no official end of year 6 data – these boxes are intentionally blank as they would have included the SAT results. Please see below for an explanation of the codes.
The most important element of the report is what the class teacher has actually written about your child.
Under normal circumstances, we would be able to provide you with the opportunity to discuss the report with the class teacher. Due to the current restrictions, we are unable to offer face to face meetings. If you would like to discuss the report, please contact the teacher via the school office to arrange a telephone conversation.
We know that many of you will read the reports and your concerns about September may increase as a result. If your child was struggling in some aspects before lockdown, how will it be for them after lockdown? If they were working below the age expectation before lockdown, is the gap going to have increased further as a result of the current situation? These are all genuine concerns – we have them too! The honest answer is that all children, regardless of their academic ability and family circumstances, will be impacted by the current situation in some way or another; we will have plans in place to address these eventualities and will communicate them with you once they are finalized. They will all, though, have made improvements in different areas as well. Think of the different things you may have done at home as a result of the lockdown. Learning isn’t just about the academic side of things.
We know that September will be different. We know that there will be many challenges to face about how the school day may look. We know that there are still many uncertainties about how we are going to help your child. As always, we will do whatever we can to help and support you and your child back into school and to address their individual learning needs. For now, that is all we can promise. Once we hear more, we will, as always, keep you posted.
We will post another update in the near future, so keep checking in.
Take care
Tracy and Mike
Report example and what the codes mean:
In the report example above, you can see a mixture of numbers and letters. The number refers to the curriculum year that the child is working within and the letter means either: emerging (they are starting to get to grips with the curriculum), developing (they are working within the curriculum), and secure (they are confident within the curriculum). Sometimes, the letter M is used as well. This means that the child has mastered the curriculum in that year and that they are working above age-related expectations.
In an ideal world, by the end of the academic year, we would hope for the “average” child to be secure in the curriculum for that year. It doesn’t always work like that, though, because children are all individuals.
We do not have any summer term data for years 3, 4, and 5 so the column to focus on is the Spring term one. If a child has a 3D, 4D or 5D in that column, they were working at age-related expectations at that point. Exactly where they are expected to be. If they have an E at that point, they are slightly below expectations and if they have an S or M, they are working above expectations.
The final data column for year 6, the summer column, is a projected result. This is what the class teacher would have expected them to be at the end of the year. Please ask your class teacher if you need further explanation. We are not projecting results for the other year groups.
The key stage 2 results box is intentionally blank and only appears on the reports for children in year 6. If we had done the tests, these boxes would have been populated automatically based on the test results.