I'm one of the those parents who do a glance at my kid's school reports and then file them away. I have no time for any report written under the NZ National Standards regime. The bits I love are the general comments. I will mention that I am on a NZ school board and we fought and fought not to do National Standards until we really had to. They are not even mentioned at parent teacher interviews, such is the disdain for them at the school. But we have to follow the MOE rules...
Obviously the older they get, reports are more meaningful.
I am not sure whether exams or internal assessment is the preferred thing for my older boys - we are now on a 2 month wait for Cambridge exam results to come out. One kids is flicking to an NCEA school next year - this again is something I am not sure about.
Anyway, along with the official report which we received today, the year 6 kid had to write his own report - I loved it and am still laughing...
Reading - R does well in reading, but sometimes goes off track. He knows what lots of words mean and is great at sciming and scanning. (spelling his own)
Writing - R did better than expected. But he talks too much. (huh?). He uses well spaced paragraphs and has a good vocabulary.
Maths - R does well in maths an is always doing the right thing. He knows lots about times tables.
Religious Education - R, when he really wants to (hee hee - yes the story of his life!), will create amazeing work, But falls short on getting work done in time.
General comment - R is doing well in most things. Sometimes he goes off work. But that is what everyone will do at some point. If he keeps it up (what? the going off task?), I expect to go on and do great things.
A beaut! This is the kid who is a strong kinaesthetic learner and I was told when he was 6, that the NZ education system was not set up for kids like him... he struggled to sit still and got bored (which I suspect is still an issue)... nearly ready for a new journey kiddo. We have fingers crossed that this next school will suit you better!
I quite agree. The national standards are a disaster. They were always going to be. My husband and i taught in the UK and we decided that the NZ system was just fine as it was. League tables and teaching/ learning only sats stuff were hellish for the poor kids and the teachers. I know we have a kid or 2 in our family that will NEVER get up over the N S lines. Yes we are only interested in the personal comments too. Most frustrtaing for my husband writing banal comments about maths reading writing etc knowing what a daft waste of time and energy it is!! Enjoy the end of school fun times!
ReplyDelete