Academic reports: 6 formats
Academic reporting to parents (part 2): 6 observations about language, formats and guidance that successful schools use
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This is a guest post by Curriculum Leader, English teacher (and parent), Louise Ferrier. If you’d like to write for us, head to the bottom of this post.
Whilst peddling away furiously in a spin class recently, I heard the on-screen instructor talk about the ‘delicate dance’ between speed and power. Believe me, there was nothing graceful on my part - but the analogy stuck with me because as teachers and school leaders we are constantly trying to choreograph success, and my goodness it can be tricky!
When it comes to reporting to parents we are looking to engineer success in that all important home-school partnership. We want parents and carers to be armed with meaningful information in order to support their child’s education.
How we choose to communicate this information is critical to provoking positive action in the families we serve. The EEF acknowledges that:
“There can be a gap between what schools intend to communicate and what is received, understood and felt by families. Focus on building parents’ efficacy – that they are equal partners and can make a difference.”
We all know the power that the home-school relationship can wield. When we are working positively together, magic happens so I was keen to find out how reporting supports this.
Inspired by Jessica Dobrowolski’s analysis of successful schools’ reporting practice, I decided to sit with her research and see what emerged.
Last week I unpacked the academic data sets shared with parents with examples and this week, I explore how language, format and guidance are being used to forge positive, purposeful relationships with parents.
Read on to discover what successful schools do for:
Clarity
Explaining Progress
An Invitation to Participate
Formats for ease of understanding
Keeping Parents in the Loop
Guiding Parents
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6 observations about successful schools’ academic reports’ language, format and guidance
1. Clarity
Without clarity and accessibility, reporting is just throwing data into the ether. The WAIB research includes examples of schools providing explanations, broken down for ease of access. This is the classic purpose-form-audience combo in action but it is not as straightforward as one might assume.
It brings back memories of proof-reading a draft letter to parents that when put through a readability test (easily completed in Word) needed a reading age of 18+ to access.
With the recommended benchmark for accessibility being the reading age for a tabloid newspaper (11-13 years), we shouldn’t assume that our parents will fully comprehend the wall of data we are putting in front of them.
Reporting at All Saints Catholic School and Technology College is presented simply and with a broken down explanation making no assumptions about parental understanding. They provide an 8-page guide to how and when reporting and assessment occurs at the school with explanations of what to expect throughout, as in this example:
Giving new Yr7 parents an introduction to reporting mechanisms comes early at Harris Academy Wimbledon where a clear ‘settling in’ report goes home to parents. Clear descriptors for non-academic performance helps to build a clear picture of student progress.
2. Explaining Progress
By explaining progress through accessible language, concrete examples and a clear sense of direction, reports become more than simply descriptive and begin to support parental involvement.
The research evidenced the clean streamlined approach to visual data often supported by explanatory documents and information evenings to ensure that parents can access the information put in front of them.
This example from Barnhill Community High School KS3 information for parents, combines visual representation with explanation before parents are introduced to the report itself (an example from which I’ll share later).
While this example from Burnage Academy for Boys, provides simple one-word descriptors in relation to expected progress from students’ starting points:
As parents are no longer passive recipients of information but are better equipped to see where their child is on their learning journey, keeping explanations of progress accessible ensures that they can actively support the next steps.
Would someone else find this helpful?
3. An invitation to participate
According to the Parentkind National Survey, one in three parents/carers don’t spend as long helping their child with school as they would like to. By deliberately focussing on being constructive and using the language of action we are effectively using reporting as an invitation to participate in their child’s progress.
A clear, parent-friendly ‘Assessment and Reporting Calendar’ is provided by St John Wall Catholic School to keep expectations of the reporting process transparent and make it easy for parents to be present.
Actively encouraging parental involvement at Ark Bollingbrook Academy looks like two information evenings a year, one of which at KS3 is dedicated to the learning journey. Alongside detailed descriptors in reports, the school offers an annual parent–teacher consultation and reinforces positive engagement through postcards home and celebratory phone calls.
4. Formats for ease of understanding
With so much data to share, it can be a challenge to keep formats clean.
This example from Barnhill Community High School uses uncluttered tables, a supporting key and red-amber-green signalling for clarity. Additionally, this example is taken from their information for parents’ evening which also breaks down the sections and explains how to read the report.
The example below from Harris Boys’ Academy East Dulwich contains a lot of feedback but the consistent numerical key makes it easy to access for parents
5. Keeping parents in the loop
It was common in the research for schools to plan the timing of reporting to parents at key curriculum milestones such as after mock exams for Yr11. At Bordesley Green Girls’ School & Sixth Form, there are regular short progress checks that include attitude and attendance data in addition to academic progress information.
Keeping parents in the loop between formal reports was also frequently specified in the research. This takes the form of positive phone calls (who doesn’t love getting one of those!), postcards home - which surprised me given the cost of a stamp these days and notifications via home-school apps.
It’s the little things that make a big difference sometimes; keeping parents in the loop between reporting cycles builds trust and shared understanding over time.
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6. Guidance for Parents
Many of the schools featured in the research offer guidance for parents who are concerned about their child’s progress, either on their website or within accompanying reporting documents.
Harris Boys’ Academy East Dulwich guides on key skills such as oracy, handwriting, reading and communication which are assessed in every subject. Beyond a brief statement explaining the importance of these skills, the format itself is powerful: each one is clearly graded on a scale from 1 to 4, giving parents an immediate visual understanding of their child’s strengths and areas for development.
The report also includes explicit suggestions for how parents can support these skills at home, as illustrated in the reading example below:
The example below is from Harris Academy Wimbledon in the same trust advising parents on supporting children with writing:
What’s next for your school’s academic reporting to parents?
Here are some questions to think about:
What do your reports look like now? How do they compare to the examples above?
What might work for you? What wouldn’t?
How might these examples affect teacher workload?
How might they affect parent engagement?
Curious to see exactly how 29 schools put formats like these and more into practice?
Explore the full academic reporting directory here to access policies, examples, and practical strategies from top-performing schools.
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To save you the 8 days it took us to research, curate and analyse the work happening at these schools we’ve pooled resources into single drive below.
Reports, rubrics, templates, models
Further listening, watching and reading about reporting and parental engagement
Strengthening Parent Engagement in UK Secondary Schools: Strategies for Success
Home-school agreements: strategies from examples at secondary schools
E.T (easy to) phone home: building inclusion and belonging at Logic Studio School
Rewards & recognition strategies: insights from 28 successful secondary schools
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