How to Write a Good Personal Report

School reports should be accurate and informative.

Personal reports are usually written on children's school progress. Teachers often write dozens of reports, and can easily become jaded. However, the report holds great value for its principal readers (usually the parents or guardians), and teachers need to bear this in mind. The basic IT system in school should make report writing more straightforward, allowing teachers to enter particular information once, and then use it many times. Maintaining a database with all this information makes the teacher's job easier.

Things You'll Need

• Notes on grades

Instructions

Preparing to Write the Report

1. 

   Have notes of relevant points on the students.

   Keep track of the students and their general behavior. It may seem obvious, but people can easily mix up two students with similar names. If possible, maintain notes on the student over the course of the year. Make sure you are familiar with the IT system, or whatever format you use to write the reports.

2. Write the report with jargon-free language. Double-check spelling and grammar, since this sort of mistake will damage a teacher's credibility in the eyes of parents. Include personal information which shows that you know and understand the student: for example, "John has tried to overcome his difficulties with this subject." Parents will want a connection between this report and the student's previous reports.

3. Communicate with other people who teach the child (and associated support staff) before writing the report. They may add valuable information. In addition, If their impression of the child differs from your own, you may want to address their feelings before writing the report.

4. Cite examples of the student's behavior or academic performance in the report; for example, "Jane's contribution to the latest history project was to illustrate the display which now appears in the school hall". Comment on matters outside of the purely academic, particularly if they show character traits such as kindness and helpfulness to others.

Tips & Warnings

• Avoid judgmental words such as "lazy." Discuss the best way of expressing such problematic terms with your supervisor.

References

• Birmingham City University: How to Write a Report
• TES Connect: 20 Ways to Write a Good Report