What do school reports tell you?

That has made me smile, bless him xxxx

Indeed my own reports often had just a mark and one word - a few excellents (English Dom Sci and RE mainly) and some 'could do betters' with a 'must try harder' as a conclusion.

Mine always said "must try harder" in primary school. Yet I passed my 11 plus and entrance tests for an excellent grammar school easily. Much later I (nearly) completed my OU degree. I always thought I would finish it when I retired, but it's too expensive now. I went on to hold pretty responsible jobs, so I am hoping now I have reached 64 that I could stop trying so hard now!

I think the answer to the original question "What do school reports tell you?" is "Not nearly enough".

My school reports were very minimal. They gave our exam results and our place in the class in each subject as well as our overall place in the class. My conduct was always boringly 'satisfactory' - don't know what it said about those naughty boys at the bottom of the class!

Does anyone still have their own school reports and did they accurately foretell your future?

Post PC and all that I am told that report writing is a real skill nowadays and it takes brains to know what is really being said.

In 1990 DD brought home her first school report from 'big school'. It was computer generated (statements taken from a computer list)with lots and lots of 'information' on 20 A4 sheets of paper. 26 years later it is still in the drawer and still not read. All I wanted to know was whether she was happy, behaving herself and working well - everything else would then be fine.
As a teacher I was told in my later years of teaching that only positive things could be said on a report. Some said very little but no doubt the parents of the little darlings were thrilled that their offspring were doing so well !

When I say done on a computer I mean on a report writer programme. They give the teacher statements to choose from. They can be a bit pedantic.
The biggest problem is remembering to change he and she when cutting and pasting.

They are now done on computers and can be full of gobbledygook.

It appears these days that they can only say nice things in reports so I get a teacher friend to interpret them for me!