How is your child progressing?
Page links: School reports | Parent–teacher interviews | Informal reports
They always said "Your children are doing well" but in what are they doing well and how are they doing well?
Parent from Windley School, Porirua
Every school is required to report to students and parents on the achievement of individual students. To find out what you can expect in the way of reporting about your child, see:
Schools are also required to report to the school community about the achievement of the students as a group. They generally do this through newsletters and school magazines. Some schools publish their newsletters and notices on their school website. Go to TKI Schools' Links to look for your school's website address.
School reports
Schools usually provide a written school report for each student. This shows your child's level of achievement in each subject. While there are no rules around what a school report should include, you can expect them to have comments about:
- your child's progress
- suggestions about what your child needs to do next
- their attitude, values, and skills
- their strengths and interests.
You can expect the school reports to be:
- appropriate for the age and stage of your child
- presented in a professional manner
- brief and constructive
- easy to understand
- based on evidence.
Parent-teacher interviews
Most schools hold parent-teacher interviews. These are an opportunity for you to meet your child's teacher and ask them questions. Make sure you use this time to ask your child's teacher about areas that your child needs to focus on and what you can do to help them to improve their performance. You can prepare for the interview by helping your child with their homework and asking them about what they're learning at school. Here are some questions you can ask their teacher both at parent-teacher interviews and informally:
- What is my child learning now?
- What will they be learning next?
- What is my child good at?
- Are they struggling with anything?
- How do you know this?
- What can I do to help my child progress?
- Can I see some of my child's work?
If your child is at secondary school, you may find it useful to have read your son or daughter's individual assessment guidelines before going to the interview – that way you will know what assessment has already taken place and what assessment is still to come.
If you want your child to attend the interview with you, talk to the school first. Some schools are happy for students to attend the interviews – others may have other processes in place for parents wishing to have their child present.
Informal reports
You can also get information about your child's progress by talking with your child, looking through their exercise books, talking to their teacher, and observing the quality of work in their classrooms. You may like to ask some of the questions outlined in Parent-teacher interviews.