Reporting advice
Advice and resources to support reporting to parents and carers.
Communicating with parents and carers
Regular communication supports learning. Between the formal reporting periods, schools may use:
- parent-teacher interviews
- collaborative curriculum planning
- emails or phone calls.
Schools must offer parents and carers an opportunity to meet with their child’s teachers after formal reports are issued.
This can be achieved through:
- face-to-face parent-teacher meetings
- three-way learning conferences
- invitations for parents and carers to arrange individual discussions with teachers.
Whole-school approaches to meet this requirement should be efficient and supportive for teachers, students and families.
Schools may issue reports digitally using a school management system (SMS) or in print. When selecting an SMS, consider:
- clear, plain English
- parent portals that are simple and easy to use
- translation options
- secure delivery to multiple caregivers.
Alternative formats must be provided to parents and carers who cannot access digital reports.
Reporting on outcomes
Syllabus outcomes describe the essential knowledge, understanding and skills students are expected to demonstrate as a result of teaching and learning. They represent a progression of learning and form the basis for student achievement and growth.
Outcomes are critical for teacher planning, programming and assessment, however, syllabuses are written for teachers, not families.
Kindergarten to Year 6
- There is no requirement to include syllabus outcomes in reports to parents.
- Outcomes inform teaching and assessment but do not need to appear in reports.
Years 7–12
- Reporting practices should align with syllabus and course requirements.
- It may be appropriate to include or refer to syllabus outcomes in reports.
- Limit reported outcomes to those taught and assessed during the reporting period. A practical guide is no more than 3–5 per subject.
Use of the National Literacy and Numeracy Learning Progressions
The progressions are not syllabus outcomes, and must not be used for reporting to parents.
The progressions can help teachers identify students’ strengths and areas for improvement. Use plain English when sharing insights from the progressions with parents and carers outside the formal report.
Achievement scales
Section 3.2 of the Curriculum policy standards outlines expectations for use of achievement scales.
Kindergarten
Achievement scales are not used.
Teachers provide a written comment for each key learning area describing achievement against syllabus expectations. See writing report comments for more information.
Years 1– 10
Schools may use the:
- 5-point achievement scale
- plain English achievement scale
- personalised reporting scale (for students with disability).
Teacher professional judgement
Overall, judgements should be based on quality evidence of learning gathered across the reporting period, including formative and summative assessments and teacher observations.
Reporting on effort
Reporting on effort is optional. If included, schools may use the following descriptors.
| Description for parents and carers | Effort |
|---|---|
| Your child actively participates and engages in most learning activities. They always try to complete and present work to a high standard. | High |
| Your child actively participates and engages in most learning activities. They regularly try to complete and present work to the required standard. | Satisfactory |
| Your child sometimes participates and engages in learning activities. They occasionally try to complete and present work to the required standard. | Low |
Non-curriculum inclusions in the report
In addition to reporting on student achievement, schools must report on the following areas for each student.
Schools decide how best to record their students' engagement in whole-school activities, informed by their context and reporting system.
Whole-school activities that can be included:
- extracurricular activities, such as gardening club or school performances
- academic events and competitions, such as public speaking, maths Olympiad, or Tournament of the Minds
- student leadership opportunities, such as student representative council
- community involvement projects, such as volunteering for local community groups or helping with Breakfast Club
- sporting events and competitions, such as inclusive school sports events, dance competitions or zone swimming.
Attendance information must be included. This can be completed by administration staff or automatically generated by a SMS.
This information may be included:
- within each key learning area/subject/course, or
- as a general overview.
If schools provide the information as a general overview, it should be completed by the core teacher or the year adviser.
A scale is not required for these areas. If using a scale, define the levels in the report.
There is no requirement for principal or teacher signatures. However, reports need to be distributed in an un-editable format with the statement 'Issued without any correction'.
If signatures are included, digital signatures or images of signatures are recommended, to streamline the sign-off process.
Contact
For more information or support contact:
- Primary curriculum email primarycurriculum@det.nsw.edu.au
- Secondary curriculum email secondaryteachingandlearning@det.nsw.edu.au