Reporting Student Achievement and Progress Foundation to 10

2. Efficient reporting practices and model reports

A semester report provides a summary of achievement and progress at a point in time. It meets the Australian Education Regulations 2023 requirement that schools provide parents/carers with objective and accurate information about their child’s achievement and progress.

The semester report is one part of a school’s broader communications about student learning, achievement and progress. Other examples include:

• teachers’ conferences with parents/carers
• ongoing information about students’ achievement and progress through formative and summative assessment practices.

Recommendations on reporting elements

Comments

The department recommends the following:

• a short summary comment in primary reports (around 100 words recommended)
• no comments in secondary reports
• a short general comment (around 50 words recommended) and select achieved learning goals in reports for students enrolled in Specialist schools.

A progress comment is required for students enrolled in Specialist schools that have opted to not include the previous level achieved in semester reports (around 100 words recommended).

Detailed written comments are not recommended in semester reports nor is the practice of developing and maintaining comment banks.

Learning disposition ratings

Learning disposition ratings can provide parents/carers with valuable insights without writing comments. Recommended effort and conduct ratings are provided in the model reports, including:

• an overall rating in primary reports
• ratings in each learning area in secondary reports.

Model reports and implementation support

The following model reports include the department’s requirements and recommendations. They can be reproduced in commercial reporting software using standard features.

• Option 1 (recommended for primary):
  • primary model report (PDF) and primary explainer (DOCX)
• Option 2 (recommended for secondary) model reports:
  • Year 8 report (PDF) and Year 8 explainer (PDF)
  • Year 8 EAL report (PDF) and Year 8 EAL explainer (PDF)
  • Year 10 report (PDF) (including early entry to senior secondary pathways) and Year 10 explainer (PDF)
• Option 3 (recommended for specialist):
  • specialist model report (PDF) and specialist explainer (PDF).

Implementation supports

• Reviewing reporting practices and communicating changes with school staff (PPTX) – slide deck for school leadership summarising the department’s updated reporting guidance. Supports reviewing reporting practices and communicating changes in model reports to school staff
• Communicating changes to reporting to parents/carers (DOCX) – template letter