Guidance for schools on writing statutory end of year reports for parents.

This guidance has been updated to support teachers to prepare annual reports for parents following the cancellation of the 2019 to 2020 national curriculum assessments and partial school closures due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.

Headteachers have a statutory duty to prepare annual reports for parents before the end of the summer term. The report must start from the day after the last report was given or the date of the pupil’s admission to the school (whichever is more recent), and must cover:

  • brief particulars of achievements in all subjects and activities forming part of the school curriculum
  • comments on general progress
  • details of how parents can arrange a discussion about the report with their child’s teacher

Following the cancellation of the 2019 to 2020 national curriculum assessments, it will not be possible to include the outcomes of key stages 1 and 2 tests or teacher assessments in this year’s reports. It will also not be possible to include comparative information about the attainment of pupils of the same age in the school or nationally.

The Department for Education (DfE) intends to remove the requirement to report pupils’ attendance data for the 2019 to 2020 academic year, in recognition of the impact of the coronavirus outbreak on the possible attendance. This change remains subject to the necessary legislation being made. A further update will be provided as soon as possible.

Schools should take a proportionate approach in deciding what information to include within their pupils’ reports. It is likely that, in many cases, it will not be possible for reports to cover the period of partial school closures. This does not, however, prevent schools from choosing to provide additional information where, for example, children continued to attend school or schools reviewed work completed at home.

As in previous years, schools should decide on the appropriate level of detail required within reports recognising that pupils may not have completed their full year’s education. This decision needs to take account of the availability of staff to write and prepare reports, as well as the information that they can reasonably access. Where the staff who would normally prepare or contribute to a pupil’s report are not available, schools should consider what information can reasonably be provided in their absence. Schools should also consider the most appropriate method by which to share reports with parents, which may be electronically.

Reports must contain details of how parents can arrange a discussion about the report with their child’s teacher. In fulfilling this requirement, schools need to take account of government guidance on the coronavirus outbreak and the availability of staff. It may be appropriate to delay these discussions at the current time and commit to providing details of how parents can discuss the report at a future date, or offering other options, such as telephone discussions.

More details on school reports and pupil records are contained in The Education (Pupil Information) (England) Regulations 2005 and Amendments.

Published 19 June 2018
Last updated 21 May 2020 + show all updates

  1. Updated guidance to support teachers to prepare annual reports for parents following the cancellation of the 2019 to 2020 national curriculum assessments.

  2. Updated for 2019 test cycle.

  3. Updated to include links to the key stage 2 comparative report template and key stage 2 information for parents leaflet.

  4. First published.