West Pennant Hills Public School Report Writing Style Guide (revised 2013)

About this Style Guide The guideline has been developed to assist teachers in the preparation of their reports. It is important that we have a consistent and professional presentation of reports K-6. Please remember: -To use only one and per sentence. I NEED TO BE CLEAR ABOUT WHERE TO WRITE ABOUT COMPUTER USE SCI & TECH OR GENERAL COMMENT? -Avoid using lots of connectives, its better to have short sentences.

-Make sure that each sentence makes sense.

-Be succinct in preference to being too wordy. Try to avoid waffle.

-When listing, please do not use commas directly before or after and e.g. time, length and addition

-Always commence your comments in a positive light. Include any focus areas for improvement.

-Avoid evaluative statements such as: The student is lovely or charming

-Please do not use the word pleasing as in pleasing progress or pleasing effort. Use words such as consistent.

-Avoid the word I. Please do not refer to yourself.

-When referring to units such as mm, cm, m please write the whole word.

-Commence your comments with the childs name. Use a personal pronoun to begin the following sentence. Use the students name as appropriate in ensuing sentences.

-Restate the childs name at the beginning of any new paragraphs.

-It is preferable that comments be directed to the parents. E.g. Ronny should be congratulated on his efforts. in comparison to Congratulations Ronny! This is acceptable as a final comment at the end of the general comment. Please dont write that you wish the student all the best as there is still another term to go. - Dont contradict yourself. Make sure comments match up with working habits and grade given. -Ensure correct childs name and pronoun (he/she) when copying and pasting comments. -Avoid repeating the same message in different words in the same comment. Student is reading at a level beyond grade expectations. Student is achieving outstanding results in the area of reading. -In English include a comment about each strand. talking & listening, reading and writing -Avoid repeating the same word in a sentence. -Use lower degrees of certainty when referring to expected outcomes e.g. With continued effort Emily will be a brilliant reader by the end of the year. We cant be 100% sure of this. Use should instead of will. -General comment should be personalised but not subject specific . To make comments more personal include a comment on something extra curricula e.g. sportsmanship, helping younger students, work habits, social skills, attendance, computers, classroom behaviour and playground behaviour and then elaborate. This should be comments on, not listed. You should know your students well enough to ensure the comment is personal and not generic. The general comment needs to be substantial. - Avoid technical and subject jargon. It needs to be in language parents can understand. (Dont write KLA. Please write Key Learning Area.) -Maths teacher includes name at end of comment, RFF teacher includes name at end of comment (on the same line as comment concludes.) Write title Mrs, Mrs etc. and then last name only (No full stops or hyphens). Make sure the name doesnt run over two lines. - One space only after a full stop and a comma. -For Key Learning Areas, capital letters. Numbers should be written as numbers not words. E.g. Year 1, Stage 2 (capitals for the beginning) -It is recommended that you draft your report comments in word and save them to avoid issues related to deletion. -Read through your comments carefully before forwarding the reports to your supervisor. -Have a colleague read through your reports before handing them on to supervisors. PAGE 1 PAGE 2 PAGE 3 PAGE 4 OVERVIEW: ENGLISH MATHS HSIE SCIENCE CREATIVE ARTS DANCE PDHPE LIBRARY ITALIAN TABLES (2) GENERAL COMMENT SIGNATURES

As long as you fit the learning areas mentioned on pages two and three - it is okay to have three on page two and four on page three OR four on page two and three on page three.

IMPORTANT DUE DATES FOR REPORTS: -Reports must be read by a buddy editor prior to being handed in to supervisors -Reports due to supervisors 3/6/13 MONDAY WEEK SIX TERM TWO (This must be a full report including all ticks, effort ratings and grades. Please print off your reports and proof read them as they are on paper, making any changes as required.) -Reports to Donna / Amiee 14/6/13 FRIDAY WEEK SEVEN TERM TWO -Reports sent home 28/6/13 LAST DAY OF TERM TWO (Students who will not be or are not at school on the last day of term will receive their reports by post.)

Alphabetical Listing

A
affect (verb) = produce an effect on, e.g. Student attendance affected the test results. and, always use, except for P&C Agreement of subject and verb Apostrophes Plurals of numbers and abbreviations, e.g. 1980s, CEOs, KLAs, do not have an apostrophe. Use apostrophes (s) in the singular for all words, including those ending in s, e.g. the staffs attitude to testing, Use s for the plural of all words ending in s, e.g. parents attitudes. ANALOG: Use this spelling as this is what is used in the mathematics syllabus.

B
band, bands, but Band 1, Band 2, etc benefited, benefiting (no double t)

C
Capitalisation Capital letter abbreviations (e.g. NSW, AEA, SEA) - omit full stops between the letters. Capitals should be used when describing the year level in which students are being taught e.g. Kindergarten, Year 3, Year 6 Capitals should be applied to the following classes of word:

-First word of a sentence -Pronoun I -Proper nouns/names (e.g. Kim) -Proper adjectives (e.g. Australian) -Languages (e.g. French) -Titles (e.g. Professor Harrison, Dean of the Faculty) -Days of the week, months, special holidays -Words denoting family relationship - but only when they precede a name or are used as a substitute for a name (e.g. Uncle John, Hello Aunty) -Key Learning Area or subject names (e.g. Mathematics, English, Reading - as a noun - e.g. Reading Groups) (no capital is needed when using reading as a verb - e.g. John is reading at grade level or if used as an adjective - Johns reading responses are age appropriate.) No capital needed when writing maths games etc. Names of strands and substrands begin with lower case e.g. reading, drama, number

Conjunctions Do not start sentences with However, or So.

E
effect (noun) = result of an action, e.g. The effect of the remediation program was significant. effect (verb) = bring about, e.g. The principal effected change. (note affect (verb) to have influence over e.g. The rain might affect the scheduling of the competition.)

e.g. (for example). Note full stops. Not eg or eg. Do not overuse.

F
focus, focused, focusing (for consistency use one s) Full stop Use only one space after a full stop, not two or more spaces

Full stops are used to mark the end of a sentence. They were once used after abbreviations, but over the last decade this usage has disappeared e.g. NSW 7 pm Ms D Lessing Current practice for abbreviations of the name of organisations is one of not using full stops e.g. IBM SEA BHP CSR.

H
hard working (2 words)

L
learn, learnt; but learned (adj.=erudite e.g. The judge was a learned man.) lead (verb, present tense), led (past tense)

N
Numbers Up to and including four digits no space, e.g. 6758. Over four digits, put a space ( not a comma) between each group of three digits, e.g. 45 678. Fractions are always hyphenated, e.g. one-third. Numbers up to 9 should be written as numbers, 10 and over should be written in numerals. Some exceptions may be necessary for clarity. Do not mix numbers and words, e.g. 9 to 21, not nine to 21. If a number starts or ends a sentence, spell out unless this involves many words, e.g. spell out forty-five or one million;, but not 1593. Note the hyphen in numbers like twenty-one. Only use numbers in maths comments.(Writing a students year or stage in numbers is acceptable at any point in the report). Do not use numbers in the middle of sentences in other comments. Please use words e.g. She has two... Percentages. If the number is written in full it is preferable to use per cent, e.g. thirty per cent. If writing a numeral use &, e.g. 8%. Percent as one word is also acceptable.

O
Organise, not organize; Recognise not Recognize etc.

P
practice is a noun, practise is a verb - use appropriately or find an alternative way to say what youd like to. Possessive Case PowerPoint (computer program) program (not programme), programmer, programming pupil. Use the word student

rigour, rigorous

S
semester, semesters, but Semester 1, Semester 2. (Please dont say, In semester 1... We are across semesters.) students (not pupils or children) Spacing after full stops, commas, semi colons, colons and question marks : use only one space after each of these punctuation marks. Self-assured, self-motivated (most self-words are hyphenated)

T
teamwork term, terms but Term 1, Term 2, timeline T ball

W
whole-school (adj.) e.g. whole-school program ( ...best in whole school... is okay) well mannered, well rounded, well organised, well planned, well behaved etc. (no hyphen for consistency)

X, Y,Z
Year group, Year 1