Subject Report Comments for Cambridge Primary and Lower Secondary, Stages 1-9

In international schools that teach the Cambridge Primary (Stages 1-6) and Cambridge Lower Secondary (Stages 7-9) curricula, the subject teacher, often the class teacher in primary, writes a short comment for each subject: what the student can do now, a strength or two and a next step. Many families read these reports in English as an additional language or through a translation tool, so plain, literal wording matters. These examples use Extending, Secure, Developing and Beginning to describe the learning itself; any Checkpoint or Progression Test result, grade or CEFR level belongs elsewhere on the report.

Each page below covers one skill for one grade band, with sample strengths and next steps at every level and tips for writing your own. These comments are written for the subject teacher comments on reports in international schools that teach the Cambridge Primary and Lower Secondary curricula (any Checkpoint or Progression Test result, grade or CEFR level is reported separately).

Comments by skill and grade band

Also: opening and closing sentences for each report period.

For the same report: EAL / ESL Report Comments, Ages 5-18, ATL Skills Report Card Comments, Grades K-5 and ATL Skills and Learner Profile Report Comments, Ages 11-16.

The 4 comment levels

The four levels describe how independently and securely the student shows what has been taught, never a grade or a test result. Extending suits accurate, independent work applied to unfamiliar tasks, with reasons explained; Secure suits accurate work in familiar tasks with occasional support; Developing suits learning shown sometimes, or with a model, word bank or worked example; Beginning names what is starting to show and the support that helps. Show the level through the work rather than writing the level word.

Tips for subject report comments

• Write for a family who may read the report through a translation tool: short sentences, common words, no idioms, and a few words in brackets to explain any subject term, such as inference or algorithm.
• Keep test results, grades and CEFR levels out of the sentence. Checkpoint and the Progression Tests cover only some subjects, and Art & Design, Computing, Music and PE have no Cambridge tests, so describe the learning the same way in every subject.
• Name the skill as well as the topic: 'explains why a pattern works' or 'plans a fair test' tells families what the student can do whichever unit came last. Schools order their units differently, so delete any topic you did not teach.

This site shows 365 of the 4,148 sentences in the pack. Not affiliated with or endorsed by Cambridge University Press & Assessment or Cambridge International Education. 'Cambridge', 'Cambridge Primary', 'Cambridge Lower Secondary' and subject and strand names are used descriptively, to identify the curricula these comments are written for; check every comment against your school's scheme of work and reporting policy.

How these sentences were made, and what has been checked: About these comments.