Every fortnight there's one. The student who was assigned two sets and opened neither. The report is due Friday like everyone else's, and the temptation is to skip it, soften it, or send the same "doing well" you'd send anyone.
Don't. This is the report that matters most, and it's the one that gets answered.
Why it's the hardest
Because it feels like an accusation. You're writing to a parent who is paying you, to tell them their child did nothing, and there's no way to say that without it landing as a judgement on the child, on the parent, or on you.
So most centres don't. The student who did nothing gets no report, or a vague one, and the fortnight passes. Then the next one. By the end of the term the parent has received nothing that told them anything, the child has done nothing for ten weeks, and the re-enrolment form arrives at a house where nobody can name a reason to sign it.
The silence was meant as kindness. It reads, from the kitchen table, as not noticing.
Why it gets the fastest reply
A parent who gets a report saying their child improved at fractions is pleased and does nothing. A parent who gets a report saying their child did neither set this fortnight has to respond, because the report has asked them something, and because it has told them something they didn't know.
Most of the time, they didn't know. The child said "yeah, done it." The bag went in and out of the car. A report that says, plainly, that two sets were assigned and none were attempted is the first time the parent has had a fact rather than a reassurance. The reply tends to come fast, and it tends to start with "I had no idea."
Sometimes the reply is a reason you couldn't have known: a grandparent in hospital, a changed custody week, a phone that's been confiscated. All of those are things you'd rather hear in week 4 than work out in Term 4.
That reply is the whole point. It's a conversation, started by you, before Term 4, with a family that was drifting.
The wording
Honest, specific and without adjectives. The facts do the work; the adjectives make it a telling-off.
Here's the shape, section by section, using the same five sections as every other report.
What they worked on: nothing this fortnight. Say it in those words. "Two sets were assigned on the 3rd and the 10th. Neither was started."
How much: the numbers, as they are. "0 of 2 sets. 0 questions attempted."
What improved: leave the before-and-after blank, and say why. "No work this fortnight, so nothing to measure against last time. Her last set, on the 27th, was two in three on equivalent fractions, which was a good result."
What's next: this is the section that carries the report. Name what's due, when, and how long it takes. "The two sets are still open and take about thirty minutes each. The Tuesday group is starting decimals this week, and the second set is the bridge into it. If she can get through it before Tuesday she'll be with the group. If not, we'll catch her up in the first fifteen minutes."
A line from you: the question. "Is something in the way this fortnight? If it's the timing, the sport season, or she's stuck on how to start, tell me and we'll adjust. I'd rather know than guess."
No "unfortunately." No "disappointing." No "we expect." Just what was assigned, what was done, what's due, and a door left open.
Naming what's due
The line that changes the outcome is the one that names the work still open. A report that says "nothing was done" is a complaint. A report that says "nothing was done, and here's exactly what's waiting and how long it takes" is a plan the parent can act on that evening.
How long it takes is the detail most reports leave out, and it's the one a parent needs. "Two sets" sounds like a weekend. "About thirty minutes each" is tonight and tomorrow.
It helps if the expectation was written down at enrolment. The homework policy template is one page: how much is set, by when, what to do when stuck, and what the centre does when it isn't done. Its wording for the last part is "if a set isn't done two weeks running, we'll call you. Not to tell you off. To find out what's in the way." A family that signed that at enrolment isn't surprised by the report. They were told it would come.
What it looks like automatically
On the platform this report writes itself, and it's the one owners tend to read most carefully before it sends. Where a student did nothing that fortnight, the report says so, gently, names what's due, and goes out on Friday with your logo from your address like all the others. You can edit the two sentences from you before it sends, and for this student, you probably should.
The parent reports page has the full layout. The point of the automatic version isn't that it's automatic. It's that the student who did nothing never falls off the list, because there's no list to fall off.
This week
Find the student. There's at least one. Open the parent report template, which has wording for exactly this case, and write the report by hand using the shape above. Send it Friday from your own email. Then notice how quickly the reply comes, and what it says.