Changes to how we report

At St Kilda Park Primary School, we are continually reflecting on how we communicate student learning and progress with families. As part of this, we have made the decision to move away from using Seesaw as our ongoing reporting platform.

While Seesaw has been a wonderful tool for sharing snapshots of classroom life – including photos, videos, and student work, we have found that it is not effectively supporting our goal of giving families a clear understanding of their child’s academic progress in relation to the Victorian Curriculum.

Recent data shows that, across the school, only 41.56% of posts uploaded this year were viewed by families, with some classes having as little as 17% family engagement.

These figures suggest that the majority of families are not accessing the posts, despite the significant time and effort that teachers invest in creating them. This tells us that we are missing the mark.

Seesaw is simply not functioning as the informative, ongoing reporting tool we had intended it to be.

As the workload involved for teachers is considerable, we believe this model is no longer sustainable, especially as we move towards a model of teaching built around explicit instruction and teachers are spending a greater proportion of lessons at the front of the class; breaking down, modelling and explaining new learning. This makes it increasingly hard for them to find the time to take photos and videos, add comments and upload these to Seesaw.

The feedback we’ve received from parents and carers echoes this - there is a strong preference for more specific, curriculum-aligned insight into how their child is progressing and what the next steps in their learning might be.

We are therefore exploring alternative formats and methods of reporting student progress that are both more manageable for teachers and more valuable to families. This process includes gathering input from staff, families, and other schools to inform our future direction.

We are committed to finding a balance of written reports, communications and face to face meetings that better engage and inform families about their child's learning.

Whilst we will no longer be uploading photos and videos of your child's learning to Seesaw, over the last few years there have been some wonderful posts that have showcased the great work and progress made in class. Sadly, shortly after our contract with Seesaw ends, these will no longer be available via the Seesaw app or website. 

We therefore encourage you to access Seesaw one final time and download the portfolio of your child's learning that has been built. Details of how to do this can be found below. We have been informed that families will lose access to their accounts on Friday 15th August so please ensure you have done this by then.

Thank you for your ongoing support as we seek to make reporting more meaningful for everyone in our school community.

We thank you for your ongoing support as we continue to evolve our practices to better meet the needs of our students and families.

Downloading your child's portfolio from Seesaw

How to download Journal Archives

1. Sign into your Family or Student account from a desktop computer at https://app.seesaw.me.
2. Tap your Profile Icon, and select the gear icon.
3. Tap Account Settings.
4. Scroll down and tap Download Journal Archives.💡

This is what you get! Files are organized by month and then ordered by the date the post was added. You'll see an .html file with a thumbnail, text notes or captions, folder names, and links (if the post used the Link Creative Tool). You'll also see the original image, video, or audio files. 

How to download images and videos on a mobile device

For classes you have access to, family members can download your child's images and videos to your mobile device. You will only be able to do this if the Class Setting 'Family Sharing' is enabled by your child's teacher. 

1. Tap on the item you want to save.
2. Tap on the [...].
3. Tap Share or Save Entire Post.
4. Save to the location of your choice