A privacy-safe method for drafting report comments with AI. You build a de-identified comment bank in your own voice, then personalise every comment yourself, offline. No student's name or personal information goes into an AI tool at any point.
The AI never sees your students. It helps you write a bank of well-phrased, de-identified comment templates. You match templates to students and add the personal detail yourself, in your school's reporting system or a document on your school device. Families are reading your professional judgement, so the judgement stays with you.
Schools handle AI in reporting differently. Some allow AI for drafting, some require you to disclose that you used it, and some don't allow it for reports at all. Follow your school's policy on AI tools. If your school doesn't allow AI for reporting, the descriptor lists in Step 1 still work as a manual template. Where AI is allowed, use the tool your school or system has approved.
The method is designed around the privacy, transparency and accountability principles in the Australian Framework for Generative AI in Schools: personal information stays out, use is disclosed where your school requires it, and the teacher is responsible for every word.
A strong report comment usually covers four things. For each subject, write a short list of options for each one. Take them from your rubric, the achievement standard and your school's reporting guidelines. They describe learning, so they contain nothing about any individual student.
| Descriptor | What it covers | Example options · Year 5 English |
|---|---|---|
| Achievement band | The grade or level, in your school's wording | Your school's scale, e.g. A to E, with the wording your school uses for each grade |
| Strengths (pick two) | Skills the student shows well, from your rubric | Reads aloud fluently and with expression · Uses evidence from the text to support ideas · Builds on others' ideas in discussion · Chooses precise vocabulary in writing |
| Next step (pick one) | One specific, achievable goal | Plan longer pieces and organise ideas into paragraphs · Proofread for punctuation · Explain reasoning with examples from the text |
| Learning disposition | How the student approaches learning | Persists with challenging tasks · Works steadily and asks for help when needed · Organised and ready to learn · Works well with others in groups |
Keep strengths and next steps specific to the learning area. "Works hard" describes a disposition, so it belongs in the last row.
Then, offline, note a profile for each student using only the lists, for example C · fluency + discussion · paragraphs · works steadily. The sheet that links profiles to names stays on your school device. It never goes into the AI tool.
Families know your voice, so the comments should sound like you. Take two or three comments you've written before and de-identify them properly first. Replace names with [Name] and pronouns with [they], [their] or [them]. Then remove anything specific enough to identify the student, such as an event, a family detail or a health matter.
Here are three report comments I've written in the past. I've replaced names with [Name] and pronouns with [they], [their] and [them], and removed any identifying details. [paste de-identified comment 1] [paste de-identified comment 2] [paste de-identified comment 3] Describe my writing style in five dot points: sentence length, tone, how I open a comment, how I phrase next steps, and words or phrases I use often. Don't rewrite the comments.
There are two ways to build the bank. A sentence bank gives you interchangeable sentences for every descriptor, which you assemble offline. It covers a whole class quickly. Full comment variants give you complete drafts for one profile, which helps with trickier combinations.
One grammar tip before you start: if the AI writes "[they] have", swapping in "she" breaks the sentence. The prompts below ask it to write so that any pronoun fits.
You're helping me build a report comment bank for [subject], [year level]. My school's reporting guidelines: [e.g. 60 to 80 words per comment, positive framing, strengths before next steps, plain language, phrases to avoid: ...] My writing style: [paste the five dot points from Step 2] Write a sentence bank using these descriptor lists: Achievement bands: [paste] Strengths: [paste] Next steps: [paste] Learning dispositions: [paste] For each option, write two alternative sentences in my style. Rules: - Use [Name] for the student's name and [they], [their] and [them] for pronouns - Write so that swapping in he, she or they won't break the grammar. For example, prefer "[Name] has" over "[they] have" - Don't invent specific events, results or work samples. Where a specific example would help, leave a gap like [example] - Frame next steps positively, as the next thing to work on
Using my guidelines and writing style, write three different comment variants for this profile: Achievement: [band] Strength 1: [strength] Strength 2: [strength] Next step: [next step] Learning disposition: [disposition] Use the same placeholder and grammar rules as before. Keep each variant within [word limit] words. Only use what is in the profile: don't add any other claims about the student. Make the three variants clearly different in structure, so students with the same profile don't end up with identical comments.
This profile is made up for illustration. It describes no real student.
[Name] has achieved the expected standard in English this semester. [Name] reads aloud fluently and with expression, and brings thoughtful ideas to class discussions, often building on what others have said. A next step is to plan longer pieces of writing before starting, organising ideas into clear paragraphs. [Name] works steadily, asks for help when it's needed and uses feedback well, such as [example].
[Name] has achieved the expected standard in English this semester. [Name] reads aloud fluently and with expression, and brings thoughtful ideas to class discussions. A next step is to plan longer pieces of writing before starting, organising ideas into clear paragraphs. [Name] works steadily and asks for help when needed, and this term that helped [them] complete a full persuasive letter for the first time.
Now close the AI tool. In your school's reporting system, or a document on your school device, match each student to their profile, choose a comment and make it theirs.
Want a second opinion on tone? Use this on a template before you personalise it, while it still only has placeholders.
Check this comment template against my school's reporting guidelines: [paste guidelines] [paste the template, still with [Name] and the other placeholders] Flag anything that is negative-first, vague, full of jargon or over [number] words. Suggest fixes in my style. Don't add any new claims about the student.
Print this list or keep it open beside your reporting system.
Our 90-minute staff session teaches this method on your approved tools, so every teacher follows the same student data rule before report season. Priced to your school, quoted within 48 hours of a 30-minute call.
The Teacher Pattern Pack: 25 copy-paste prompts for planning, differentiation, feedback, parent emails and assessment.
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