Mid-October 2026. In the high schools that divide the year into a trimester and a pentamester (a shorter first term and a longer second), the end-of-term class council falls in mid-December, so in about eight weeks; many others use two halves and the first school report arrives in January, so there are more weeks. In any case the grade you will read on the report is being formed now: the three or four tests and oral assessments that make it up are already under way, and a couple are already in the register. That is why I am writing now and not in December, when the grade is already decided and all that is left is to read it. It applies to all high schools, licei and technical institutes, with some differences in subjects but the same mechanism.
This post is not about the first 4 of October in Year 1 of high school, which I dealt with in another article: here the subject is the end-of-term report and how to make good use of the weeks between now and then.
How the report grade is formed
The grade on the report is not the arithmetic average of what is in the register, even though in practice it looks a lot like it. Each teacher collects a number of assessments over the period (written tests, oral tests, sometimes practical tasks or quizzes) and proposes a grade for their subject. Then all the proposals go to the class council (the meeting of all the class’s teachers), which discusses and approves them. In high school the grade for the first term is normally a single grade per subject, rather than the split between written and oral that some schools used in the past.
Three things to bear in mind:
- the teacher takes into account how the student has progressed over time, not just the number. A 4 in October followed by a 7 in November doesn’t weigh like a 4 that stays a 4;
- the assessment criteria are written down in the school’s document (the PTOF, the school’s three-year plan, and the criteria of the individual subject) and families have the right to know them: ask for them;
- if a subject has few assessments in the period, each one weighs more. That is why it matters to know when the next ones are scheduled.
How to read a 4 or a 5 on the report
A failing grade on the first-term report is not being held back, nor a preview of it. It is a snapshot of where the student stands now in that subject, taken halfway through the path. The school uses it to trigger catch-up measures, and the family should use it for the same purpose.
On being held back, the rule is more precise than people think, and I explain it properly in how many failing grades it takes to be held back. In short:
- there is no national rule that sets a number of failing grades beyond which you are held back: the class council decides, subject by subject, with a written justification;
- the threshold “three serious failing grades (a grade of 4 or below)” that you hear quoted is a practice of school regulations, not a law;
- the school year is valid only if the student has attended at least three quarters of the annual timetable, that is with a maximum of 25% absences, barring justified exceptions.
And the numbers say the situation is common. In the 2025/26 school year, according to the Ministry of Education (MIM) data, 17.7% of students from Year 1 to Year 4 had their judgement suspended in June (a failed subject to make up over the summer), with the peak in Year 2 (19.7%) and maths the most failed subject. About 8% of those students then fail the September exam: this means that catching up, in the great majority of cases, succeeds. A failing grade in December is a signal with six months ahead to respond, not a verdict.
The diagnosis in three parts
Before deciding what to do, ask yourself what kind of failing grade it is. There is no need to dramatise: there are three, which sometimes add up.
A gap from earlier years. A topic from previous years that was not consolidated and that now makes the new one collapse. You recognise it because the mistake is always the same, even in different exercises (fractions, signs, equations, declensions). It is cured with a few targeted sessions on that topic, not with a generic review.
Method. The student studies, but in a way that doesn’t produce results: rereads instead of redoing, learns the example and not the rule, studies the day before the test. It is cured by changing how they study (redoing exercises without looking at the solution, explaining aloud, spreading study over the weeks) more than by studying more. A block-based working method with dates is described in the block-based study plan.
Motivation and anxiety. The student can do things at home but freezes in class, or has decided that the subject “isn’t for them” and has stopped trying. Here the cure is no longer revision: you work on holding up under test conditions (timed papers, in similar conditions) and on recognising small progress.
The simplest way to tell which of the three it is: look at the marked test, line by line, together with your child. If the mistakes are all on the same point, it is a gap. If they are scattered and they say “I knew that”, it is method or anxiety.
What to do in the eight weeks
Week 1: talk to the teacher
Ask for a meeting (even by video call, almost all schools allow it) with precise questions, not a generic “how is it going?”. What to ask, how to behave and how to build the meeting are in meetings with teachers: what to ask. For this purpose you need three pieces of information: which topics have been assessed, where the marks are lost and when the next tests are scheduled.
Weeks 1-2: the marked tests
Ask your child to bring you the tests that have already been marked, all of them, even those that went well. A marked test contains more information than the grade. Ask them to explain the mistakes aloud: if they can say why they got it wrong, they have already done half the work; if they can’t, they will have to redo the exercise with someone, and that is the diagnosis. To measure where the mistakes are before the next test, there are also the high school test practice papers on specific topics: one more piece of data, to be placed alongside the real tests, not to replace them.
From week 2: a plan with weekly goals
A catch-up plan that works is small and visible. For example:
- one subject at a time, starting from the one with the most serious or the most recoverable failing grade;
- three 40-minute sessions a week, at fixed times, instead of a weekend marathon;
- a verifiable goal for each week, like “redo five exercises on first-degree equations without help” and not “study maths”;
- a small timed paper every two weeks, on paper, to see whether the work holds up under pressure;
- a check with the teacher halfway through: Week 4 is the moment to ask “are we going in the right direction?”.
If the failing grade is in maths or physics, the topics at risk are almost always the same basic ones: algebraic calculation, equations, proportions, kinematics. For the science subjects the maths page summarises the topics we usually follow in catch-up work.
Weeks 6-7: checking the plan
A week before the class council, take stock: which of the recent tests went better? Which topics are still uncovered? At this point it is also useful to ask the teacher whether catch-up tests are planned for the last weeks. Many schools organise them on purpose, and sometimes the failing grade can be closed before it reaches the report.
What NOT to do
- Compare with siblings or classmates. It gives no information, lowers confidence and leads the child to hide later grades.
- Punish. Taking the phone away for a month doesn’t teach equations. It ties the failing grade to an unpleasant experience, and studying becomes the place where you feel bad.
- Take away the sport or activity that works. It is often the only place where your child feels good at something, and taking it away worsens motivation and mood just when they are needed. You can reorganise the timetable, not cancel the anchor.
- Do the homework for them, or sit next to them for hours. How to help without taking over is in helping your child with homework without doing it for them.
- Wait for the class council to “see how it goes”. The weeks before are the most useful, because there is still time to change the grade.
- Clash with the teacher before having seen the tests. The meeting works when you start from the facts.
What to say to your child
A simple sentence that opens rather than closes: “The December grade isn’t decided, you still have these tests to change it. Let’s see together where to start.” Then look at the marked test, not the register. A child with a 4 who shows you the test and talks about it has already done the hardest part.
The tone of the first conversation matters more than the plan that comes out of it. If they feel that on the other side there is an adult who wants to understand and not judge, they will tell you much sooner what they haven’t understood.
When it makes sense to ask for outside help
If after three or four weeks the plan is producing no change in their work, or if the student avoids the subject altogether, it makes sense to talk it over with someone who is not a parent. There is no need to commit to a course straight away: a first call to understand whether it is a gap, method or something else lets you decide whether targeted help is needed or whether it is enough to adjust the plan at home.
If you would like to talk about it, write to me from the contact page: the introductory call is free and is there to tell you honestly whether lessons are needed or not.
