School reports - what to do with them?

Although I'm not a teacher I know how time consuming writing reports can be, and how much effort it takes to communicate relevant and helpful information.  
 
As a parent how much notice do you take of your child's reports?  Do you read them?  Are they useful? Do you reward your child if they get certain results?  Or express disappointment if their results aren't wonderful?  Personally I'm happy if effort and engagement are rated high. Having children at three different schools means different report styles.  At one of the schools my child's self-ratings across a number of different learning behaviours is presented alongside his teacher's.  This provides a useful tool for self-reflection. Other reports are very sparse.
 
Regardless of the style of the report you may find the following useful to keep in mind when reading your child's school reports.