Parent teacher consultations

[Ashers40]

How does your school deal with this? Our school used to offer appointments on two days, after school had finished, up till about 7.00pm. So if you worked you could request an early evening slot. Now they are offering one date only, during the afternoon, so children have to be collected from school at 1.15pm, meaning working parents need to take the afternoon off work. You are also expected to take your child with you to the meeting (previously your child would wait outside the classroom (if that was your preference), and your time slot will now be strictly limited to 10 mins. How do other schools manage this process and does it work well for parents?

[dementedpixie]

Ours is on one day and there are slots 3.15-6pm and 7pm-9pm. They don't want children there too and have no provision to look after any that come

[HaPPy8]

Time slots are strictly limited to 10 mins. If you need longer you have to make an appointment another time. Slots are in the afternoon. Again if the day is not convenient you can ask for appointment another day but i imagine it will still be an afternoon appt.

[HaPPy8]

I actually prefer it being done in the afternoon, much more convenient that trying to find a babysitter in the evening!

[Starlight234]

Ours are done over 2 evenings..

We get to book slots of 10 minutes.. I think bearing in mind teachers have been working all day up to 7pm is a very long day.

We can chose whether to take our child or not as a LP my DS always comes.

[clam]

Well, of course there'd be a limit to 10 minutes maximum. How on earth would they fit in 30 sets of parents otherwise? Mind you, that's 5 hours solid, not allowing for breaks or for people wanting to over-run.

[Woodacorn]

Starlight I wouldn't say working all day until 7pm was a very long day. Not many people finish at 5 nowadays in my experience.
I agree teaching is a hard job and they do work some of the holidays but mostly the working day is favourably comparable to other professions and the holidays are much much better. I am a TA and have 3 teachers in the family.

[missyB1]

Ours do it over two days with appointments up till 7pm, it's a ten minute slot. The kids can come if you need them to and childcare is provided. It is a private school though.

[twinkletoedelephant]

2 evenings one afternoon one evening we always get the later slots (get first choice as have twins so they need to tie down two teachers)

Teachers have a timer on their desk for 10 minutes when it goes off that's it anything else you need to make another appointment after ir before school. Works well no waiting around for that one parent who wants to chat about how wonderful their little cherub is....
I usually take a bottle of wine if I am last....after 2 1/2 hours of parents I think they have earnt it!

[DandelionAndBedrock]

We do it over 2 days with appointments up until about 6:30. Children are very welcome - sometimes they come in and listen, or sit in the reading corner, and sometimes they stay outside with other children in the class who are sitting and waiting with their parents. We keep the door open anyway, and just talk quietly, so children can be seen at all times.

We will also see parents before school if work means they cannot come afterwards, generally between 8:30 and 9:00.

Wood, it isn't just finishing at that time. It's finishing at that time and THEN starting marking for the next day, effectively 4 hours behind schedule.

[Longlost10]

The time for parents evening is additional to the working day, which is likely to be 12-14 hours already, so yes, it is a huge huge thing for the staff.

[PterodactylToenails]

Over two days after school up until about 7pm. I have always taken my children with me and they have just read quietly and this has worked out fine. However, the school now likes the children to be part of the consultation but I don't feel like I can really discuss some of the things I want to with my children present.

[BertPuttocks]

Ours are for one afternoon/evening, start at about 3.15 and go on until about 7pm.

Appointment slots are 10 mins long but are not strictly timed. Sometimes I can be in and out before my appointment was even due to start (no-shows and late arrivals). Other times I might still be waiting half an hour after my appointment time. It tends to balance out in the end.

Most parents take their child. Teachers also like to use the appointment as an opportunity to encourage the child to talk about anything that might be worrying them.

[Weatherforecaster]

Woodacorn - except that teacher won't be finished at 7pm will they? What happens to the 5 lessons worth of books that day?(150 ish books). Do they magically mark themselves that night? Plus resources to make for the next day. Plus any actions to do from the parents eve e.g. emails to head about certain children.

[Ditsy4]

We have two days. One from 3:30 - 6 pm and the following day is an evening one from 5:30 until we finish anywhere between 8 and 9. Parents get 10 mins. Children don't go in unless requested after the parent has spoken to the teacher. Longer appointments are decided on the night and booked in. These can be before or after school.

[ChickenSalad]

Wood, it isn't just finishing at that time. It's finishing at that time and THEN starting marking for the next day, effectively 4 hours behind schedule.

Diddums. It's what- twice a year? And what do you think it does to parents' workloads to have to take an afternoon off? An appointment at 6.20pm already means leaving work before 5pm for me. What if the parents
i are
teachers?

[DandelionAndBedrock]

...and what if the teachers are parents? It goes both ways.

I wasn't actually the one who complained about it, just making the point.

[Weatherforecaster]

Chickensalad - in my school it's 3 a year. 2 days for each one. So 6 days.

On those days I finish work by about 11pm by the time I'm home, books marked etc.

I know it's only 6 days a year but bare in mind that's on top of my average week of 65-70 hours (and that's no exageration).

[Weatherforecaster]

And for what it's worth we offer parents different days if they can't make it. I once offered 7pm, on a night that wasn't normal parents evening, to a parent and arranged for the caretaker to lock up late, arranged for another teacher to stay as you shouldn't be alone for parent eves and they didn't turn up.

[Feenie]

The 6 evenings would be on top of the average 60+ hour week the dfe survey clocked for primary school teachers. So "diddums" isn't really a reasonable response - unless you're 5 years old, that is.