Year 7 parents' evening - what do you say?

[fircone]

It's my first parents' evening at secondary school.

But ds has only been there 5 minutes and I can't think of anything to say. He's lined me up all these appointments with various subject teachers and... do I just sit there and let the teacher do the talking?

I'm actually getting a bit nervous thinking it'll all be a bit awkward.

Anyone any advice?

[bruffin]

Just let them do the talking unless you feel there is a problem.
If it's anything like ours, then everyone will ignore the appointments and just queue up to see the teachers with the shortest queues.

We have year 9' parents evening on Thursday, a bit apprehensive as DS's art teacher has specifically asked to see us for "good and bad reasons" apparently. DD's year 7 is not until march

[fircone]

Thanks for that.

I think it would be easier if there was a problem! At least there'd be something to say. As it is, it's such early days this parents' meeting seems rather pointless. They've just been set for maths, so ds will have had the maths teacher for precisely one lesson!

Good luck on Thursday: "bad reasons" usually means too much chatting with mates imo! The "good" must mean he's Leonardo da Vinci reincarnate.

[eyetunes]

I don't say anything. It is their job to let you know how the dc are getting along.

[bruffin]

Unfortunately DS is no Leonardo but he has a really good eye for design and quite a good photographer. He has had this teacher since Yr7 so she knows him quite well and in the past has always had lovely things to say about him, especially the work he does on PC.

He says the problem is that he finds it difficult to get started when he is drawing and painting and doesn't get much work done in class and I really don't think he enjoys drawing very much, we will find out Thursday.

Is your DS expected to go to parents evening?

[AMumInScotland]

In general the teacher will just tell you a bit about how he's doing in that subject... though they may need to consult a list before talking, as they have so many pupils that they won't necessarily be able to instantly recall your one!

They might tell you how he did in some class tests, if they've been doing those to work out who knows what already.

And possibly some suggestions about needing to write a bit neater, remember to do the homework, etc. Or that he's doing great and no issues!

But it's different to the Primary school ones, since none of them will have quite the same overall view of how he's doing, so you may get different stories from different subjects.

[inthesticks]

My son has his year 7 parents evening next week. At this one we only get to see his tutor. The tutor has a report from all the subject teachers and it's really just a chat about how he's settling in.
The full parents eve where you meet all the subject teachers is later in the year when they have had chance to assess his progress.
I can't see them being able to tellyou much after only a few weeks, unless there is a problem.

[roisin]

I really appreciated ds1's early parents eve in yr7. We were new to the school so I hadn't met any staff at all, though had heard about them through ds1. So I just liked putting faces to names and getting a rough idea of how well they understood ds1 already.

Generally at secondary we just request to see the main subject teachers - Maths, Eng, Sci, MFL, Humanities; plus anything else where there was a particular interest or query/problem.

Teachers of subjects who just do 1 hr a week - ie IT, Music, Drama, Dance, RE, etc. often have 3, 4 or 5 classes of yr7s. So they usually have big queues at parents evening, and IMO it's only worth running the gauntlet if you have a specific issue to raise.

[bruffin]

Have you been yet Fircone?

It turns out DS has been late with his homework in art and because they are yr 9 and they are getting them ready for GCSEs they are emphasizing the point of getting coursework on time etc

every teacher started the same way, which was asking DS how he felt things were going, to which he mumbled "ok"

[InterruptingKid]

have oyu never done it in primary then?

[bruffin]

Think Fircone's probably a bit daunted because there are lots of teachers to see rather than just 1

[fircone]

Parents' evening went well. The teachers ranged from the very chatty to the monosyllabic.

Was surprised that Dr B the science teacher was rather dishy, and that Miss W the maths teacher, who I presumed would be young, seemed to have travelled in a time machine from my old school. She was clad in tweeds, had iron grey hair, and was fierce with a gimlet eye.

I was pleasantly surprised that all the teachers knew ds. Back in my day half the teachers hadn't a clue who you were, and made no effort to learn any names.

[bruffin]

DS has some very fit looking teachers, only problem is I'm old enough to be some of their mothers

[fircone]

me too! (But not that maths teacher!)