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AIBU?

AIBU to think that parents evening is supposed to be for the benefit of parents?

35 replies

EvilTwins · 19/02/2018 08:04

I'll put this in at the beginning - I am a secondary school teacher. I also have twin DDs in Year 7 (not the school I teach at) and their parents evening is this week. Before half term, they brought home reports, which were really complicated (a whole other thread there) but each subject had a colour - purple meant everything was great, green was good, orange meant the DC was underperforming, and red mean there were real issues. The letter which accompanied the report said that if a subject had been marked as orange, parents should make an appointment with the subject teacher.

DTDs went into school with a list of teachers we therefore needed to see, but several have told them that they "don't need to see" us. My issues with this are:

  1. If the letter says that orange = appointment needed then surely an appointment should be given, and
  2. On parents evening, if I ask for an appointment with a teacher, I should be given one.
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Makingworkwork · 19/02/2018 08:05

What if the teacher has 5 year 7 classes - how would that work?

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TheEgregiousPeach · 19/02/2018 08:08

Then that teacher will have to do 2 parents evenings won't they, so all parents can be seen.

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MessySurfaces · 19/02/2018 08:09

making surely that's like saying "what if the the dining hall hasn't got enough space for all the kids to eat?" Its a problem the school need to figure out, when they set up their system.

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EvilTwins · 19/02/2018 08:10

Makingwork I assume that's why they said not to make an appointment if the report was green or purple? I have only asked for appointments with teachers where the report was orange - following their instructions.

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Itmakesthereaderreadon · 19/02/2018 08:11

It'll be the subjects where they kids about once a fortnight, teach every single yr 7 and know they'll most likely drop the subject at gcse cos of the ebac. The Orange will be consists are measured against a figure that probably has no real bearing on how they are actually doing, so there are probably no real issues.

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HangingRoundInABofAlorsStance · 19/02/2018 08:13

School should have emphasised red as a must with all parents and orange as first come first served sign up with consultations available outside of p/e if parent requests it.

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EvilTwins · 19/02/2018 08:13

Itmakes two of the teachers who have refused appointments are Maths and Geography.

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Itmakesthereaderreadon · 19/02/2018 08:14

And slt or pastoral will have decided on the Orange = appointment thing. I like to see all parents, but i tend to only teach one class per year. Apart from 6th form, but even then, I think the most I saw in one 3 hour block.was about 60. Don't know how you'd do 180ish.

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Sirzy · 19/02/2018 08:15

Maths certainly shouldn’t be refusing!

Where you aware of the fact they were underperforming? If not I would also question why this wasn’t mentioned sooner!

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Itmakesthereaderreadon · 19/02/2018 08:16

Ah. Maths is odd, but Geography's just colouring maps in anyway, isn't it?😉

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ClemDanfango · 19/02/2018 08:19

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Pengggwn · 19/02/2018 08:19

I think this is very poor. As a teacher I don't expect to have to make myself constantly available to parents - I'd rather spend my time on the students - but for one evening a year, it's not too much to ask that you, the parent, get some one-to-one time with your child's teachers so you can discuss what you would like to discuss.

That said, the school may have something to answer for here. If they have timetabled poorly and have one poor Geography teacher taking three Y7 groups, there is no way that person will have time in one evening to see everyone.

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ZigZagIntoTheBlue · 19/02/2018 08:20

Have you tried emailing the teacher and copying in their form tutor or hoy? I'm wondering if they actually asked and got those answers or have just told you that as they don't want you to find out they've been repeatedly told off for chatting or whatever

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EvilTwins · 19/02/2018 08:20

Sirzy - no, not aware of any underperformance at all. I really want to see the teacher to find out what the issue is and what we can do to support our DDs at home. I'm pretty annoyed that the teacher has told both my DDs (they're in separate classes) that she "doesn't need" to see us. I need to see her!

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EvilTwins · 19/02/2018 08:25

Zigzag I emailed the HOY when we first got these "you don't need an appointment" responses - I wanted to raise issues I have with the report anyway (it's full of numbers but they are meaningless - it seems the school has created a life after levels system that no one understands - the DC had no idea what it all meant, DH couldn't make head nor tail of it) and also to ask about the issues with parents evening. She hasn't got back to me yet. I emailed a fortnight ago - granted, half term has been in that time and I don't expect her to get back to me during her holiday, but I'm pretty sure the girls are telling the truth about the teachers. DTD1 is a proper geek and likes following rules, so even if DTD2 was in trouble in Maths for chatting and therefore not wanting an appointment in case this came out, DTD1 would not be in the same position.

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Piggywaspushed · 19/02/2018 08:26

Oh dear. This sounds like a disaster waiting to happen!

The trouble is , as schools have become larger, parents evenings are unsustainable for the teachers ( I teach 3 year 10 classes , 80 students : it's not going to work!)

What you can bet is that the red, orange , green codes will not have been input by the teachers themselves...

But, yes, as a parent, you should be able to see the teachers you want to see, where possible.

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gabsdot · 19/02/2018 08:27

My son has 12 different teachers and we got to see all of them at parents evening. Each teacher had a table set up in the gym hall and we had a list of who we needed to see and we just queued up and had a chat with each one in turn. It took about 3 hours.

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wrenika · 19/02/2018 08:45

It does seem daft that you can't get an appointment with teachers who marked their subject orange.

I can definitely see the advantage of a 'traffic light' system, because there's really no need to see the teacher if the child is performing well in the subject. My parents never went to parents nights from the 'parent' side of it. They were both teachers and since I was performing well, they didn't see the point.

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roundaboutthetown · 19/02/2018 08:49

Seems like a good indication that SLT and teachers do not see eye to eye and they are making this obvious to the parents. I would be a bit concerned about the morale of the staff at the school and thus about the teaching and atmosphere in general. It hardly indicates a united front, does it?!

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Spikeyball · 19/02/2018 08:54

Sometimes I taught 90 children in a year group. There were 25 slots in an evening so I couldn't see them all although I did offer telephone appointments or to see parents just before or just after school.

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TotHappy · 19/02/2018 08:58

I used to teach secondary RE, at least 600 kids every year, and one year i did have 5 year 7 classes. Yes the colour coding has not been done by teachers, most likely automatically generates if they are 'below target', in Humanities in y7 this is utterly meaningless as the data from y6 is totally unreliable to generate their targets. So they probably are not actually underperforming and the teacher knows it. I might have said to a child 'i don't need to see your parents' in a case like that, its a reassurance not a dismissal, but of course if you need to see them, you should. If a child had said 'mum wants to see you thought of course i would've made an appointment. Maybe send them in again to ask and tell the teacher you really want to see them anyway. I'd be surprised if they refuse.

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HopscotchShots · 19/02/2018 09:02

Maybe send them in with a letter requesting to see the teachers?

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Zaphodsotherhead · 19/02/2018 09:14

My kids' school ran the same system as gabdot. Admittedly a smaller secondary school, with around 600 pupils and no sixth form, but the teachers did see every single parent. We were each given a three minute slot and told to make an appointment if there were any issues that weren't covered in that slot. The school I worked at (different school) had the same system but was bigger (1000).

I assume schools that don't do this are bigger still?

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AjasLipstick · 19/02/2018 09:18

Is this an academy by any chance?

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EvilTwins · 19/02/2018 09:26

It is an academy, yes, but all the secondaries in our area are. This one is not part of a MAT.

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