Year 7 Parents Evening - Unavailable slots for core subjects

My son has difficulties in a number of classes and his teachers email me reports and updates on his progress and attitude

They are wanting to help and support him and keep me in the loop

I don't need parents evenings for fed back

But surely senior management should be looking at ways to sort it out.

My dd had two parents evenings in year 7. The first in Nov was to go through the mentoring sheet with parents that all children at the school complete. We had to be there( obviously easier to organise as it was with their tutor and quick). The second in March I think was for all children and their parents to discuss ways in which they could all improve and for parents to put faces to names. They split the year( 150) in half to facilitate it and I think it ran from 4-6.30. It was superb. I have a child with Sen and saw the Senco too as she was there as a drop in and reserved for Sen kids. We weren't called up for the additional support evenings.

Frankly given the advantages to progress and results I do think clearing a couple of afternoons if needs be to facilitate this kind of thing is worthwhile. I'd far rather teaching hours were lost to this than other extra curricular events.

Parents want more involvement and partnership,it benefits children. Being told to stand back doesn't.It is supposed to be provided.

toomany
Some of it is logistics not lack of willingness.
We run good parents evenings, have lots of open dialogue with home. One of my y11s mums couldn't make it so she gave me a call the following week. Our SEND base have additional parent meetings. Last week a ks3 student's mum called up and wanted some i fo because she's concerned so our pastoral team sent a message out, we all chipped in and someone pastoral will pass it on in one go rather than having 12 different phonecalls. On parents' evenings I also give out info for parents to suppoet learning at home and remind them that id they need anything then they can give me a call (I'd rather have sensible parents calling like reasonable adults than any more in thr minority mode of eeeh I'm fuming and am reporting mrs pops for nothinv).

It doesn't change the fact that if you have 2 full classes of 30 then you can't see them all in one evening. That's luck of timetabling. This year I'll see all my y8s but last year I didn't. That's because this year i have 24 and last year i had 64.

Interestingly, on scrolling round my dc's school sites I found quite a difference. The school I mentioned previously that provided a really good parents evening have taken on board a lot of John Hattie's work. He has done the biggest study on parental engagement,feedback and the impact they have on a child's education. He believes parental partnership and involvement with schools to be hugely beneficial. Pisa have also found that a parental hands on approach( not stand back) has a big impact on the attainment of 15 years olds.

I found a whole host of new measures said school provided having taken on board John Hattie and parental feedback. As regards parents they include better quality parents evenings for all and 2 additional support evenings for those that need it. There is no stand back at all. Surely parents evening should be for all parents and those that require more time due to issues should have that support in a time and place that is more beneficial.

In short surely instead of belittling and mocking parents who are trying to be involved with their dc's education we should be listening to parents and looking at ways to provide it.

As an aside it might be worth remembering that secondary has changed hugely over the years and is often very bewildering for parents. The knowledge many secondary teachers take for granted is very likely to be completely unknown to the vast majority of parents who don't work in that field.

Are

I agree Astro.

Parents are invited and told they will get a chance to discuss their child's report. Government stipulations states parents should be given an opportunity to discuss their report in school.

On paper bar PE and art my dc have never struggled in anything particularly. They are in their third year so bar PE and art we should have never had an appointment about anything? 3 years of never seeing a maths,science,MFL or English teacher?

Why aren't schools advertising parents evening at all?Why aren't they just contacting parents directly as problems turn up?

Astronotus - there you go, you’ve got it. Take a step back, email or phone about your not urgent problem and then the teacher will have enough slots to see those who really need to be seen.

I always asked my sons to make one appointment for a subject they wanted me to hear about and one appointment for one they didn't-anything more than that was a bonus!
If a teacher needed to speak because there was a problem, they would ensure an appointment was made, if no teachers insisted, my sons would think themselves lucky!
The youngest has Aspergers so organisation was not his strong point, he made me one appointment at 4 and the next at 5.30 once and couldn't understand why I was a little peeved

CarrieBlue. Of course I realise teachers work very long hours. My DC have had some really hardworking teachers and as a family we have always been very appreciative of their efforts and emailed and told them and their superiors so. I was just referring, in this instance, to the comment of an extra 25 mins from another poster.

I don't get your parent bingo comment, probably just as well. Your comment "maybe consider that your dc is at secondary school now and take a step back" is an amusing one as the thread is discussing an invite from the school to parents to attend a parents' evening. Mind you if many parents stepped back from parents' evenings there would be many more slots available!

I love those moments at Parents nights when you catch a colleague's eye across the room for the "Ah, THAT explains it..." 😃

I can imagine

It never ceases to amaze me when you get totally obnoxious parents who can't work out why their children aren't beautifully polite, considerate and a delight to teach
You're telling me.

I hate the 'I'm a white, middle aged, middle class man so i'm going to try and intimidate you as a lowly woman' thing. It doesn't intimidate me now. I just think they are a complete and utter tosser who is trying to compensate for something.

OP
Last year I had 2 Y8 classes. 64 students. There aren't enough slots.
I'd happily do a follow up call with a parent who wanted to hear from me, but wouldn't be terribly happy if someone was arsey with me because they didn't get a slot

I love those moments at Parents nights when you catch a colleague's eye across the room for the "Ah, THAT explains it..." 😃

She was a junior female version of her dad in terms of attitude,

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

It never ceases to amaze me when you get totally obnoxious parents who can't work out why their children aren't beautifully polite, considerate and a delight to teach.

There was a boy in one of my DCs classes who told the staff that they were there to help him and that included sharpening pencils when he needed it etc etc. Having seen his parents in the playground and the father telling the mother that it was her job to carry everything for him and the children it was obvious where the boy got it from.

There was one father at the secondary I taught at who would get right in teacher's faces and ask them what their "problem" with his DD was, and insist, red faced and spittle flying, that "all the other teachers love her, and she does great in all her other subjects, so the problem is you".

He did this to almost every teacher.

The move to parents evenings in the hall made this abundantly clear, and he was escorted out and didn't attend at all in his DD's final year.

She was a junior female version of her dad in terms of attitude, with C/D borderline grades which could have been dragged up to B/C with an attitude transplant, but any report or communication which didn't describe her unequivocally as a delight to have in the class and an unquestionable genius was apparently proof to her dad that the teacher was unfairly biased against her.

When my DC were at primary school it wasn't unusual for the female teachers to sit nearest the door and the two chairs for parents were away from the door. I assume that was deliberate. That was in a naice area but there was one parent who I (and all the other parents) knew was a nasty piece of work. The head used to sit in on the discussions with whatever teacher was meeting him.

You don't think being intimidated by large burly men with no one else around is a strong reason to change how it's done?!

Single teachers in individual rooms is pretty much universal primary practice, tbh - and it's a very naice school, so no strong reason to change 'how it has always been done'.

Have you asked your school to change its practice? It sounds like it needs to.

The vast majority of parents at my school are fine. I think the ones who might potentially be a problem don't usually show up.

(Tbh, the 'you're only a stupid little female primary teacher, I'm a big professional boss man so you will do what I say or else' act is probably the worst, and the most common.)

The thing is, what WOULDN'T feel particularly physically or verbally intimidating in a large hall surrounded by colleagues and onlookers can feel VERY intimidating when in a 1 teacher : 2 adults situation in an empty room on a dark night.

So I have been physically threatened relatively few times, but I have FELT physically or verbally intimidated often - large burly men leaning over and shouting, very personal verbal comments, verbal attacks on professional competence, refusal to leave - and I'm no shrinking violet.

Crikey cant that's awful. In that situation the school really should be looking into making that safer for you.
I can't remember ever being physically intimidated. Harangued, yes, but not threatened.

CatMuffin, absolutely.

Luckily I entered teaching when slightly older, but I can still find e.g. parents with convictions for GBH a little intimidating both in prospect and reality, and nobody likes being shouted at / sneered at / continually undermined.

I would say that I experience intimidation at least once per parents' evening, and the majority of it wouldn't happen if the situation was even a little more public than an isolated classroom with a closed door.

I had to ask a parent to leave a meeting last week as she wouldn't stop shouting at me, despite me asking her to stop on several occasions. Told her that kind of behaviour wouldn't be tolerated in a doctor's or dentist's so I didn't see why I should be subjected to it. She still persisted so I told her if she didn't leave I'd have no option but to call our Campus Cop and ask him to remove her from the premises.
This totally explains her boy's behaviours and attitudes.
She did phone later to apologise but unfortunately I was 'in a meeting'. I now have her apology in black and white in an email.
Cheeky boot.

cantkeepawayforever A dad at dc primary school was banned from parents evening after being aggressive enough to have a young female teacher on her own in tears. He seemed quite proud it when he was regaling other parents with the story in the playground

I agree! My kids are independent and they need to make their own mistakes and suffer the consequences - I have no isssue with the kids getting detention or additional homework. That's the schools consequences for messing up.
DS has been on report as a visual reminder of his behaviour - acts the clown in front of his friends - so messes in lessons. It's the schools way of dealing with a school problem. He hates it but has the choice of behaving in lessons.