Parents Evenings... how does your school do theirs?

Ours is similar to yours. Logic being that appointment systems end up falling out of sync because someone does:
Teacher a: 5:00
teacher b : 5:05
Teacher c : 5:10

without factoring actually how thry find staff in that time.

I was done 15 mins early on my last parents' evening for 30 students.
It's an issue when you have multiple classes in a year group.

One school i worked in had no appointments but a bell went every 5 mins to keep everyone moving. I quite liked that

DS gets a paper with Time slots printed on it. He has to go and take appointments with all his subject teachers. They ask to keep 5 mins break between subjects.

Teachers sit in a big hall, parents move from one appointment to other.

We are given 5 mins time and I was surprised how much they cover within 5 mins.

It is quick, efficient system. It works smoothly like a machine.

Cons
Need loads more desks and therefore space, parents sitting on teachers seats chatting to other parent friends leading to lots of wasted time while teachers wait for the chat to finish, teying to find the parents, even though our school is tablet based i still tend to print some stuff off, then i only need open a couple of apps so trying to lug all the stuff around.

Both my school and my dcs do online appointments, one year group per night, both huge schools. Works fine.

We've got an online system with an automated booking wizard or it enables yoi to book them individually if you prefer. You can book up to 9. You set the time you are available and who you want to see and it arranges them. Ours opened over a week ago and they've got between 7 and 47 appointments left still. (Year 9) I've booked 6

I’m sold!

Binary-I think that could work! I especially like how I would be in control of ending the appointment by leaving.

Hummm, whilst I can almost see the appeal, there are a number of practical concerns:

• How many children are in your dcs' year? At my dc's school theres not a chance there would be enough desks for all the parents!
• I'm also wondered how teachers would manage their paperwork: at our parents eve, each teacher has a number of files summarising each child's results; key notes; often a set of resources for those who might need more help etc. Dragging that around and then finding the right bits for each child would be a hassle I think.
• Plus how would the teachers find the right parents amongst the hundreds of them? At least with finding the teachers, at our school they are organised into subjects so you can narrow down where you are heading!

Our school: 5 minute appointments, made online. Definitely privileges those who leap online when they open, but I think that parents who teachers are key to see get fitted in! Teachers arranged in a few rooms (lunch-halls, main hall, large classrooms) seating for parents in the middle of rooms to wait. Timings do go off occasionally, and I'd prefer a bell or something at the end of the 5 mins to try and keep people to time! But teachers are very good about quickly slotting parents in and keeping things efficient.

Oh - and there aren't enough slots for some subjects where a 1-2 teachers teach a lot of classes across the year group, esp in Y7 when everyone is keen to see all the teachers.

Honestly, isn't it the parents' prerogative about who they want/ need to see??

Parents evenings are absolutely exhausting with three or so hours minimum I'm of no break in speech (not even to sip some water). O can't imagine also having to find the parents, looks at their child's data and compose my thoughts while trying to move around.

Perhaps this is easier for parents, but it wouldn't work from a teacher's perspective.

You want the info. Come to me to get it!

My DCs school closes early 5 times a year, and consultations for one year group start at 2pm ish until about 7. Teachers in hall, lunch hall and nearby classrooms. Online booking, 10 minute slots.
There is some over running, but not too much especially as waiting parents sit in the middle of the hall.
There is some supervised study available for students not in the select year group who can't go home early (working parents and transport issues).

My daughters school has an appointment system but this never usually goes to plan and you still end up waiting around.

Ours is a big school. 330-350 kids per year. 1 parents evening performance year group per year. Each evening has 80-90 teachers. Done in classrooms, 4 teachers per room so you do have to allow time to move between rooms.

5 mins appointments bookable online. Runs 3.30-7 but usually runs late, actually ending by 7.30/7.45.

There is a mad rush when the booking system opens. If a teacher has more than 1 class in the same yr group then there are not enough appointments for everyone. But they will do a phone call home if you contact the school and say you couldn't get an appointment with them.

It generally works overall.

Dc get a sheet, ask parents who they want to see, dc ask teachers for 5 minute appointment, each appointment is at least 5 minutes apart. Teachers have a finite number of appointments to give out. Appointments are in a set of classrooms close together, sometimes 2 teachers using the same classroom which is okay.

Ds has been at secondary 2 years so 2 parents nights only. Each year I say I want to see all his teachers and he has gotten appointments for all expect one each years so I think it has worked well for us, but on speaking to other parents they say their dc only managed to get 2-3 appointments and none with the core subjects. Not sure if the is a dc problem or a system problem.

Personally I’d like to see the same process as we have, but an online booking system, with enough slots so parents can make sure they get the appointments they need.

Ours are like TeenTimesTwo's, and work pretty well. Can be sticky around those teachers who teach a large proportion of the year group - e.g. some of the MFL teachers in lower years - but parents also get selective about who they want to see, so from Year 9 onwards they are pretty painless and everyone knows the etiquette.

Also had very good e-mail alternatives (again, said MFL teacher asked to e-mail rather than make an appointment for those of her classes she had few concerns about, and the information I got was very comprehensive) and follow-up phone conversations when the 5 minutes wasn't enough.

DS crams all appointments together and has us whizzing about the hall like demented bluebottles. DD loves a good even plan for 5 mins on, 5 minutes off, with a 10-15 minute gap in the middle in case any of the earlier ones run late.

We assume all parents are coming unless we hear otherwise, and set up appointments with all teachers. Neither the students nor parents have to do anything other than turn up. It’s really painless.

In advance:
5 minute slots in planner.
You tell your DC who you want to see and they arrange as many appointments as they can, with a gap between each one.
Teachers grab the planners of those they most need to see.

On the evening:
Most teachers in hall, a few in nearby overflow classrooms.
Long line of waiting seats between the columns of teachers.
Starts on time (or early), people start running late (usually due to a few teachers not sticking to time). But the teachers know what order they are aiming for so if you are there waiting you get seen in order.
You can 'jump in' if a teacher is empty.
No buzzers.
If you don't get to see someone you can email them.

Works well enough. I find them quite helpful and they are motivational for DD who finds school quite hard.

Ours is a big academy high with over 1,500 students (not sure how many in DD's current year 11).

Parents evenings are in the large hall with the teachers seated at desks and the parents lining up to see them.

Timetable templates are emailed home one week prior to the date and parents initial beside the subject teacher they'd like to see. Students are then responsible for securing timings with the teachers directly, with (supposed) 5 minute gaps between each appointment.

The principle is good, but the reality is that some parents go over their allotted times or push in front of the next parent due to see a specific teacher and the system quickly falls apart.

This week's event was the better of the 5 we've attended and we were finished within 1.5 hours. But a couple of the appointments had to be an ad hoc type approach due to the teachers double booking themselves! We waited until they had a gap and quickly stepped in.

We shall not miss parents evenings!

I can't remember exactly but it goes something like this for my DC's school which is 8 form entry...

School closes at 1.20 (end of last lesson before lunch). Children sent home. Parents evening starts at 3pm (might be 4pm I can't remember exactly), it finishes at 9pm.

A week or so before parents evening you book slots online with the teachers you want to see. All slots are 5 minutes and the system won't allow you to book back to back appointments. There has to be a 5 min gap between each slot.

On the night all teachers are in one of the halls (I think it's a sports hall) there are large screened TVs around the room displaying a 5 minute count down timer and the current time.

It works well.

How does the parents at desks work when not all teachers need to see all parents? Is there a way for the teachers to see that the parent has a child who takes art but not music etc?

We parents allocated desk with all books. Teachers come to us in rotation. Fantastic system.

We book online for the teachers we want to see - 8mins appointment (with the option to book a double appointment) and a 2 mom gap between appointments to move to the next teacher. All the teachers are in the gym.

Years 7 and 12 have a parent/teacher night each term (so 4 a year), years 8/9/10 have 1 a year and year 11 have 2 a year. Years 7/11/12 are on the same night and 8/9/10 are on the same night.

We have around 1100 students and each parents evening runs from 3.45 to 8:00 and there’s a buzzer that goes off when you’ve got 1 min left. At that point if you haven’t finished discussing an issue you will either exchange email addresses with the teacher or book a separate private appointment to go over things in more detail.