Page 2 | Virtual parents evening

ODFOx · 2021-03-27T07:11:03+00:00

After years of parents evenings where everyone is clustered into the school hall waiting to pounce on the next teacher on the list while scowling at the parent who takes 9 minutes instead of five and upsets the whole system, we attended our first virtual parents evening this week. The system gave us 5 minutes with each teacher and worked out the most efficient booking order for us. On the night each 5 minutes counted down and the meeting cut off and connected you to the next on the list at the appointee time. In short it was brilliant; much less stressful than the old way and very focussed in the time allowed. Are all schools doing this and how have you found it?

Fastforwardtospring · 27/03/2021 08:37

Loved it, hope it’s here to stay, as a parent none of the awkwardness when parents in front of you go over the allocated time slot, then the parents behind you turn up for theirs, I always felt like I was getting squeezed out. Non virtual parents eve for secondary are like a bun fight to get to see each teacher - hated it! Nothing at all like primary, that’s a different experience seeing one teacher and a look through the books.

Thoughtcontagion · 27/03/2021 08:34

We had school cloud. My DD year 8 and 10 minutes per teacher. I liked it I hope it doesn’t go back to in school

AuntieStella · 27/03/2021 08:33

The admin for ours worked really well.

The auto cut off for slots meant no overrrunning. If you needed more than the allotted time, then there was option for email follow up.

It's a brilliant system, and I hope they carry on with it

Hardbackwriter · 27/03/2021 08:33

From various different experiences of this - DH's as a teacher, ours for our son's nursery meeting with his networker, friends' reports of attending parents' evening for their children of various ages - virtual parents' evenings are about the only thing I'd like to keep from Covid times!

rookiemere · 27/03/2021 08:33

Yes ours was online and it was absolutely fantastic. Hard cut off after 5 minutes per teacher, but if there was anything else we needed to discuss we'd have made another appointment.

cptartapp · 27/03/2021 08:31

We got four minutes per teacher for year 11. Not long enough after the year we've had, particularly when one teacher spent three minutes talking about a different child with the same christian name.

MrsTophamHat · 27/03/2021 08:30

@Stokey

I actually miss the physicality of it. My eldest starts secondary this year and I think it's they stayed to virtual parents things evenings, you'd hardly ever see the school and get a feel for things. I enjoyed the ones more where you could go in and spend some time looking at DCs books and the art on the wall in the classrooms.

I haven't met either of DCs teachers in the flesh this year. Although obviously got a good impression of them during home schooling. But think you'd miss something particularly at secondary where you don't get to drop them off etc any more.

In fairness, i'm not sure you get much sense of the school from parents evenings. It's nothing like a school day and most schools use communal areas rather than classrooms. It's just a load if people standing around looking a bit grumpy!

I think Open Evenings, Options Evenings, performances, awards events and things like that give you more of a sense of the school than parents evenings. You'll still be able to visit the school for things like that.

Feelinghothothottoday · 27/03/2021 08:30

@Stokey

I actually miss the physicality of it. My eldest starts secondary this year and I think it's they stayed to virtual parents things evenings, you'd hardly ever see the school and get a feel for things. I enjoyed the ones more where you could go in and spend some time looking at DCs books and the art on the wall in the classrooms.

I haven't met either of DCs teachers in the flesh this year. Although obviously got a good impression of them during home schooling. But think you'd miss something particularly at secondary where you don't get to drop them off etc any more.

You will find that at secondary school you really don’t get to know the teachers at all - unless there are other reasons. My son has something like 12 different teachers and I wouldn’t recognise them if they stood next to me. Secondary school is fairly remote anyway.

At least this stopped the known families pushing in and demanding too much time.

kowari · 27/03/2021 08:28

I'm dreading it, I don't cope well with things like phone calls or zoom at all. I would skip this year if DS wasn't year 10.

MrPickles73 · 27/03/2021 08:27

Yes we had the same and it was much more efficient and reliable 😃

Feelinghothothottoday · 27/03/2021 08:26

I agree it is a far better system. Our appointments were automatically booked by logging on and after 5 mins we moved on. Even better my kids father could join us from his lounge rather than me having to tolerate and chat to him for three hours whilst we wait for the teachers.

Stokey · 27/03/2021 08:23

I actually miss the physicality of it. My eldest starts secondary this year and I think it's they stayed to virtual parents things evenings, you'd hardly ever see the school and get a feel for things. I enjoyed the ones more where you could go in and spend some time looking at DCs books and the art on the wall in the classrooms.

I haven't met either of DCs teachers in the flesh this year. Although obviously got a good impression of them during home schooling. But think you'd miss something particularly at secondary where you don't get to drop them off etc any more.

Lougle · 27/03/2021 08:23

Our school used school cloud and it was great. The only issue is that when a teacher ran late, it meant we had just 3 minutes because you can't adjust the timings. I loved it. None of that awkward intro/exit dance. You have 5 minutes - use them!

Aroundtheworldin80moves · 27/03/2021 08:16

I liked our Primary School one last term. Much more efficient.

Except our internet crashing.. luckily online again with a minute!

Theworldisfullofgs · 27/03/2021 08:16

Loved it.

Actually better than usual for us as ds is a well behaved yr10. It meant some teacher told more and gave better advice because they wanted to fill their 5 mins. Rather than, he's good - off you go.

drspouse · 27/03/2021 08:12

Primary parent here but my DD school has been issuing ParentApp to book face to face appointments for a while, it prevents the whole lost slips etc. issues.

DoggyDoolittle · 27/03/2021 08:11

Agree, so much better in general.
We got 5 minutes with some teachers which was enough, but only 3 mins with those who teach multiple classes across the year group - fine if there's no issue but if did need to ask something more complex it wasn't enough time.
And one teacher had connectivity issues - so of my 7 appointments I've actually got to have request a phone call from 3 of them next week!

Lindy2 · 27/03/2021 08:06

Our school used school cloud too. I was really impressed at how easy it was to use.

Booking the appointment times was straightforward and attending was so easy. Click on the link and there was teacher on the screen. 5 minutes of chat and then teacher disappears at the cut off time.

We only attended one real Secondary school parents' evening before lockdown and while it was nice to meet teachers face to face, it was so chaotic and loud. I do actually prefer the online version. It was calmer and a lot more confidential than being in a busy hall. I also was able to eat my dinner in between appointment slots.

Graciebobcat · 27/03/2021 08:02

I'd much rather have face to face ones. Y11 for DD1, technology didn't work at all and couldn't speak to a single teacher, in spite of wifi being fine all day for Teams and Zoom calls. For DD2s, it did work on Teams but it was really confusing where to click next for each appointment, loads of parents failed to access it properly, and we had to have it in DD2's bedroom as she had to login to her school platform rather than sending the appointments to parents.

I think it could work, but the technology is too uneven at the moment, as is people's experience of using it.

Panicmode1 · 27/03/2021 07:56

I think this is definitely something that should stay, post Covid. We have found virtual parents evenings to be so much better than in person ones!

ExponentiallyDepleted · 27/03/2021 07:54

Yes, we were told only one could log in so DH had to dash home from work but that was before Christmas.

We found 5 mins was long enough as the teachers knew who they were seeing next and were prepared, unlike in the school hall where it was a free for all and they had to shuffle papers, find scores etc when you sat down.

MrsTophamHat · 27/03/2021 07:54

As a teacher, I was a bit dubious but I really liked it. I could do the appointments on my ipad whilst having my computer next to me with all my data to hand, not on paper.

I liked that it stuck to time without any awkwardness.

Shezlon · 27/03/2021 07:49

I organise the parents evenings at our school and we've been doing virtual ones for about 6 months now. Overwhelmingly positive feedback from parents and teachers alike. We also use schoolcloud. The one minor niggle was when only one parent could join appointments (which didn't work for separated parents) but they've recently added functionality to allow 2 to join separately which is great. Can't imagine we'll go back.

TheWildRumpyPumpus · 27/03/2021 07:45

Our school uses schoolcloud also which gives 1 minute between appointments - it worked brilliantly allowing us to see all DS’s teachers one after another within an hour, no messing around.

annaseal · 27/03/2021 07:43

Yes OP. Exact same experience. No stressful running around from one building to another, no long queuing up. Only negative was 5 mins for me was not enough. Should have been 10. Rest super-good. Wish it stays same even after Covid leaves us for good