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Original poster

First parents’ evening - and it’s virtual

63 replies

OverTheHillAndDownTotherSide · 03/05/2023 21:31

First parents’ evening for year 7 DD. We get 2 minutes per teacher. DD going though ADHD assessment currently and transition hasn’t been smooth. Have not had any meetings with school, just a couple of phone calls with tutor and SENCO. Haven’t met any of her subject teachers.

So I’m wondering what questions we should prioritise in these 2 minutes.

OP posts:
lilsupersparks · 03/05/2023 22:05

I echo the other comments. Parents Evening is not the time for discussing these issues. You need to contact the SENCO for a meeting, and specific teachers or department heads for more detail. The tutor is a useful first point of contact.

Ours are 5 minutes - it’s useful to touch base with parents and to let them know the basics of where their kid is at. It is not enough time to discuss issues or problems - these are either raised at Parents Evening and followed up later or (ideally) raised before Parents Evening so that you can discuss how these things are going at the event itself.

A general rule is that nothing discussed at Parents Evening should be a surprise (or shock!) for either party.

Bobbybobbins · 03/05/2023 22:02

2 minutes is ridiculous. We have 5 and that is about right.

Darhon · 03/05/2023 21:59

It’s much better than in person and you see more people. You can’t ask your type of questions of every teacher you see and if you were the parent in the queue speaking to the maths teacher (who for one of mine had given all the appointments out one year in an in-person event, so we never saw them anyway ), you’ll be taking up 2-3 appointment slots and holding everyone up. Much better to contact the head of house/year - whatever the school have and have a separate conversation . They are usually excellent, listen, speak to your child if necessary , arrange for the pastoral team to pick them up and liaise with the right teachers. Much more joined up than you speaking to 7 subject teachers on a busy evening.

Original poster
OverTheHillAndDownTotherSide · 03/05/2023 21:58

We had a 5 min video call with her class tutor in October, and that felt very hurried.

2 mins feels like a token effort rather than anything meaningful. The school’s comms have been completely lacking. I can only hope that they raise any significant issues because there is absolutely no way we could know if anything was going on otherwise.

OP posts:
DucksNewburyport · 03/05/2023 21:52

I'm a fan of online parents' evening, as the face to face ones used to be chaos with so many parents and teachers. But 2 mins seems very short! Ours are 5 mins (which is the same as the F2F ones used to be).

Original poster
OverTheHillAndDownTotherSide · 03/05/2023 21:51

Sounds utterly pointless.

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Skybluepinky · 03/05/2023 21:49

For those sorts of talks u need to book a separate appointment, parents evening is just a quick chat, hence y they do it online do people don’t take over their time.

Original poster
OverTheHillAndDownTotherSide · 03/05/2023 21:42

She has her (private) ADHD assessments this month (is in the 4 year queue for NHS assessment but that is too long to wait if she needs help now).

Once that has concluded I will of course contact the SENCO, who did the NHS referral and is waiting for the outcome of the private one.

OP posts:
Original poster
OverTheHillAndDownTotherSide · 03/05/2023 21:40

I don’t expect a discussion about the ADHD.

My concerns are predominantly around her being in a very mixed ability class with no setting. She left primary doing basic GCSE maths - she doesn’t seem to be challenged by what they’re doing in class and says she often finishes the work early and then helps other people with it. I didn’t expect them to keep up the pace of primary school but this would appear to be basically parking her until everyone else catches up?

She’s very affected by the teachers shouting at the disruptive pupils in the class. It seems not to be working so I’m not sure how to address that.

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SirChenjins · 03/05/2023 21:37

We have online parents evenings too and they’re brilliant in comparison to the chaos of the past face to face ones - but we get 5 minutes. I don’t think you’ll be able to ask anything in that time, it will just be a case of listening. As a pp said I’d suggest making a separate appointment with SENCO to discuss things in more detail.

LolaSmiles · 03/05/2023 21:37

A standard parents' evening isn't the right time to have a detailed discussion about ongoing large issues. One benefit of virtual evenings is not watching a queue of parents back up as one parent is almost 10 minutes into a long explanation about something that's too big for one subject teacher to deal with.

You want to speak to the SENCO and have a proper meeting or call booked to discuss the ADHD assessment and transition.

Use the parents' evening to hear a quick update and some targets from the subject teachers.

marshmallowsforbreakfast · 03/05/2023 21:34

They probably won't give you a chance to talk, it'll be a quick run down on behaviour, something positive and something to improve on.

cansu · 03/05/2023 21:33

Don't use parents evening for these issues. It isn't long enough. Ring or email and ask if you can come in and meet with SENCO.