to expect a parents evening appointement time to be at at least a similar time to the requested slot?

[littleducks]

DD is in reception, we were asked two days ago to fill in a form requesting an appointement time within a half an hour slot, im not sure when they started exactly but probably 3.45.

I requested something between 5.15 and 5.45.

Today i got a 'confirmation of appointement time' slip with a time of 4.25.

I was expectiong that if it was a popular slot i could get a time between 5 and 6 but am a bit at an apointment an hour earlier.

There is nothing written on the slip, no explanation, no sorry the time you selected was overbooked or anything.

I have a ten minute sand timer that I use. We see parents with their children usually, and I use the timer in class a lot.
When your time is up, it's up.
Less intrusive than an alarm.

Ok well i spoke to dh and he reckons that he can help make the appointment time work so hopefully it wont be a big problem.

I think i will find out dates of future parents evenings way in advance and then book afternoons off in future

If I can't make the slot I'm allocated due to work, I just make another appointment on a different day. I don't mind if it's a month later, or just before school or anything, whenever the teacher has 5 min to let me know what's going on (I don't find them that useful anyway unless there's an actual issue, in which case I'd have been in by then!)

And, I never bring the children, otherwise you and the teacher spend the whole time addressing them and not actually discussing things frankly. I just ignore that suggestion.

"activate Sat 05-Feb-11 07:51:53
Don't worry - a 4.25 appointment will mean you'll see the teacher around 5.15 so you win

"

presumably the OP's not just making a point. How will she 'win' exaclty when she will need to be there at 4.25 anyway??

At dc's school I always request late appts and usually get them. Last time was abit earlier than normal and dp not home in time. Took dc with me aged 4 and 6. Reception fine kids allowed in with me. Year 2 kids told to wait outside. Didn't plan to bring dc but didn't like leaving them in corridor.

As others have said secondary school one are a nightmare. DD1s school didn't have a n appointment system, you pitched up, worked out who you wanted (I used the "who has got the shortest queue" method) and went round accordingly - seemed to work well. Ds's school has appointments that invariably run over, so then you have the dilemma, do you wait (after working out how many are also in front of you) or do you attempt next appointment and then "mop up" the missed slots later .
DD2 is at primary school - usually I can't make the appointment because of shift working, but I just ask if I can see teacher another day - they usually look relieved as that gap in appointments may lead to much needed tea break (or just catch up with time keeping)

At the school I teach at parents are asked to indicate their 1st, 2nd and 3rd choice of appointment days/times and we undertake to get as close to one of those as possible.

They are 10 minute appointments but I allocate them 15 minutes apart so parents have time to get from one end of the school to the other if there are siblings but also have 5 minutes in which I can pop to the loo/parents can have a bit longer if they need it.

If I give an appointment at 4.25pm instead of 5-6pm it will because it was unavoidable. I'm usually in school until at least 5.30pm and am willing to see parents on other days if it's easier for them.

OP - how quickly did you hand your form in?

At our school, people's choices of time are allocated in order of when they handed their form in. If you're keen on a particular time, hand it in on the same day if possible.

Don't be hard on the school - it's a nightmare trying to accommodate everyone. It may be inconvenient but it's only 2/3 times per year, not that bad.

I handed the form in the morning after they had been put in bookbags, I handed it to the teacher myself so it wouldnt get lost/forgotten

DDs class has two teachers job sharing so I think it would be hard to get an opportunity to see them both at the same time on a different day

I dont think the teachers stay that late either as I pick dd up late from school as the afterschool club is on site and the carpark is deserted by then. That said the head is always there

I'm intrigued to know how many schools have "admin staff" to organise appointment times. In our primary school of 450 kids, that would be a fun task!
Of course teachers do it! And of course we take steps to allow for siblings' appointments elsewhere in the school; we're not daft. It irritates me when we have given 90-minute-long bands for parents to select from, and they write back that they want 6:10 for one child and 6:30 for another and nothing else. I should have thought that the box labelled "siblings in other classes" would have hinted that there was a system in place for this.
FWIW, we give a few days for the forms to be returned, then staff get together one lunchtime and allocate appointments, starting with siblings, and spreading the others out as best we can. Anyone who hasn't returned the form gets what's left. Sometimes first-come-first-served isn't always fairest.

we have to tick a block of time i.e. 3.30-6.30pm or 7-9pm and then it is pot luck which actual time you will get. Our school specifies that it is a PARENT-TEACHER meeting and no kids should be brought in as there are no facilities to watch them. Our forma have just been handed out on Friday and we have to hand them back in by next Wednesday - the Parents night is in March.

We went through a period where year 5 & 6 children were expected to come along and be involved with the meeting. It was all very well for the more mature ones, but not ideal if you wished to discuss more sensitive issues for kids who were struggling and didn't need to hear it. Fortunately, we ditched the idea.

Well i went along today, was most miffed to see an appointment list on the door with two emplty slots at 5.45-6

And it wasnt because the teacher wanted to go home early as someone was booked for just after 6 which was after it was supposed to have finished

I expect it was a gap to allow for overunning but it would have made my life easier to have had that time

Lessons learnt though and dd came with me, that wont be happening again!

my school lets us know in advance when the lists are "going up" we can then go in and write our name (using the conveniently placed pencil) against a time.

much simpler!!

they will have around 30 kids in the class - if they all want the later appointments you are hardly likely to all get your requested time slot, I am sure the school have tried their best to fit everyone in the best they can, it really isn't an easy job!

Wait til you get to the point where your secondary school child makes the appointments - oh fun.

I guess nobody read my last post then

It could be someone made that appointment and then cancelled. It is a pain, but you can usually arrange another day/time if you really can't make the main session.

DCs and I are already plannin out strategy for the free-for all secondary progress monitoring day (it involves multiple queueing and mobile phones, as well as snacks, drink and books).

I played it as fair as I could - but you're always damned if you do and damned if you don't.

Kept slips in order they were handed into me, allocated times based on that (blocking out a break mid-evening for me to have a pee and a drink - because talking constantly for that length of time really hammers your voice), siblings got bounced across to their class teacher so we could group times together - basically first teacher to get the slip made a time and the second teacher worked before/after that one. Head always had our timetables and would make a point of being around conveniently doing a cup of tea run about the same time as any potentially difficult/violent parents were around.

Still got whined at for the fact we had both sets of my year group consultations in one classroom with books laid out in the other (for our own safety - considering my partner teacher got subjected to a barrage of verbal abuse and screaming over a pair of lost PE shorts I'd say justifiable), got accosted and complained at that I was going to the loo between parents (again I'd blocked in a break and it was in that downtime), got complained at that the evening was on a Tuesday not a Wednesday (hey I picked that obviously) etc etc etc.

And yes I always ran to time, I'd leave the odd dead 10 minutes to make sure I could stay on schedule - the one trick I'll admit I did (like most teachers) was to wedge parents you knew would go on and on about nothing in particular between other ones you knew would be waiting on time... just means you've got a definite end to the conversation. Not fair for anyone (least of all the caretaker who's desperately trying to lock up and go home) if you're stuck there for 45 minutes at the end of the evening discussing their vitally important Wednesday night Family Poetry Writing Night evening (and I'm not joking on this one).

Had the evening in an independent school where the head was in with me - and she managed to make every single consultation about 10 times as long with chatter about where she'd had her hair done etc - on that occasion I'd primed someone at home to call me if I wasn't headed back 2 hours after the scheduled end of the evening to give me an excuse to end things - and I actually needed that get out clause because it was pushing 10pm at night and we were in raptures about wallpaper choices at that point.

Everyone wants immediately after school - then 5pm, then the last slot of the evening (so those ones who hand the slip in on the day of the appointments wanting one of those in-demand ones were out of luck). Also used to average about 20% booked appointments and no-shows or cancellations on the day... by the time you fit in the catch-ups/follow-ups/need an alternative dates parents evening tended to run to a good couple of weeks of it.

It does absolutely kill you though to go straight into it after a day's teaching and run till 8 or 9 or whenever the school ends - it really really really starts to hammer your voice after an hour or so of the constant talking (although you talk most of the day teaching - there are pauses when the kids are doing stuff and similar - this is just relentless conversation), and you take a lot of muttering and grumbling over people who wanted 5.05 and had to settle for 5.15 which clashed with their kettle boiling or whatever which wears you down mentally. So yep - most of us try to keep a break slot free mid-evening so we can inhale a sandwich and a cup of tea and preserve our sanity a bit because by the time you get home it's time to collapse into bed before working again.

You go in on supply the day after a parents evening and it can look like the morning after the zombies hit in Shaun of the Dead before the caffine takes over in the staffroom!