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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

to wonder what the hell DS1's school are playing at? Parents Evening

27 replies

SmellsLikeTeenStrop · 28/04/2012 13:31

It's his parents evening next week, and out of the 10 teachers I requested appointments with, they can only offer me appointments with 2, his Geography and History teachers.

Frankly, it's not worth turning up just to see those teachers.

OP posts:

WorraLiberty · 28/04/2012 13:34

That's odd

At my DS's school, parents evening is in the assembly hall and we're given a list of about 12 or 14 teachers to go and see.

It literally takes about 2hrs to get round and see them all.

Have they given a reason for this?

RustyBear · 28/04/2012 13:34

Who makes the appointments? If it's your DS, you might want to check that he really can't get appointments with his Maths and English teachers.....

igggi · 28/04/2012 13:34

What year is he in? Did he make the appts promptly (afayk) since the teachers do fill up quite quickly - unfortunately imo many parents with appts don't show up. Have you been to a parents night at this school before, is it flexible enough for you to nip in to see a teacher when no-one is sitting in front of them?

Sparklingbrook · 28/04/2012 13:35

On Ds1's school report the teachers said whether they wanted to see us or not.

Original poster

SmellsLikeTeenStrop · 28/04/2012 13:40

He's in Y8. The form got sent to me by post and I immediately filled it in for DS to take back to school the next day. He's usually quite reliable with handing things back.

I don't know who makes the appointments but the letter is signed by the head of Y8 so I'll be phoning him on Monday.

No reason was given, just ''the following appointments could not be booked''.

OP posts:

WorraLiberty · 28/04/2012 13:42

Mine's in Yr8 too

I think that's strange...unless they work on the basis that you only get to see the teachers who think your child isn't doing as well as he could be?

If that's so, it's a shame because it puts quite a negative slant on the whole thing.

Mandy2003 · 28/04/2012 13:43

For the second year running I wanted to make an appointment with the IT teacher to ask why the lessons were such crap to find out when they'd be implementing the new IT curriculum. Apparently only the bottom 5 students in each class were entitled to appointments.

Year 8 parents evenings suck IMO. We had to wait till April for the first one of the year, and I think that's it now. No support for parents at all this year.

Sparklingbrook · 28/04/2012 13:43

Yes, Year 8 here too. We saw about 6 teachers because we wanted to-they hadn't asked to see us.
One couldn't be booked and he will ring us.

fedupofnamechanging · 28/04/2012 13:44

That's weird. If you have specific concerns/questions, I would ask the head of year to arrange a phone call from specific teachers, so you can discuss them.

Original poster

SmellsLikeTeenStrop · 28/04/2012 13:45

I don't believe that to be the case Worra because I have another child in that school, and she's a straight A student (stealth boast), I've always been able to see her teachers.

OP posts:

exoticfruits · 28/04/2012 14:14

I would phone up Head of Year and insist, if they can't do it on the evening arrange alternatives or a phone conversation.

Scholes34 · 28/04/2012 15:34

Absolutely - get in touch with the school. My Year 8 couldn't get appointments with some of the teachers because they didn't have enough slots. They know how many pupils they have, so they should allocate enough slots for them.

noblegiraffe · 28/04/2012 15:38

Some teachers will teach 100 or more Y8s and therefore it will be impossible to allocate enough slots and they will have to be selective about who they see on the night.

However, if a parent really wants to speak to a teacher, they should always be able to arrange something, a phone call or maybe an email.

igggi · 28/04/2012 15:42

Scholes that just isn't always possible - in one year I have 25 students, but in another yeargroup I have just under a hundred - let's say I gave 100 students 5 mins each, that would be over 8 hours of a parents evening.. It can't be uncommon for a teacher to have 2 classes in a yeargroup, meaning possibly 60 appointments?
As I said before, many many parents who make appointments do not show up for them, a two hour parents evening should cover most parents who want to come (and I agree a phone appt good for any who can't be fitted in)

igggi · 28/04/2012 15:43

Cross posts with Nobiegiraffe

pippop1 · 28/04/2012 15:46

I'd be tempted to just turn up and see them anyway.

Either keep an eye out for when no one is with them or join their queue and just say, "Oh, I did ask for an appointment with you, maybe I've made a mistake that I didn't get it. I've left my list at home....." or some such flannel.

Or you could say that you knew you didn't have an appointment. Could you have one this evening or would they like to make a different date and time? You have your diary with you.

Chances are you'll get to speak to them that evening!

AkhalTeke · 28/04/2012 15:48

At ours, they sent a letter saying that DS was doing just fine, so there was no need to see the teachers unless we felt there were any issues.

jamdonut · 28/04/2012 16:01

Were you a bit too prescriptive about the times you could attend? Hence appontments couldnt be booked in those time constraints because they'd already gone?

Alltheseboys · 28/04/2012 16:13

That's bad. You should be able to see all teachers requested- no excuses. Otherwise what's the point. Poor communication

whathasthecatdonenow · 28/04/2012 16:29

At my school parents just turn up and sit at a desk and we walk round and see them in the order they arrived. There are two evenings per year group because there are over 300 students in each year. That means 14 parents evenings a year for staff. I cannot realistically see every parent in the 8 hours, so I do make choices. Often I see the parents of the students who are really trying. If there are problems I'll already have been in touch. It is nice to give some time to those children who generally make the right choices.

jodidi · 28/04/2012 17:20

I regularly have 60 sets of parents to see on a parents evening. I have 2 hours to see them all. I ALWAYS make appointments for any pupil that wants to speak to me. It does mean I talk very fast though, we don't have detailed, in-depth discussions, we have 2-3 minutes for me to rattle through as much as I cn tell you before I need to see the next parent. I generally overrun the 2 hours and have once been chased out of the hall by the caretaker. If ever there are parents I can't see on the night I make sure I phone them to speak to them over the next few days.

noblegiraffe · 28/04/2012 19:52

"You should be able to see all teachers requested- no excuses."

I expect you'd be delighted to have an appointment for 10pm then?

whathasthecatdonenow · 28/04/2012 20:24

The schools that I have worked in with an appointment system tended to have one big draw back - the pupils made the appointments. Lots of children tell you mum and dad aren't coming, or don't want to see you. Then they appear and it turns out that wasn't quite the case.

We are told that we can see 36 parents per evening. So over both nights I can see a max of 72. I teach 99 year 8s. 27 disappointed parents. Even more when some parents can't see the teachers together and have to have consultations at different ends of the hall. My colleague who teaches PSHCE full time once had 9 year 9 groups. She could have started in January and still been going at the end of the academic year.

footphobic · 28/04/2012 21:55

I drum into my kids, as soon as that form is given out and we have identified who we want to see, get round to the teachers and get a time slot booked like your life depends on it.

Ime,the 'book 5 min slot/teachers in main hall' system, the booking of a time is completely meaningless, it's just (hopefully) staking a claim to see them...we had dd1's parent eve at high school last week - I'm not complaining, at least we got to see all we wanted, but we had all our appts booked in sequential slots over a 40 minute period, in reality it took about 2.5 hours to see everyone, they all run way over, parents and teachers completely ignore the order, chaotic really.

And it's soooo much fun with twins...mine are last year of middle school, different teachers for most subjects, I have just about managed to get the system to work for me, ds2/dd2 are aware and try to do best but not much help from teachers who double book same times etc, not teacher bashing, but a bit of common sense surely needed with twins - they go to high school this year where parents eve is so much busier/more chaotic with just one and I know it's going to be a complete nightmare to do two together - would be helpful if they could try to work with parents in that situation.

echt · 28/04/2012 22:09

My school has an online booking system which works well. It's handled by an outsourced company, and in Australia, but I'm sure the same thing could work well in the UK. Interestingly, under this system, everyone who's booked always turns up, which didn't happen under the old paper booking system. We do phone/emails for all parents who can't make it and want feedback.

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