They need a different system for parents evening, how does yours work?

[longdiling]

We had an appointment at 5.10. Dh is still waiting to go in. Parent before him has been in 35 minutes and counting....

School tend to give everyone 10 minute slots but obviously some parents need longer. There must be a better way surely? Can't be great for the poor teachers to be stuck there til all hours either. How do your schools do things so I can make some helpful suggestions?

Definitely poorly managed

Parents selfish but teacher needs to step up and get rid of them after 10 minutes and arrange a further meeting if needed. Visible reminders like a timer work, especially if they reset it as parent sits down (so they can't claim not to have had their full time)

At DD's school, the teachers have an egg timer on the desk. A very visible reminder that your time is running out

Ten min slots here too. Great - dead easy?
Try it with twins - two lists, two classrooms a corridor apart, no time control at all, teachers staring at you condescendingly when you roll in late. "No wonder your poor DD is so unorganised." Bloody nightmare. Hate parents evenings.

The school administrator keeps an eye on everything but mostly we are good parents who get out after ten minutes. We all want to get home and let the teachers go. Obviously there is always the same twatty parents who neeeed more time.

At primary school we get 10 minute slots. Sometimes I see the teacher earlier because someone else hasn't turned up.

Sometimes the teachers overrun but that's usually because of each appointment overrunning by a minute or two and it's added up to half an hour in total. The Head is usually walking around talking to people too so would certainly notice if the same parent was talking for 35 minutes.

At secondary it's all booked online and the system automatically leaves a 5 minute gap between appointments to give parents time to get from one teacher to another and to allow for minor overrunning.

They don't have then at all at my son's primary school. We are invited in to speak to them for 15-20 mins once or twice in the year, either before or after school. I've generally gone in twice a year, more if I've felt there was a problem. Works very well!

Ugh, the very mention of parent evenings fill me with dread. I've four kids who are now adults and ever the years I've been stunned at how badly organised parents evenings are.

I think an online booking system plus strict 10 minute slots with a loud bell at the end are the way to go.

It would also help if the teachers recognise my child and give me the right feedback. I was extremely surprised with my DD2s RE description of what a brilliant and responsible student she was. My DD and I were sitting there going then as it got a little more far fetched. When the Teacher got to the point of saying how she was sure DD could get an A* then we were and the penny dropped . We didn't say anything but I presume some other child ended up with a surprisingly bad meeting.

I also didn't like one school where the teachers seem to have been told to only give bland positive feedback.

Thank fuck I never have to endure one again.

We have 10 minute slots too. It is very annoying when they are running late and there is no excuse from either the parent or the teacher to have a 35 minute appointment.

I have noticed though that the "good" teachers- the ones who know and care about the children- tend to struggle to fit in the 10 minutes and each appointment tends to be 11 or 12 minutes long (which means they run later and later over the evening). We've had a couple of poor teachers who don't really appear to care about the children and give out a generic sheet that's given to all parents and basically has the same action points for all children. These are the teachers who have done every appointment in 7 or 8 minutes...

10 minute slots here too primary). First few years was a nightmare, always running late and chaos but noticed last couple of years have been clockwork so I'm guessing words were had about getting parents out the door in time. Whatever they are doing to get parents out after 10 minutes is clearly working but I have no idea what it is as we are always done early as never much new to say about my kids.

I do see what you're saying yesterday and one of the good things about my kids school is that the teachers are always very approachable and Happy to talk with you. It obviously just needs managing on parents evening.

At my older DC middle and high school they close both schools for the day and parents are given a 10 minute slot during what would be the school day to go and speak to the teacher. They have a huge clock projected onto the screen on stage and an alarm goes off signalling time. Works well. The only thing that annoys me is that the DC have to go dressed in their uniform.

10 minute slot. Head comes in after ten minutes to tell you time is up

Ours are always in the afternoon. We get given a 10 minute slot. I have always been taken on time and chucked out ('please ring me if you ever have anything you want to talk about') just before the 10 minutes are up.

I always bring it to a close after 15 minutes (which is how long ours are scheduled for) and have diary on the desk and offer to book a time to meet later. Amazingly, most parents suddenly no longer have anything further to talk about when they realise that I will only meet at 3:30pm and they'll have to leave work early.

One teacher had a timer on her desk that she sets for each parent. When it goes off, it's time to go!

I couldn't even get an appointment for my child as they had all gone. Rubbish system as the teachers only have half the amount of slots to the amount of pupils they teach.

DD's at primary.
We get a letter a few weeks ahead of time with all the time slots advertised. We're asked to pick two and indicate first/second choice.
Parent's evenings are split over two days.
I've not known it to overrun yet.

YANBU However, I once over ran massively - over an hour- when I taught Y1. I spent 45 minutes with one couple. In my defence, the mum had been diagnosed with terminal cancer and had been given weeks. I'd have given her all bloody night if she'd wanted it. We all knew it was going to be her last one. Only one set of parents complained.

dd just moved up from primary school and we had a parents evening in January, only for maths and English. Maths, we were called early to see the teacher, it turned out he was head of department, the old teacher had left and the new one refused to do parents evening as he had only just started. The ta had given some details about dd (which werent particularly accurate) and it only took about half the allotted time, hence being seen on time.
Moved on to wait for english teacher. She seemed to have abandoned the list and timings and was preferring the system of 'see which parent sees the empty chair first and makes a dash to sit in it'. It took me a while to cotton on to this system, which was absolutely ridiculous. I was seen about 50 minutes late only after I complained about my wait.
Definitely 10 minute slots which teacher keeps to religiously are the way forward. I like the egg timer idea, a visual thing to remind parents they are on limited time. If a longer talk is needed arrange a follow up, either in person or on the phone, but once the 10 minutes is done, move on and let the next parent have their turn.

The P7s are in charge of the stop watch in our school.

They knock on the door with a two minute warning and they open the door and look expectantly at you at ten minutes.

Nothing as officious as an 11yo with a stop watch and a clip board!

Lots of the primary schools round here seem to use the same system and it appears to work fairly well.

In classroom - when it's your turn you go and knock on the door. You know your time is up when the next set of parents is knocking! It works well as no one wants to look selfish by overstating and it gives the teacher a bit of help in winding things to a close!

With dd they are all in the hall and the headmistress rings a bell with two mins to go and then at time up. She then walks round and asks you to leave (but more politely)!!

Our school also has 10 minute slots for parents evening. Teacher sets a timer! If there are things that you didn't have a chance to discuss, you can make an appointment to see the teacher after school.

See ths makes me feel guilty. Parents evening at DD's nursery school yesterday, 10 min slots. I'm sure we overran our slot by a fair bit -
towards the end I kept thinking we'd been ages but couldn't check the time without pulling out my phone which seemed rude? I did try to give the teacher chances to wrap up but she kept going so thought we must be ok.

A bell system would be good - or a big timer on each teacher's desk?

First and middle schools wereike this.

High school is totally different. You book your slot online and teachers have a bell on each table that rings after 5 mins with each new parent.

Some parents are twats and jaw on.

Side issue. No teacher has ever told me anything about my kids I didn't already know.

We have 10 minute slots. I put my watch on the desk and face a clock to remind me to keep to time.

I also have my diary beside me and a stack of appointment cards- if you need longer than 10 minutes I'll happily book you in for a later date. I'm not going to be around for an extra hour beyond the finish time- I have a family too.