To think schools have got to reliant on technology

[Jelllytotss]

When I was primary school a very long time ago now. We were sent home a report on paper for parents evening and then they saw our parents on the bigger parents evening later in the year. Our kids school have decided they want to do parents evening on camera through zoom this year because we can't go into the school. I have no more room on my phone for this app. But my partner will have to download it. There's 30 seconds in between every ten minute call and you can't be a second late. They've advised you lurk for an hour online or something to ensure you are ready.

I have toddlers in the house. A partner who works often until 7pm and I just wish she could email across some basic details about the first month at school or arrange a phone call if there's anything serious to discuss.

All homework is done now on a seperate app on phone too. Plus parent mail is constantly pinging throughout the day with loads of stuff about online this and that. Setting up accounts. Etc etc.

Do they not realise parents are busy working, caring for other children and only have so much space on phones for the required stuff.

My daughter's 5 and it's already this technical.

Well aware of the situation. But surely a message on parent mail to each parent is enough!

I'm not being unreasonable
79% of people who expressed an opinion disagreed.

I'm guessing when you where at primary school OP a) we where not in the middle of a pandemic b) technology was not as advanced c) people didn;t have smart phones

Times have changed - god help in the coming years - they need access to a laptop for homework and research - I'd get to sourcing a cheap on on HP

For now maybe get rid of the MN ap to make space?

@Slightlybrwnbanana the teacher can arrange a phone call at a mutually convenient time. It doesn't have to be on the same day as the zoom consultations.

Too too too. Not to.

Well this makes a change from the threads it used to be about parent consultation evenings where babysitting was needed as children (in particular, siblings) weren't allowed to attend. That is how it was when mine were at primary school and by contrast Zoom sounds much simpler.

@Pangwin multiply that by however many would prefer a call, and it could be dozens at secondary. I can't call from my own phone. So would need to be during the day, and routed through the office as don't have outside lines. How would you keep each parent to 5 minutes when there isn't another parent coming on after? Teachers have a certain amount of time allocated to parents evenings and they can't just go over that.

Teacher here.
We are trying our best.
We are being asked to do things a certain way by the government.
We can't read your mind. If you want a phone call, ask for one.
We have jobs too - we're not sat around wondering how to make your life harder. There's so much I could say about how hard it is at the moment and all the problems we're facing but I can see it would be absolutely pointless as your mind is obvioulsy made up.
I'm dreading the zoom meetings. I'd be happy if a parent asked for a phone call instead.

Do they not realise parents are busy working, caring for other children and only have so much space on phones for the required stuff

You don’t think teachers are also busy bringing up their families and many of us have had to update our technology at our own cost to be able to deliver online lessons as a result of the current situation? You don’t think we have better stuff to do of an evening than parent’s evenings?

We are all having to adapt and change our usual way of doing things in the current climate. What makes you so special you don’t have to?

Agree and I am a teacher. The problem is that that parents have become more demanding. I would hate to have parents evening via zoom. A phone call is much more convenient and would do the same job, but schools feel they will be judged for not offering the virtual version. Many parents struggled with online lessons during lockdown. Many would have preferred work packs but schools again were obliged to use technology despite fact that most parents simply didn't have enough kit or the time to help their younger children with it. It obviously has its place but it has gone too far.

Just to add - I know it is hard for everyone, not just teachers! That's the whole point - it's not easy for any of us so we all just need to help each other a bit here.

[quote Slightlybrwnbanana]@Pangwin multiply that by however many would prefer a call, and it could be dozens at secondary. I can't call from my own phone. So would need to be during the day, and routed through the office as don't have outside lines. How would you keep each parent to 5 minutes when there isn't another parent coming on after? Teachers have a certain amount of time allocated to parents evenings and they can't just go over that.[/quote]
I don't need to multiply anything by anything because most parents will be happy to do a zoom meeting. However, for some parents this isn't doable for whatever reason and an alternative can be found that is mutually convenient.

Just ask for a phone call instead of the Zoom, as they’ll no doubt be happy to accommodate this.

YANBU. I understand that there is a pandemic going on, but I think this is the start of everything being online even when covid isn’t a problem anymore. It’s very annoying because not everyone is good with technology, including me.

When my ds finished reception in July, all of his lovely records and observations they usually do in a little file for you to take home with photos in it was online on Tapestry. This is even without covid. I had to ask the teacher to print it all off for me, and the pictures were shit quality. Luckily I saved them all from my Tapestry account on to my phone and printed them off via Free Prints.

I hate all the online homework kids have to do. I will happily sit for hours helping them with written work in workbooks and listen to them read their books and help them practice their spellings.

Zoom this zoom that. Hate it. It wouldn’t surprise me if parents evenings stay that way from now on.

School reports will all be online too no doubt You’ll be given an online account to view your children’s reports. So just like the file at the end of reception, school reports will be all in an online account.

My son needs an early help form signing for his referral to speech and language therapy. Usually this is simply done by hand, but it’s been emailed to me to sign electronically. I can’t do it. It’s so frustrating.

Did I mention zoom? I hope to god my children don’t have to stay off school. There is no way they’ll be able to stay on zoom all day.

I’m a real technophobe. Phones, today’s computers, tablets etc... are all really stressful to me and I’m in a generation that has always been very aware of them. I should have been a parent in an era where technology was still very basic or non existent

By the way my post isn’t a teacher bashing post.

Phone the school and ask foe a phone call and ypu shall be blessed with one.
If you don't have a phone send a letter (of the handwritten type) to the school, explain your circumstances and ask for a brief typed or handwritten overview and you can recieve this. Please don't do this if you have given you phone number in the data capture part of enrolment.
Simple no need to get excited or upset, you are possible in the minority but they will accommodate you.

We’re in a pandemic. OP you are ridiculous.

If you have enough technology to post on here you have enough technology to do a Zoom call.
How else can they do a remote parents evening? If they ring everyone that's more of a hassle and harder to ensure it runs on time.

I did an online parents evening from home last week - it was bloody marvellous. Instead of waiting between appointments, I was able to do the stuff I would have had to do once I got home - made lunch for the next day, filled the dishwasher, put washing on to dry. Instead of finishing at 9, driving an hour and then having to do all that stuff, I was done dead on 9.

That sounds good

@funinthesun19 you say you're a technophobe. You manage to post here and navigate various sites so I imagine it's confidence that's your problem.
In a few years time your dc will be using devices and you need to have a grasp of what they are up to
Talk to the school about your concerns. There may be resources to help you. My dc's school have sessions to help parents with online safety etc which might help.

For those dreading the Zoom parents evening, whether parent or teacher, it's really good. We did Teams and timings were generous to allow for logging on worries. Everyone knew they could have screens to cloak their home and teachers were in dress code.

I always meet remotely in my real front room, been teaching remotely since March, and every family did the same, like a courtesy: I'll show you mine if you show me yours :o
Parents, students and staff were unanimous in approving of the system.

Also, as Enoughnowstop said, the journey home doesn't exist. You can get on with stuff.

You realise if your kids have no way to acces the stuff sent home you can request a loan laptop from the school? The goverment handed out grants to schools during the quarantine to ensure no kids was left behind due to lack of acces to technology. If you didnt speak to the school about it then thats on you. And im sure as hell not middle class im as poor as i can physically be without being homeless. You can always ring the school explain your kids need a device for homework purposes and see if they have a spare.

If you have enough technology to post on here you have enough technology to do a Zoom call.

This

I did an in person ‘getting to know the staff’ gathering in September and an online (MS Teams) ‘Study Tips’ meeting on Monday. The difference was significant and everyone is now clamouring for online to be the default for future non interactive sessions. I emptied the dishwasher and cleaned the bathroom while during Monday’s session and was spared traipsing to DD’s school after a long days work.

I’m glad that through email I no longer have to ‘discover’ school letters at the bottom of book bags etc.

I can understand that if you are not confident with technology, then the sudden (but long overdue) switch must be overwhelming. However, this is an opportunity for you to learn because your children will be online and there are far too many parents who have no idea about their children’s online presence because they are afraid or too lazy to learn the basics.

I suspect your techno phobia doesn’t extend to your washing machine, dishwasher etc.

I seem to remember at the beginning of lockdown, schools were heavily criticised on here for NOT providing online lessons.

1. Ask for a phone call instead of a video chat.
2. Turn off the notifications for the homework/ parent app. This will stop it pinging and you can just check it every day or two.
3. If you need to, ask school to send home print outs so you don’t have to print things at home.

Your child is 5. All the teacher really wants you to do at home is read with her. I can guarantee there are many of her classmates who don’t even do that.