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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Will school plays and in-person parent evenings return post covid?

109 replies

Jobseeker19 · 29/10/2021 09:02

My children have parents evening online again this year and its not just the evening.

They have decided to close the school for the day and keep the children at home instead if doing it after school hours. No online work is being made available aswell.

This will be during the middle of November so not attached to a holiday either.

Is this going to be the acceptable thing going forwards?

All of the school productions seem to be for other pupils in assembly too. Not for parents to view and not online either.

YANBU Things should begin to return to normal or at least online parents evening after a normal school day

YABU teachers shouldn't have to spend the evening speaking to parents and some things should never return to pre covid times as it works better now for everyone

OP posts:
Itsanewdah · 29/10/2021 12:32

Parents evening stays online at our school to protect teachers.
concerts etc are back in person, but with preregistration, socially distanced (per year group, only household members sitting together), with masks and open doors for ventilation.

Hercisback · 29/10/2021 12:42

@GoodnightGrandma

Was it a settling in evening for a Y7 student that was online? In which case these are usually just talking to the form tutor about how they have settled into school, not a review from all teachers. There will likely be a full parents evening later in the year.

We're staying online for now. Parents and staff prefer it.

stayingaliveisawayoflife · 29/10/2021 12:46

We just had f2f parents evenings in primary. Many parents wore masks.

VickyEadieofThigh · 29/10/2021 12:49

i think online parents' evenings are a much better use of both parents' and teachers' time.

TSSDNCOP · 29/10/2021 12:53

I have to say I think online Parents Evenings are excellent; time effective, no distractions. I hope plays and sports days return though.

LaurieFairyCake · 29/10/2021 13:06

I wonder if the online parents evening is to avoid ALL the children and ALL the parents in a confined space

Covid is literally running through primary children right now

I'm guessing they don't want to end up with one of those superspreader events ?

Hundreds of kids in a confined space plus hundreds of parents from all different workplaces - Shock

chalamet · 29/10/2021 13:12

That’s absolutely insane. How are they getting away with that? Fair enough my parents evening was rescheduled due to a ton of covid in my class but the rest were all in person after school (until 8pm one night at 7pm the next). Mine is in person in a few weeks.

MrsHamlet · 29/10/2021 13:12

Online parents' evening is much more efficient. 230 sets of parents, some of whom can't be near one another, all trying to cram in to see 15 different combinations of staff on a wet night in November is grim.

toomuchlaundry · 29/10/2021 13:22

I assume they are using an inset day, rather than losing a teaching day.

I think online parents' evening, especially for Secondary School is the way forward. If you have issues/child needs more support parents' evening is not the time for that chat anyway, so could arrange a face to face meeting with a particular teacher/tutor if necessary.

toomuchlaundry · 29/10/2021 13:24

Our area has one of the highest rates of COVID, cramming in extra people in the school is not a good idea at the moment. We were struggling to have sufficient staff in before half term, don't need anymore staff off after catching COVID off parents.

SoupDragon · 29/10/2021 13:26

I think online parents' evening, especially for Secondary School is the way forward.

Not for everyone. It's akin to the seventh circle of hell for me, I far prefer face to face.

A 5 minute (or similar) parents evening slot isn't the place for an in-depth discussion of your child's problems anyway.

LoveGoldberg · 29/10/2021 13:27

As a teacher I prefer online parents evening, I can come home and have my tea at a reasonable time and do it somewhere comfortable rather than in a hall, starving and with some parents over running by double the time meaning I’m not finished by the 8pm cut off, I’m still there at 8:40pm thinking about how I’ve to be back at work in 11 hours.

Although, as a parent it’s different. My partner has two daughters with his ex, both parents evening appointments were sent out during the day when he was at work, by the time he tried to book an appointment both times he couldn’t as his ex had and the school are unwilling to do 2 for each child (I understand why). This means that for 2 years now he hasn’t had an appointment. One of his children has SEN in terms of learning and is really struggling, he’s tried to arrange with school a meeting to discuss this and see how we can support her out of school and they decline because it can be discussed at parents evening.

gogohm · 29/10/2021 13:28

We held a harvest festival and Christmas services are booked. 1 parent/carer per child though being streamed

toomuchlaundry · 29/10/2021 13:32

@SoupDragon, that's what I said parents' evening are just for a quick chat not an in depth discussion, so surely better to have it online, no rushing between rooms/teachers, no-one over running, easier for childcare , can sometime access from work.

MrsHamlet · 29/10/2021 13:32

There really shouldn't be any surprises at parents' evening though, and any student who needs more than 5 minutes would be facilitated in that at my school

Outnumbered99 · 29/10/2021 13:33

My children are at 3 different schools and all have already had in person meetings. Held differently, masks, appointment times more spread out, but in person. All have felt strongly that they need to to invest in the parent/school connection and i have appreciated this.

Hercisback · 29/10/2021 13:46

Face to face parents evening slots are 5 mins too (and should be stuck to). Any conversation that needs to be longer should be done at another time.

TicTacHoh · 29/10/2021 14:05

Face-to-face parents evenings and parent assembles and harvest festivals etc are back at my DC school, your school is taking the P

CallmeHendricks · 29/10/2021 14:13

"your school is taking the P"

Why? In what way?

SoupDragon · 29/10/2021 14:17

[quote toomuchlaundry]@SoupDragon, that's what I said parents' evening are just for a quick chat not an in depth discussion, so surely better to have it online, no rushing between rooms/teachers, no-one over running, easier for childcare , can sometime access from work.[/quote]
They aren't best for everyone.

VickyEadieofThigh · 29/10/2021 14:26

@SoupDragon

I think online parents' evening, especially for Secondary School is the way forward.

Not for everyone. It's akin to the seventh circle of hell for me, I far prefer face to face.

A 5 minute (or similar) parents evening slot isn't the place for an in-depth discussion of your child's problems anyway.

@SoupDragon - I'm curious as to why you describe online parents' evenings as the "seventh circle of hell".
Seashor · 29/10/2021 14:28

I’m living in a Covid hot spot . Our County Council gave strict advice on how we would need to operate. My child is at a school where they close for consultations, the day is added to the end of term. Quite honestly after a full day at work I wouldn’t want to have to worry about preparing for the next day AND have a full evening of work ahead of me. Some of you seem to think that teachers are some sort of super hero robots with no home life!

AosSi · 29/10/2021 14:28

You're never going to please every parent tbh. That's why the staff at my school just decided to do what works for us. I'm sure some parents will grumble that they want to be face to face, others will be thrilled it's still online and others won't care.

Hankunamatata · 29/10/2021 14:43

Our school closes 1pm for the week of parent teacher meetings and yes its a bit of a pain and extra cost for afterschools BUT loving parent cloud. No waiting around, no entitled parents spending 30min with the teacher making me have to wait over an hour in the school hall, dh can easily log in when on the road as he has never gotten to parent teacher meeting before Loved the shock response of some parents that 10 mins isnt long enough and what if they need to talk more i.e. hold up everyone else, my response was - make an appointment to talk the the teacher at a later time as our teachers are happy to schedule phonecalls to discuss issues.

Hercisback · 29/10/2021 14:43

In an ideal world, a hybrid would be possible with a few face to face slots then online. However this would mean face to face slots need sticking to timing wise. No idea why parents think talking longer is appropriate.