To expect an appointment with all my child's teachers?

[ACTIVE123]

My only child has started High School for the first time this academic year.

Appointments have been made available for parent consultation evening (5 min zoom appointment per teacher) but despite looking at all slots, I can only get appointments with 4 out of 12 teachers.

I logged onto book only 2 hours after the email was sent saying appintments were made available.

I contacted the school and was told I'm on a waiting list as there are simply too many children to get an appointment with every teacher.

Am I being unreasonable to expect an apppointment with every teacher? Is this how it works at High School? Asking genuinely as I'm new to this and not sure if it's just me?

The school is an ofsted outstanding and is highly oversubscribed.

It's too many and it's not a good system.

When I was at school everyone’s folks showed up at the school on whatever evening was allocated for their year and they tried to get round as many teachers as possible in the time. How things have changed…!

What is the alternative? Of all the problems in schools; having too many teachers is really low on my list of concerns.

It's not too many teachers, it's not enough teachers and too many children.

What should we do then? Cull the children?

Even if we reduced class sizes to say 20, I’d still teach 220 kids. If we reduced class sizes to 15, I’d teach 165 kids. If we reduced class sizes to 10 kids, I’d still have 110 kids. How small do you propose we make class sizes? 5?

For this reason we are limited to 8 appointments so you have to prioritise the subjects you feel are most important for your child. I find it aggravating but understand why they do it. You also need to be logging on as soon as appointments are released or you will only be seeing Food Tech, PE, Citizenship, PSE etc.

Haven’t read the full thread so apologies if similar has already been said, but I teach almost every KS3 student.
I couldn’t possibly speak to all 200 parents in a year group in 3 hours so it’s first come first served.
Unfortunately at secondary we teach more students so it isn’t possible to speak to everyone.
If there is someone specific you want to speak to then drop them an email, I’m sure they’d be happy to call you at a convenient time to give you an update. Or ask your child’s tutor/HoY to get in touch with those teachers you can’t see and collate an update.

It's too many and it's not a good system.

I've been a teacher for nearly 30 years. It's nothing new.That's how many classes it takes to fill up a full teaching timetable. What do you suggest? Forcing all teachers to work part-time at 50%? Anyway you couldn't do that, because you'd need twice as many of us and there already aren't nearly enough.

The alternative is being taught by non subject specialists. Which is far worse than teachers teaching more kids.

I fail to see the problem with me meeting more kids per week; and I actually don’t think it’s problematic that I don’t know my pupils as well as (far example) a primary teacher does. It’s high school.

I personally think you should be able to speak to all the teachers. I’ve always been able to get slots and haven’t ever booked instantly. Was at year 11 parent’s evening last night and the feedback was really useful. I was on a waiting list for one subject but was fitted in. The parent’s evening was 3.5 hours long though, but the school is very big.

We could fund schools properly for a start so you don't have so many classes to teach. Maybe you could even be paid to do marking and planning rather than being expected to take it home. Perhaps we could stop burning teachers out so more stay in the profession.

My kids have gone through the system and are long gone out the other end. My advice would be to make separate appointments if you feel it absolutely necessary with the other teachers later in the term. I never really found parents evenings that informative and worked on the basis that if there was a problem it would be flagged up anyway.

The question is, what good would it do to meet all 12?! You’ll get a snapshot from a few. YABU if only for your own sanity. They’ll soon tell you if there’s a problem, and I’m guessing you get termly reports with a green, amber, red or similar indication.

Our last parents evening was at the school. It was like a speed dating event. I had to book as soon as the email was sent as I went straight from work and wanted to go from teacher to teacher without a wait in between as we had grandparents looking after our youngest. Booked everyone I wanted to see (5 mins per teacher) 2 whole weeks beforehand and I should have been there for an hour max. 3 hours later…… we had to leave having not seen everyone we wanted or needed to and we’d booked. Those parents that were lucky enough to be there from the off seemed to have their fill and more and created a huge backlog for the rest of us from 5pm onward. It was carnage and disappointing really and it was held over 3 days to accommodate the parents of each child in the year! We have another at the end of the year so I’m going to put a half day holiday in and get there at the start or we will have no chance.
Plus side, I emailed and asked for an email statement from the teachers I didn’t get to see and the school were great in doing that but it’s nice to speak face to face.

The time hogging and staying on schedule is exactly why so many teachers like me prefer online. People's appointments can't overrun.

Four or five appointments is about the norm. Mine were online 5 minute only ones so theoretically I could meet all my Y7 but unfortunately I was often teaching more than one class so suddenly there isn't enough space for 60+ students in one evening.

If you feel you must meet with a particular subject then contact the teacher or the school via email and ask for a reserve slot. If this is not available, ask if you can Zoom or phone after school one day to discuss things. I was always happy to do this for parents who wanted it.

It is how it goes in high school. Is there any lessons your DC is struggling in? If there is, I would make an appointment to see them.
I didn't see every teacher of my sons, as we would run out of time, but luckily he didn't have any problems. If he had done, I would have asked to see them and not the others.

My son’s school still does this. I make a bee line for maths, English and science and then anyone else is a bonus… that said, Our school starts at 2pm (kids get the afternoon off) and it’s one year group at a time (yes 5 afternoons off twice per year, but because of the way their school timetables work it’s actually only 1 teaching hour each time). It works well for us… especially as some parents can make it so early in the afternoon (I work nights)

Our parents' evenings - online - last 3 hours. Appointments are usually back to back with two 5 minute breaks.
What is annoying is when you have no-shows, especially knowing that other parents would have valued those appointments.
If parents are unable to book appointments, they email us and teachers reply with details about grades, behaviour, attitude to learning & homework.

Parents' evenings used to be turn up and queue, bad idea, now book appointments. I've only done face to face (as a teacher) and my bum had always been glued to a chair from finishing teaching at 3.30 til 6.30. Refreshments are offered but daren't drink anything as I will need the loo and would have to make them wait!

So zoom appointments now, wow, what a difference! Unfortunately as only so many slots available it's first come first served I guess. In the old days we used to squeeze in a few extra but say sorry will have to be quick, not possible with online.

All I can say is request a phone call appt, which should be offered, and the teachers will ring you. Xx

Agree . I used to teach four maths sets a day
that’s 120 children
plus two science . Another 60 children . It’s impossible.

if you are a subject like c d t or pe you could be teaching the whole school
that could be 20 plus classes of 30 children . 🥴🥴🥴🤦‍♀️🤷‍♀️

Just chipping in to disagree with those saying that the high achieving children shouldn’t get slots. I have a ds in year 7 who really needed to hear his teachers say, in front of me, that he is smashing it. He had been coming home from school crying most days before that, saying “Everyone is better than me”. His confidence improved a lot after parents evening.

Hate parent teacher nights..I think they are a waste of time. I went this week and won't be going again.

Our school prints off a form and the kids themselves have to ask teachers for a time slot and fill in the form… I only bothered speaking to the English, maths and science teacher.
our school also had different nights for each year group meaning teachers had more appointments

@VenusClapTrap agree with you! Yes ofcourse all kids should have equal opportunity for their parents and teachers to meet. Why should their achievements be ignored. Mumsnetters are mad sometimes