Do you go to every parent’s evening?

[milesleft]

Ds is in year 5 I have been to every parent’s evening so far and have no concerns but I feel bad having to finish work early.
I went to the autumn term one with this years teacher and it was 5 mins and no problems.
Will it look bad if I don’t go this time? Ds dad can’t make it either due to work and I don’t want it to look like we’re not interested or we don’t care?

Of course. Why wouldn’t you want to find out progress on your child?

If you don’t go, you will look like a disinterested parent because that’s what you are.

I've missed a couple, never given it a second thought, not interested in what the school might think of me. It's pretty obvious I'm an engaged parent, so they can think that they like! 🤣 Don't stress yourself out OP, it's one parents evening. If there's a problem, the school would contact you. If you have an issue, you can email or ring them another time.

Ours are every November and March (England Primary). Standard here.
We had ours last week.

2 a year here, October and March.

In my grandchild's school they had one every term.

Yes I went to every Parents evening for DD, Primary and Secondary

What time are the appointments? Don’t they have them after 5?
What type of work are you in? I don’t think you should worry about a slightly early finish a couple of times a year - they can’t be that stringent to the parent workforce? Especially as you could work over lunch etc.

Yes, I always go (or DH does). Occasionally we both go depending on timings.

Much easier and quicker when they are online.

As an employer I'd have no question about someone going to a parent's evening. Any chance you can work from home that day/afternoon?

All ours are via zoom. Ask for a call/ video call

Yes, except for the one I forgot about. 😬 But they only happen once a year, we have a lot of flexibility and between the two of us, one of us manages it.

I didn’t go to the lady one in year 6 for my DD as it’s the same thing every time and I knew there were no issues with her work. In secondary after Covid it was online and soooooo much better.

I missed one of DS2's once, in secondary. It was my own stupid fault, I got the day wrong. He was a bit gutted, and I felt awful about it. To be honest though, I never once heard anything in a parents' evening that I didn't already know.

You don’t want to look like you’re not interested so you’re asking if you can skip? It’s two meetings a year about your child’s schooling.

Yep but I’ve never had to do two in the same school year, why does the school bother with an autumn one when they’ve literally just met your child? It’s always one in Feb/March ime and they’re online at secondary which helps me- means I’ve been able to do them in the car or train. You could always request a phone call.

What the hell? Where's all this assumptions people can just work from home? I'm sure all the nurses and other medical staff, bus drivers, shop assistants, call centre staff etc can all down tools to attend a 10 mins primary school appt.

And if you were "WFH" then you should be working not at the school. Bad example to set kids

Yes even though there are never any issues with one of my children I still book to see their teacher. I think they would be disappointed if I didn't make the effort.

Teacher here - I’m not concerned when parents can’t attend, that’s life. If they want to see / speak to me another time I will accommodate that. The general rule of thumb for most schools / teachers is that parents evening shouldn’t raise any surprises so if the school had concerns about progress or behaviour etc then you should already know about it. I wouldn’t stress about it if you don’t go, it’s not a big deal. We have ours this week and out of my class of 30 we have 23 who’ve made physical appointments.

I think that must have done over 50 parent evenings at this point and I have dropped three, when DH has done it instead.

DD had a boy iin her year who's parents never went to parents evenings - she felt very sad for him so it is definitely something kids pick up on. I just think it shows you are taking the time to be involved in their school work.

In primary school it was a chance to see their books - I remember taking some pictures of DS1 s funny snail story or seeing their artwork - mine were always very proud to talk me through some of the stuff whilst we waited for the teacher.
In secondary there was never many surprises but was nice to hear the teachers opinion of the kids, what we saw as argumentative DS2, the humanities teacher saw as good at debating..

Not long got back from one of my kids parents evening, they’re at secondary so it took 2 hours to get round all the teachers! Bit of a change from the quick 10 minute appointments in primary school.

I’m glad I went though, it’s nice to put faces to the names of teachers and get more of an insight into how they are in classes. My DD doesn’t tell us much about school and when she does, often only tells half a story, so it’s good to get more context about things. It’s also important to show interest in your child’s education, it shows you care and helps to motivate and hold them accountable. For me it made me feel more involved and get an insight into what their school, teachers etc are like, as you do tend to feel a bit more ‘removed’ from all that once they start secondary school.

I have missed parents evening before, twice if I remember correctly. But that was due to circumstances that couldn’t be helped. If you can go, you should imo.

Went to all of them and I think DH made them all too. Only had 1 DC so that made it easier. Must admit I did like them going online when DC was in Secondary during and after COVID times

Yes. DS's year 5 teacher was an absolute gem btw.

No, but our two have additional needs and I volunteer at the school, so we already have a fair bit of contact with their teachers so parents evening for us is fairly pointless.

Yeah I’ve never understood the need for two per year. I only go to one.