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Original poster

Secondary school parents' evening

37 replies

TheLovelinessOfDemons · 27/04/2021 11:05

How do you choose which teachers to see?

OP posts:
Seeline · 27/04/2021 11:08

We have always been able to see all teachers, are you not?

Do you book appointments? If so, it may depend on who is available.

Otherwise, I would try and see Maths, English and science, along with any other subjects where you have concerns or feel your DC isn't progressing well.

HelloDulling · 27/04/2021 11:10

Always see them all.

paralysedbyinertia · 27/04/2021 11:12

Yes, we always see them all too.

Linnet · 27/04/2021 11:12

I always go to the main subjects. I don’t bother with R.E or core P.E. Although dd took P.E as a subject one year so I went to see the teacher that year.

We make appointments online, last years was great because it was all done online or over the phone if the connection didn’t work, which it didn’t. Fastest parents night ever over and done with in 25 minutes.

Original poster
TheLovelinessOfDemons · 27/04/2021 19:16

No, apparently we have to book the ones we want to see. But thanks everyone for your help.

OP posts:
CatCup · 27/04/2021 19:18

English and Maths, and any you are concerned about. It's a waste of time to see teachers who just say everything is fine!

UserTwice · 27/04/2021 19:20

@TheLovelinessOfDemons

No, apparently we have to book the ones we want to see. But thanks everyone for your help.
Well yes, but you just choose to see all of them surely?

The only time we've not booked to see a teacher was in GCSE option selecting year and it was a subject that DC absolutely loathed and had no intention of taking further.

If you do have to choose I guess you focus on Maths, English, Science and any subjects you have particular concerns/questions about.

TeenMinusTests · 27/04/2021 19:29

I never spoke to an Art, PE or music teacher for either of my DDs.

Anyway I prioritised:

  • Maths, English & Science
  • then any subjects DD was struggling with that I cared about
  • then subjects DD particularly enjoyed (eg drama)
  • then if time other humanities/MFL

Y9 prioritised potential options subjects

Y10 for DD1 I didn't see the maths teacher, who was DD's tutor. I just sent a message saying I was v happy with progress.

HelloDulling · 27/04/2021 20:22

@TheLovelinessOfDemons

No, apparently we have to book the ones we want to see. But thanks everyone for your help.
Well, yes, so do we, but I want to see them all.
clary · 28/04/2021 00:05

Yh we always had to book. in KS3 I used to see them all, maybe by yr 9 I dropped the ones they weren't fussed about (so, PE for dd, art for all three!). GCSE years obvs fewer as just their subjects.

My last-ever parents' eve (ds2 is yr 13) was last Nov and was ace as it was virtual, five mins' chat as normal but no queue and no running madly from the hall to the rooms upstairs (no one room big enough at their school) in no time flat!

paralysedbyinertia · 28/04/2021 00:06

Yep, we had to book the ones that we wanted to see as well, but we always wanted to see all of them. Why wouldn't you?

TeenMinusTests · 28/04/2021 06:39

Why would I want to see an Art/PE/Music teacher when
a) I know from reports that DD is trying hard
b ) I know that neither DD nor I are particularly interested in how good she is as we also know from reports / general life that she isn't

It can easily be only 1 or 2 Art/PE/Music teachers teaching the whole year group of 250 pupils. Why should I waste their time seeing them when they need to see the badly behaved or talented or interested pupils?

Lulu1919 · 28/04/2021 06:44

Always did English maths then depending on age / gcse / A levels a couple of others

OnTheBenchOfDoom · 28/04/2021 06:52

We booked who we wanted to see so same as Teen with prioritising getting English, Maths and science booked first then everything else but never art, music or PE as we knew they would not want to take those for GCSE.

Year 8 we have a options evening so DCs had already made decisions so that then dropped some subjects from the parents' evening and we got to chat informally to teachers of new subjects like statistics.

Year 9 was all subjects because they were taking those for GCSEs.

We had an online booking system where you booked each teacher and saw their available times. You have to be fast though as once it is open the whole year group can be booking alongside you.

paralysedbyinertia · 28/04/2021 07:24

@TeenMinusTests

Why would I want to see an Art/PE/Music teacher when a) I know from reports that DD is trying hard b ) I know that neither DD nor I are particularly interested in how good she is as we also know from reports / general life that she isn't

It can easily be only 1 or 2 Art/PE/Music teachers teaching the whole year group of 250 pupils. Why should I waste their time seeing them when they need to see the badly behaved or talented or interested pupils?

I don't know, if I followed that argument, I probably wouldn't have bothered with parents' evenings at all, because I already knew that dd was trying hard and had a good idea of her ability in all subjects.

For me, I guess I would never have wanted to create the impression that some subjects weren't that important. DD had to give her time to all of them, so we treated all of them as being of value. I wanted dd to try her best in all subjects, regardless of whether she was likely to pursue them at GCSE. Not bothering to see the teacher would have suggested that I wasn't that interested, but maybe some parents are actually quite happy for their kids to prioritise some subjects over others - perhaps some even encourage their kids to be strategic in how they apply their efforts? Fair enough, we all have different approaches.

In our house, the expectation is that, if you're going to do something, you do it to the best of your ability. There weren't some subjects that I didn't care about. We actually had some really lovely comments from the teachers of dd's weakest subjects (art and PE) so I'm glad that I took the time to see them.

DonLewis · 28/04/2021 07:27

At my sons school, the teachers make an appointment with you if they feel the need to see you. Then you get to make 5 or 6 choices. But the booking system is complicated, bit like a lottery, and if you're not online when the bookings open at 8pm, you have no chance of seeing maths or English.

Shit system really.

RubyFowler · 28/04/2021 07:29

Maths, English, Science, then any that he's struggling with or particularly interested in for GCSE.
No one i know books in with them all.

ineedaholidaynow · 28/04/2021 07:37

We always see all the teachers. The last parents’ evening was held online, everyone agreed (parents and teachers) that was the way forward as so much quicker and efficient

paralysedbyinertia · 28/04/2021 07:40

@ineedaholidaynow

We always see all the teachers. The last parents’ evening was held online, everyone agreed (parents and teachers) that was the way forward as so much quicker and efficient
Yes, I loved the online parents evening. Definitely one of the best things to come out of the pandemic!
Hellocatshome · 28/04/2021 07:45

I hope online parents evening is here to stay, way better system than we had before.

MackenCheese · 28/04/2021 07:50

The on-line system is a pain where we are. The portal to book appointments is open for a week, but if you don't book on within the 1st hour there are no appointments left! I logged on one hour after the portal opened, all l the teachers were fully booked and all we could choose were history and pe. I contacted the school and they added RE and a couple of others. Note to self: book as soon as it opens so that I can see the subjects that my daughter is actually interested in.....

AllThatFancyPaintsAsFair · 28/04/2021 07:55

@TheLovelinessOfDemons

No, apparently we have to book the ones we want to see. But thanks everyone for your help.
Did it say you couldn't see them all?

Ime that's always the way they phrae it but there's no limit. Seems very odd that you wouldn't be allowed to speak to them all.

Assuming there is a cap for some reason then I'd guess each family might have their own reasons for prioritising one subject over another.

Aria20 · 28/04/2021 07:56

We were only allowed 6. We chose maths, English, science, computing, German and history. (Ds hates geography and won't be taking it as an option so didn't see the point, also won't take art, drama, music, engineering etc so again didn't bother with them lol)

TeenMinusTests · 28/04/2021 08:00

paralysed ... but maybe some parents are actually quite happy for their kids to prioritise some subjects over others - perhaps some even encourage their kids to be strategic in how they apply their efforts?

I think that was very much the case for us. We expected DDs to try in all lessons and we could see that was the case from their 'attitude' grades. However there was no way we were going to encourage DD to put extra effort into e.g. Art when she needed to spend the time closing the gap on Maths & English. We absolutely had to be strategic.
(There is also no way I would try to pretend that playing hockey was of equal importance to writing coherent sentences.)

We didn't have online booking (except this year when DD wasn't in school so I didn't even attempt to attend) but it does worry me that if not managed well the organised parents take up all the slots before the less organised get a look in.

paralysedbyinertia · 28/04/2021 08:22

@TeenMinusTests

paralysed ... but maybe some parents are actually quite happy for their kids to prioritise some subjects over others - perhaps some even encourage their kids to be strategic in how they apply their efforts?

I think that was very much the case for us. We expected DDs to try in all lessons and we could see that was the case from their 'attitude' grades. However there was no way we were going to encourage DD to put extra effort into e.g. Art when she needed to spend the time closing the gap on Maths & English. We absolutely had to be strategic.
(There is also no way I would try to pretend that playing hockey was of equal importance to writing coherent sentences.)

We didn't have online booking (except this year when DD wasn't in school so I didn't even attempt to attend) but it does worry me that if not managed well the organised parents take up all the slots before the less organised get a look in.

Yes, thinking about it, I can understand why some parents would need to be strategic. It's important for kids to do well in the subjects that they need, so it makes sense to concentrate on them.

We were in the happy position of knowing that all of the academic subjects came very easily to dd, and she always did well without much effort. Subjects like PE and art were therefore really important to be because I wanted her to learn a)that it's ok to try and fail, as long as you've done your best, and b)that hard work can actually help you to get better at something even if you're not "naturally" good at it.

I totally agree that the booking systems favour the more organised, "interested" parents, which puts some of the other kids at a disadvantage. I appreciate how busy teachers are, but I really wish that there were ways of creating enough appointment slots for everyone. Maybe the enhanced efficiency of the online parents' evenings might help to make that possible?