Really impressed with online parents' evening

[MrsAvocet]

My year 10 son's parents' evening was last night and I must say I was really impressed. It worked brilliantly. We spoke to every teacher in under an hour. Normally it would take the whole evening. We live over 20 miles from school so there's 30 mins in the car each way, and even though there's an appointment system things rarely run to time. It was great not to be dashing all over the school through crowds of people and then having to hover awkwardly outside each room trying to figure out who is currently in there and who's turn it is next.
I loved the online system. Everything ran exactly to time as the call automatically cuts off if your time is up and cuts to the next teacher. Admittedly this wouldn't be ideal for any pupils that genuinely need a longer talk but for the majority I think it's better. I imagine the teachers will be pleased not to be stuck in school til gone 9pm like sometimes happens when a normal parents' evening runs over.
I think there are some Covid related changes that should continue after the pandemic and this is one of them. There needs to be an option of longer meetings for pupils where the teacher or parents have particular concerns but that could still be arranged outside the normal parents' evening. I've got some health issues and usually find parents' evening quite exhausting but I actually enjoyed this one. And I didn't have to cancel the online class that I normally teach on a Wednesday either so my group were happy too!
What does everyone else think? Would you be happy to stick with online meetings after the pandemic or do you think it's important to actually physically meet your children's teachers ?

I agree with you on this one! Whilst it is nice to see the teachers in person, the online parents evening was much better. No waiting around for parents who want to talk all night about their child, no racing between classrooms and trying not to unintentionally jump in front of anyone else.

I have already told my children's senior school I prefer online parents evening - if they could make the appointments just tad longer they would be perfect! 😁

We've had 2 online parents evenings so far and 2 more scheduled for March, large events 250-300 students each evening. Both had minor technical niggles but they have been overcome. The overwhelming view from 99% of both parents and teachers is that it's far better than in person ones. As you say no over running, no travelling to school if you live far away, no trying to figure out which room you're meant to be in, no queueing/squashing in corridors. I think it's highly likely that this will be something that we keep after life returns to normal.

Agree. We had DS's on Thursday night and it worked really well. Would have preferred it to be a video call though.

Us too, so much better online! No dashing around, glaring At parents that talk too much!

God yes, just had both dds....it was so much better than usual...milling about in a crowded library eyeing up other parents who are trying to jump in front of you, and realising you're somehow 20 minutes out of synch and have to get from one side of the school to the other.

Completely agree. Much prefer the online parents evening. No more dashing between classrooms and missing later appointments because one is running behind.

I think they're good if everyone sticks to the time slot. My kids are primary so only one teacher to see. She was 90 seconds late for my 5 minute slot, which cut off at the end of the allocated time.

I am interested in the system that automatically switches you “off” when your time is up. At our primary school each teacher just had a Zoom room, and they let you in when they finished with the previous parent - I had the forth slot and they were already running 30 minutes late... (But at least I was at home with a cup of tea!)

SchoolCloud is one which automatically switches off.
We had 6 minutes slots which were about perfect, the only problem was hopping for the loo and not being able to explain and take a 3min break!

I really hope it continues next year

Ours was fantastic too. In fact this has reminded me I need to email the school and tell them how good it was.

For the first time in years we got to speak to all the teachers, it ran on time and was extremely easy to book. I hope they keep this system.

Totally agree, and most parents I've mentioned it to have agreed.

DC are in primary, but it was so much better than the normal bunfight (including other parents interupting and screaming at the teacher you are in the middle of chatting to because they have somehow missed their slot). Anyone who needs to talk further in depth with any teacher can arrange an alternative time to do so.

I couldn’t agree more, both as a teacher and as a parent! Apparently parent attendance was up in our school, so fingers crossed this will be something we will keep.

Agree we had a good one but it took 60secs to connect and with a 5min apt that auto cut you off we got about3.5mins. The teachers did offer a longer call if there were issues that needed more time as we were discussing GCSEs options. Overall much better system.

Completely agree. As a parent and as a teacher. I have preferred online parents evenings. Hope this continues!

As a teacher I found it so much better, I had more appointments with parents of children where there were issues or specific questions.
It was a full on evening and next time I will book myself some breaks!
As a parent too I think it worked better, just more convenient. I do wish my daughter school had the same system as mine, where two parents from different households could have the appointment simultaneously though.

The only problem I had with parents evening was my husband wittering on. I’m like, “let them speak ffs” 🤦🏻‍♀️ Quite like the online thing but I don’t think 10 mins is long enough but then you can arrange something else if need be.

We couldn't get any slots. They all went in under 24hrs. DD is Y7 so this was our first senior school one - i suppose lack of slots is no different live.

I preferred it to hanging around in school waiting. However, I missed being able to look at DS's work. He's in year 1 and we get minimal information about what they are doing. Last year I found looking at his books told me more about how he was doing and where he was struggling than the teacher did. Looking at their books obviously doesn't need to be on the same evening as parents evening though.

We've had a school cloud parents evening and thought it was brilliant - except for the one dinosaur of a teacher who couldn't find anywhere in the school to get reception ( your department office ffs like all your colleagues....). We are about to have our second. As our DC board it is great as we usually can't get to parents evening so are so happy not to just have yet another written report.

It was great, and could be better with a few tweaks.
We had 4-minute slots, and they were scheduled automatically back to back. It was pretty full on and the teachers spoke fast and there wasn’t really time for a discussion or questions.

@Londonmummy66

We've had a school cloud parents evening and thought it was brilliant - except for the one dinosaur of a teacher who couldn't find anywhere in the school to get reception ( your department office ffs like all your colleagues....). We are about to have our second. As our DC board it is great as we usually can't get to parents evening so are so happy not to just have yet another written report.

To be fair with COVID teachers are limited on how many people are allowed in the offices at a time

Yes, agree it’s a much better way of doing it. Ours was an options evening though, as dc1 is year 9, whilst it worked really well, 4 mins wasn’t enough for a proper discussion on the subjects he’s trying to choose between, but they said a follow up email chat is welcomed.

Our secondary school one was really impressive.

I don't know which system they used but I was able to speak to every teacher and the whole thing only took an hour.

I really hope they keep the same format next year.

@Londonmummy66

We've had a school cloud parents evening and thought it was brilliant - except for the one dinosaur of a teacher who couldn't find anywhere in the school to get reception ( your department office ffs like all your colleagues....). We are about to have our second. As our DC board it is great as we usually can't get to parents evening so are so happy not to just have yet another written report.

Dcs school uses that too, really good

Bumping as this thread has made the front page of The Times today!