Parent's evening

[MrsGrieves]

Can I just ask what people actually talk to the Teacher about?

We were there yesterday and ds1's teacher was running late, there were about 5 people in front of us and all of them took at least 15 minutes, a couple almost 30.

Obviously if the children have concerns or problems it's understandable, but they can't all have .

We were in there for 5 minutes at most, we had seen ds's work whilst waiting, the teacher explained nc levels and then showed us ds's levels etc, we discussed this, we asked about his behaviour/how he was doing socially etc.

What else is there to talk about, I have been to a fair few parents evenings and I feel like I'm somehow doing it wrong, all of them were fairly quick.

Some parents just want to be heard on things and so just don't stop talking. Some children will have problems that the teacher will need to discuss with them.

It only takes one parent who talks too much to set the whole evening off time.

In my experience, te 5 minute meeting ate with the parents who's children are just fine in all areas - so be glad

Believe me, 5 minutes is good! Be very glad. It means your dc is doing fine, is on track, has no issues and you've no need to worry.

At the junior school they do a bell which goes off every 10 minutes. It does work fairly well, although one or two teachers ignore it.

Although we've had once where we've finished in about 5 minutes, mentioned something to fill the time, and found it's a bigger issue than thought and we've had to finish the issue later.

With dd2 we did have an parent's evening where we needed to demonstrate use of her prosthesis (she'd got it that day, normally we'd have made a separate appointment for things like that)

It also builds up, so, if you are seen on time, youknow you've got 5 mins, and you are in and out no problem. When you've been witting there for 3/4 hour, getting more and more annoyed, you then somehow feel 'entitled' to have a longer slot, as you've been waiting so long, due to other families having longer slots .
It just builds, and builds.

Some people like the sound of their own voices too much, and some teachers especially younger ones, find it hard to be firm with parents.

15 minutes with DS's teacher last night and i didn't think we'd have enough to talk about but it turns out we did. Since he's a quiet boy, we discussed the stuff he does outside of school and also strategies on how to get him to work faster in class.

Then it was supposed to be 3 x 10 minute slots with DD's teachers. Two of them were fine although running behind schedule (late parents). The other one talked for 25 minutes as we were her last appointment.

Arrive home 40 minutes later than planned!