What should one expect from parents evening in KS1?

[Artigene]

I ask because we went to parents evening tonight and like last term it was a non-event. Am I not asking the right questions? Should the teacher be more proactive? Or is this just what to expect?

Basically we went in and the teacher asked if we had any questions or concerns. We said no, we feel DD is happy and doing well. Teacher nodded and said she agreed, then made a couple if general nice comments about DD's behaviour and participation. She highlighted her strength (writing) and said she had no concerns then she smiled to indicate she was done. We'd only been there 2 mins.

To stretch things out I asked a question about some small friendship issues and she laughed and said "that's six year old girls for you, don't worry I plan to have a word about being kind." Then I asked if we needed to stretch DD more at home and she said no need but if DD enjoyed working at home that was great. Then that was that.

Is parents eve meant to be more or is it only really useful if you have concerns you really need to discuss?

I think it depends on the teacher. Ds1's reception teacher was a lot like that - quite vague, just some general comments. His yr1 teacher was excellent though, commented on different aspects and I left feeling like she really knew ds1.

Frustrating though, isn't it?

It depends on the child. If you have a well behaved child who is progressing well and no particular weaknesses, there isn't much else to say.

We have similar parents' evening with DD in KS1. With DS we had 10 minutes of how he needed to focus on what he was doing.

I can imagine if it's a child with behavioural difficulties who is behind with her learning then there's quite a lot to say. And if the teacher is new and not familiar with what went before then it's probably just one of a whole series of conversations which will be going on. But if the child is doing well then there may well not be much to discuss.

No news is sometimes good news, OP.

I guess I think that the teacher should be able to suggest ways each child could be stretched, should be able to talk about what lessons they love and which they may need help in engaging with etc. DD will sit SATs in a few months, if the teacher had told us what to concentrate on we could have helped DD reach a level above wherever she is heading. Obviously I'm glad there were no complaints but it would be nice to think the teacher knew all her students and didn't just concentrate on those with problems.

I agree with Tiggy.

Rather than "do we need to stretch dd more at home" which gives the impression you want/think she should be flying above her classmates.

"How can we help her best at home?" "Is there anything we can work on at home?" "What sort of things can we do together to support her at home?"

Then you find they say things like "we're going time next, can you point it out when it's half past/quarter past etc." or "she found money quite difficult, when you go shopping see if she can work out the change?" type of things.

But with all my 3, I have had parents' evenings that have been 3 minutes saying basically "all's fine" and 20 minute ones where something has come up, sometimes to the surprise of us or the teacher. I don't think the three minute ones means the teacher knows my child less.