First parents evening question panic!!

[LalaDipsey]

Hello. Dd has her first parents evening later this afternoon. She is in reception. All I can think of to ask is 'is she happy?' And 'has she made good friends?'.
Am I missing crucial questions to ask???!!! Thankyou

Is there anything else I can do to support her learning at home

Those are the most important questions.
If her teacher has any concerns she will highlight them to you anyway.

They will almost certainly be working on the basis of the "early years" foundation outcomes list here and will hope that by the end of Reception most of the children are happy doing all the things in the 30-50 month lists and some of the things in the 40-60 month lists, but every child is different and reaches these outcomes in a different order on their own timescale. You could have a look through the list and see if there are any areas you feel your DD might need more support in, and ask if there is anything you can do at home to support or encourage her. But this isn't really necessary and could be a bit over-keen

Nothing to worry about, the teacher will do most of the talking and you may find a few questions come to you while they are talking about something.

If there were any problems you would have/should have heard about it by now.

You know your child, if they are good as gold then it's likely they will be good in school (though that doesn't always follow) If they are a bit of a tinker then you know the teacher will mention it.

The very worst case scenario is you get the "shit sandwich" by that I mean, you get all the good and positive things that are going on and then you'll get the not so good things finished off by how the teacher with your help is going to make things better.

LaLaDipsey:

Your questions are brilliant - not to worry. At age 4 (maybe early 5) - right now it's about the social adjustment to the world of school.

Like 17leftfeet suggested - asking the teacher if there is anything in particular you should be working on at home is always useful - often the teacher will make a practical suggestion that will help with reading/ writing/ maths.

I think it's a tricky thing - if you have a question (say you're concerned your DC isn't really reading yet) - probably best not to tackle it directly:

So I fear with DD1 I bluntly asked, 'I'm really worried that DC isn't reading, her friends from nursery school all seem to being making brilliant progress in their Year R classes' - which went down like a lead balloon. (A bit to honest I suspect).

Probably better to say - From our perspective, although DC clearly enjoys books and has learned a lot about how they work, we aren't really clear that any reading skills have developed yet. Could you tell us a bit more about what we should be doing at home & how we can support these early skills or direct us to a website?

Finally (because it now exists) - if you have questions on reading/ maths - do visit OXFORD OWL: www.oxfordowl.co.uk/for-home - it's a great resource for early years learning of reading/ maths.

HTH

What activities areas does she usually choose / not enjoy - then maybe you can support her confidence in areas she is not sure about. (i,e she usually heads for dressing up / book corner but not the construction / lego

those are the main things, is she happy, does she have friends, is she confident or gaining in confidence in different situations.

we have parents evening this week too, one child in R and one in Yr1. For R child I am going to be asking these same questions except I know she is lacking in confidence with the other children, fine with the staff and has a couple of little friends but very shy about joining a group of children and has had some nasty comments from a couple.

In reception that is about the main thing I think. For my Yr1 child I will be asking a bit more about how work is going, is she achieving ok, is she concentrating and so on as well as the friend one.

Thankyou very much. Asking what she chooses to do is a very good one as I suspect it mainly consists of dressing up as a princess.....!