Hi,
Just had an odd conversation with my child's Junior school teacher. I missed parents evening because I was working that particular day (they only do times until 6pm - I don't get home from work until 6pm) and I don't have a partner at home to go instead of me. I asked if I could see the teacher about my child's work at another time, even just for 5 minutes, at a time to suit her. She immediately got very defensive and said no, that it was against school policy. If you can't attend parents evening then that's the only time allocated. I mentioned I couldn't attend because of work, but she said that if she arranged that for me she'd have to arrange it for all the other parents who missed parents evenings.
So please correct me if I am wrong, but I would have thought that if you asked for an appointment to discuss your child's work at any time, you should be able to make one with the teacher? And if anyone knows if there is a government policy for this, I would love a link so I can prove this to the headmaster and actually see my child's teacher.
Now, firstly I do understand that teachers have a lot of work to do and that constantly seeing parents would deprive them of work / home time. However, I would have thought that seeing a child's parent once a term for a few minutes was part of their job, as we are meant to have a 'home - school' contract where we support their work. And if there are not enough slots for parents in the two evenings they hold for parents (which are appointment only in 10 minute slots given by the teachers, so it's not as if she would be sitting there wasting time waiting for parents to drop in, she can go home when she's finished her appointments).
At the moment I am faced with not being allowed to talk to her, although she has offered to email me his report (which shocked me that I wouldn't have been able to see this if I hadn't asked). I would have thought being able to talk to the parent would also help them understand the background of the child and help them teach the child, too.
Anyone?