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Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

Original poster

Do you really think it matters if we don't attend Y7 parents eve at DS's new secondary...

62 replies

ampere · 30/10/2010 18:16

..seeing as he's been there 8 weeks?! And it's a huge school thus I would be frankly amazed if the teachers even knew who my middle-of-the road, 'B' grade performing, well-behaved DS was? We don't get to meet his tutor unless your DC has a subject with them (mine doesn't); it's a highly regarded school that will produce detailed reports at Xmas and end-of-year, and it's a school that would tell you if there was a problem!

As it happens we will meet his English, Maths and Spanish teacher (as those are the ones DS arranged for us to see!) but really, in the absence of 'issues', is it a bit of a waste of time?!

OP posts:
activate · 30/10/2010 18:20

depends whether you're an involved parent or not

or if you want to give the impression to his new school that his parents don't care that much about his education

or if you want to give the impression to him that his school doesn't matter

I know they're dull - but you have to go IMO

Clary · 30/10/2010 18:21

I guess it's up to you

I shall certainly be going to my DS's but then there are plenty of "issues" there.

FWIW I am a cover supervisor in a big secondary and I could tell you quite a bit about some of the year 7s. And I have only had them in lessons 2 or 3 times.

If I actually taught them 2 or 3 times a week then I would certainly have something useful to say about all of them.

Huge school has nothing to do with it. Even in the biggest school, no teacher will teach more than five periods a day, five days a week!

Lydwatt · 30/10/2010 18:22

...I totally agree! If you have an issue, then see the teacher(s) but otherwise, they won't expect to see you. And you can always contact a teacher at any time if an issue does arise...

I find that it tends to be the parents of kids that I don't need to see who do turn up (which maybe why those kids are doing well enough). It makes for a lovely evening of praise!

activate · 30/10/2010 18:23

we expect to see every parent - and we know which ones don't turn up

Lydwatt · 30/10/2010 18:26

Maybe it is because we have a very open contact policy that we wouldn't expect to see all parents for all subjects on the evening...

hocuspontas · 30/10/2010 18:28

It's nice to put a face to the name of a teacher. Teachers like to see parents taking an interest. I would be asking DS to arrange meetings with all core subject teachers inc Science, History, PE, Art. Hopefully the teachers will give you an insight into how your ds fits into the class, e.g. participates/doesn't participate enough. Also it's nice to hear positive things they have to say. I will never forget dd1's Art teacher telling us in year 7 'I look at her and my day starts feeling better'.

Original poster
ampere · 30/10/2010 18:29

We-e-ll, thing is, as I said, I doubt the teacher would actually have a clue who DS was- just another little face amongst 280 others (or perhaps 100 others!). I don't think he'd've made an impression on his teachers at all except for having done his work on time and properly over the past 8 weeks. And I would be stunned if afterwards, any teacher could put my name to my face let alone know whose mum I was!

It would depress me if I thought my commitment to my DS's education was measured in attendance at the 8 week-mark 'parents evening'- though I'd certainly go to the end-of-year one. I really think this is a 'box ticking' exercise one ('Do parents get the opportunity to discuss their child's progress?'). I mean, the final Y6 parents eve at the linked primary said, in as many words, 'Only attend if there's a specific issue you need to discuss with us, otherwise, trust that your DC's SATS results, enthusiasm, happiness, detailed report and your ability to talk to us one-on-one should you need to is sufficient!'

OP posts:
TethHearseEnd · 30/10/2010 18:30

IME, it is quite a big deal for the students when their parents meet their teachers.

Ask your DS how he feels. I think not going could be a wasted opportunity to meet his teachers; he is going to talk about them a fair bit over the next few months, and this way you will know who he's referring to, which will be important to him.

Original poster
ampere · 30/10/2010 18:30

And hocus, thing is, I don't think and wouldn't expect my DS's teachers to necessarily know who he was after 8 weeks!

OP posts:
TethHearseEnd · 30/10/2010 18:32

Oh, teachers know by 8 weeks Wink

Clary · 30/10/2010 18:33

Seriously, do you think one teacher will teach 280 children? Yr DS's English teacher will probably teach just his English group in yr 7.

The teacher will know who he is, I promise you, if they are any good at all.

MollieO · 30/10/2010 18:34

I won't go to ds's this time but only because I have a meeting arranged with his form teacher and Senco two weeks before. Usually I always go even if it means booking a half day holiday so I can get there.

If it was the first parents' evening at a new school I would make every effort to go. At junior school I was a model pupil. I was always top of my class and either top or second in the year. My first year of secondary school saw me go completely off the rails. So much so that I came near bottom in the end of year exams. In my second year at secondary I got two prizes - one for coming second and one for most improved pupil. [hgrin]

Lydwatt · 30/10/2010 18:34

Not all parents can make a particular evening for perfectly goood reasons! I wouldn't judge a parent for not coming if all was well (and, if not, I request an appointment..)

mrsgboring · 30/10/2010 18:35

Why would they organise a parents evening at 8 weeks if they wouldn't be able to tell any of the children from Adam?

MollieO · 30/10/2010 18:36

Having seen your post - I did my homework too but not much in class. My parents hadn't a clue!

Lydwatt · 30/10/2010 18:41

Yes, one teacher can teacher 280 children...

I can teach up to 180 in one day!! (30 kids times 6 periods)

Clary · 30/10/2010 18:44

Yes but you don't teach 280 pupisl out of one year do you Lydwatt, which is what OP is saying?

I am sure those 180 (phew! six periods in a day!) are repeated over hte course of the week?

Lydwatt · 30/10/2010 18:48

Personally, no I don't (as a science teacher because the department is big). I might teach 4 classes in one year which would be 120...

Some smaller departments (R.E. for example) might have teachers teaching all classes in a year (which is 9) and only meet them once or twice a fortnight...so yes..they would.

PixieOnaLeaf · 30/10/2010 18:48

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

Lydwatt · 30/10/2010 18:50

and...depending on the way the timetable has had to fit in...some classes may be split between two teachers...so I would repeat classes but not as often as you might think.

BendyBobbingApples · 30/10/2010 18:58

Well, yes I think it is important. Just so you know who the teachers are and also do you not have any questions at all? OK maybe not to do with progress yet but regarding generally settling in?

Maybe the teachers don't know who they all are yet but I bet they're starting to, so it's a two way street wrt interest shown.

Also, in my dd's case anyway, it's sort of a big deal to her (not that she'd probably admit it) and therefore to us too.

Clary · 30/10/2010 19:15

Oh OK that's fair enough.

Of course it must differ from school to school. I think most of the English teachers (for example) at the school where I work, will only have one yr 7 English group, or maybe two at the most.

Certainly thinking of a particular English teacher whose day I covered a couple of weeks ago, she had a lesson every period and saw one group of yr 10s (twice) and one each of yr 7s, 8s and 9s. I inferred that she then saw these groups again over the week.

My point is (I think!!! if I have one!!!!) that she would then know all those students pretty well, even after only 8 weeks.

roisin · 30/10/2010 19:22

I was surprised how much benefit we got from ds1's yr7 settling in parent's evening.

We didn't try and see all his teachers, but went to core subjects plus the ones he was most interested in.

There are very few opportunities to 'meet the teachers' at our secondary, and just a 5 min chat, put a face to the name has been helpful.

But a couple of things did come up at yr7 parents evening, which did need dealing with. Like you we weren't aware of any issues and didn't anticipate anything really.

LucindaCarlisle · 30/10/2010 19:25

For parents there is a vast difference in the way teachers and the school communicate with parents as opposed to the way things were done at Junior school.

You really need to go if at all possible.

roisin · 30/10/2010 19:26

At our school all students have at least 1 lesson of art, dance, drama, music, IT, history, geography, RS and citizenship. So teachers of these subjects may often have 15 or 16 KS3 classes = 450 students.

They might have 150 students in any one particular year group! So cannot possibly see all parents at parents' evening, but hopefully by wk9 should have some sort of handle on who everybody is.