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Secondary education

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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:
TheFallenMadonna · 01/11/2010 19:23

roisin - of course there needs to be a subject teacher parents evening. But our early tutor one (which we had a few weeks ago) is about settling in rather than academic progress. Pastoral.

Totallyfloaty35 · 01/11/2010 19:57

I cant go to my yr11 dds parent eve,it clashes with an IB info evening at college in the next town which is where she wants to go next yr.
I really hope they dont think" im not interested".
Im sure lots of parents can't attend these eves due to work or childcare, it does not mean they do not care.

ampere · 01/11/2010 20:01

I believe the modern teacher understands that sending a clean, fed, properly attired, school -ready, homework-done DC to school every day constitutes a caring parent!

OP posts:
marriednotdead · 01/11/2010 22:18

Ok.

You did ask if we thought it mattered. And many of us said yes.

You appear quite affronted upset by that.

Just an observation.

Cammelia · 02/11/2010 01:22

If you were always intending to attend, why did you ask the question.

ampere · 02/11/2010 08:13

My acceptance that it is the 'accepted/expected thing' to attend - thus I will- does not deny me the feeling that I am still not sure that there's much point in attending! Two different things.

As for affronted, well, I guess the posters who seem to be trying to project on me their own lack of knowledge about their own child, their child's education, their strengths, weaknesses, likes and dislikes, the school itself, the school day etc might be construed as being a bit irritating!

OP posts:
dinosaur · 02/11/2010 16:43

This reply has been withdrawn

This has been withdrawn by MNHQ at the poster's request.

ampere · 03/11/2010 08:48

Hi, all. Well, along went and saw 4 teachers (and met some parents from DS's primary who ruefully recounted how their DC had, in one case, triple booked 3 teachers!! Glad we kept it at 4).

It was well run, and ahead of time, But that's probably because the teachers were given 10 minutes per appointment to say.

"Hi, Mr & Mrs Ampere, hi Ampere Junior 1, and doesn't Ampere Junior 2 look just like his brother?! Anyway, AJ1 is doing well in class (tick). He's turning in a good standard of work (tick). He likes to contribute in smaller groups but is a bit reluctant to speak to the whole class (tick). I won't be grading him in the progress report you'll get in 3 weeks time as I think it's too early to judge given the relatively small amount of markable work they've turned in so far (tick)." Grin

None deviated except the Science teacher, a wild Irishman who said DS1 (aka AJ1!) understood graphing concepts well, and the English teacher who said he'd turned in an excellent piece of written homework (Yes, I know, I helped him structure it and have read his logbook where you said that!).

I know I am sounding peevish- I'm not really. I am glad the evening was well run and DS hadn't double booked us. I'm glad the opportunity exists to meet the teachers if you feel the need. It was interesting to eyeball his teachers though he is 'losing' 2 next week (bit of streaming) and one had only had him for 3 weeks.

But I still believe that a 10 minute chat with his form tutor (whom we weren't 'allowed' to meet unless as a subject teacher!) would have been more useful! We get another parents eve in the summer which will be far more edifying, I believe, and we will be meeting all his teachers then.

OP posts:
roisin · 03/11/2010 17:37

Well, I'm glad you survived and that it was well and punctually run at least!

Sorry you didn't get any more helpful feedback. But at least there were no nasty surprises. Grin

freerangeeggs · 05/11/2010 19:43

I'm an English teacher and I teach about 140 kids in total (2x Y9, 1x Y7, 2x Y10, 1x Y11). English and Maths teachers are quite lucky because we get to know the kids quite well.

If I had a parents' evening tomorrow I would know all my Y7s but I might not know them terribly well yet. ICT, RS or other subjects who see them less often, though - I know for a fact that some of them have to print off photos of the kids who have made appointments. It's not their fault as they see almost everyone, and all the wee ones look so alike in their uniforms!!

Really the first one is just to let the parents see that the kids are settling in. Maybe try making appointments for English, Maths and a couple of others - the rest are a bit of a waste of time at this stage tbh.

freerangeeggs · 05/11/2010 19:44

Ooh sorry, just saw your post :) Glad you made it!

gillybean2 · 07/11/2010 10:08

Have to agree with you OP that subject tutors this early seems a bit pointless.

I saw my ds's form tutor a couple of weeks ago. That parent's evening was ONLY for form tutors. Subject teachers are later in the year. Plus they don't get streamed until next year so it's likely that some of those tutors are going to change at some point.

At the same form tutor/parent evening we were also invited to sign up for the online system, register our name and get a parent password so we have access to the parents section of their website.
This includes general letters home etc, but also ds's timetable, tutor subject details, and individual info relevant to ds and how to contact various staff members.
So from that POV it was worth going. And they ticked off on a list everyone that queued up for this so felt I had done my part there!
Did already know my way round the system pretty well though having logged on to ds's pupil account when he came home with teh details for that at the start of term Grin

I also spoke briefly to the head of the lower school and a bit more to the head of Year 7 who I've already spoken to by phone this term, and who we met in person to show ds round school last term.

OP I do object to your comment about other parents not knowing their school terribly well.
I do know this school quite well in that I had been to visit the school 2 years before when looking at it as an option (although I hadn't been able to make the various open days the year before he started due to a car accident/unable to walk). I had spoken to lots of parents and pupils of the school in the 2 year run up to choosing secondary options, had been to as many induction evening etc as I could before he started and ds had an individual tour round sch with head of yr7 back in July.
I too know where his form room and locker is and could walk there without help or a map (imo that's not bad given that the school has 2000 pupils and is very large).
I also know where to find his head of Year and form tutor's offices, where both the lost property locations are, could walk to the blocks where he has science, english, food tech and several other subjects.

Given that this sch was only our 3rd choice school I think I'm doing ok really...

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