Anyone else not getting a 2nd Parents Eve, Y7?

[erebus]

Bit surprised, we got one a half term in back in October (and a report at Xmas which gave 'effort' grades but no attainment grades). Have subsequently received another fuller report at Easter but no hint of a Parents Eve!

Unusual?

Yup. One a year.

When? In Y7 I mean?

They are only once a year ours is next week for DC in Y7 we had DC Y9 in Feb

We had one at the end of the first half term in Y7 when the DCs had been in Secondary 6 or 7 weeks. Which was great. But tbh I am wondering if now we will go from then, mid Oct '10 to June/July '12, end of Y8, without another parents eve! We haven't had any notification which you'd think we would have by now! I may call the school on Monday as yes, I would quite like to have some face-time with DS's teachers!

my DCs are in two different secondary schools. 1 parents evening every school year, and reports every term. Sounds normal TBH

You only get 1 a year.

Why do you want 'face-time' with your DS's teachers? Have you got any specific concerns? If so, why don't you phone to speak to them?

Schools I know which do parents evenings as such do 1 a year (secondary), some do progress monitoing instead which is shorter and 3 a year, but two of those are only with the form tutor. Even for 10 mins with each teacher just add up how many hours that is, especially for an RE teacher (20 classes of 30 a week roughly).
If you have specific concerns contact the teachers, if they are just general contact the form tutor or head of year.

We only get one a year. In Yr 7 though we also get a meeting where we get introduced to their Form Tutor (they keep the same one all through their time at the school) but that's a one-off.

Yr 7 we get a new parents evening where we get to meet the form teacher and he tells you how dcs are getting on in form and answers any questions.

The in November we get a progress report - which is essentially just numbers for effort, levels, homework,behaviour etc

then proper parents evening in feb and a full report in june.

There will be school calendar of when all the different parents' evenings are through the year. Ask the school office for one if it is not on the website.

We get one parent teacher meeting per year and one full report per year. At the end of each term effort and achievement grades are published.

All this is done by e-mail/parent portal now, you don't receive a hard copy of anything, even the full report. I have no idea how the less computer literate cope.

If parents are concerned about a child they can e-mail the form teacher who will e-mail each subject teacher for an update on how a child is doing. Perhaps you can ask your child's form teacher to do this?

OP, one Parents' Evening per year group per year is pretty standard, IME. If you have specific concerns, you can always contact teachers and ask for a meeting. If you just want a general "how is my DC getting on now that Yr 7 is almost over..." kind of thing, contact the form tutor - we often get emails from tutors asking for a quick sum-up of how a child has been getting on so that the tutor can call the parent back. Whilst I wouldn't relish doing more than one full parents' evening per year for each year group, I'm always happy to do a quick email or phone call with a parent.

We just have 3 meetings a year with the form teacher with a grade review and one written report before the last meeting. We never get to see the subject teachers!

We have one parents evening a year, half termly reporting of levels and a full annual school report. There is a second invitation only evening as well which I have had the misfortune to be invited to that once with DD1 but I've escaped that with the other two so far.

Our year 7s get a 'settling in' meeting with form tutor in October (information is collected from all their teachers) and then a 'proper' parents' evening late in the spring term. Full report has just gone out. Year 8 onwards there is one parents' evening in the spring term.

We had a settling in evening in October, and a proper Parents Eve about a month ago.

Surely they would have one about now (if not already) to discuss how this year has gone?

It is hard, but you only get one a year. The teachers do one for each year group which in an 11-19 school is 7. One report a year as well, the two are usually in different terms to give you as much information as possible. It is simply time constraint! You then have to add in prospective parents evening, sixth form admission evening etc.

There will be something in next term for you.
It is a hards adjustment from primary, but you need to remember mist of your child's teachers will teach 400 students every week, and think of the time you get as your fair share!

It's something you need to be aware of as a parent - if your child is well behaved but struggling/failing ,they are not going to achieve in secondary school .
School's are too big and the teachers will be concentrating on those with bad behaviour and ,at GCSE level ,those who need input to achieve a grade C .
I really don't know what the answer is .
It's not as if ,given a different system - say sacraficing some of the "raising aspirations /inviting the arny/merchant bankers in "days for day time /early evening slots where parents can come in - teachers would be any more familiar with your DC and able to let you know how they're doing .

I suspect smaller schools might be one answer but then I imagine would be too costly and unable to support individual sixth forms .

My children go to a smaller school and the teachers do know the children, very well. All children. Once they get to year 10 and 11 they are tracked in a visual way and even the HT and deputies knows exactly where every child is.

We still only have one parents evening per year though! Teachers do answer emails if you ask them something. I've used that service occasionally.

We don't have a sixth form but the children have a choice of 8 places to go at 16. I think it's worth it because they get the personalisation at secondary and, by 16, are more than capable of travelling each day plus - with a choice of eight places - they can each pick the perfect course/set of courses, and type of college or school sixth form for themselves. Last year every child leaving did something different which can be seen as a benefit, I feel.

"....Don't forget, for you to have 1 parent's evening a year, that means the teaching staff have 7 over the year, not counting options evenings, open evenings, meetings about trips and extra curricular activities, concerts, plays etc. Some of them might want to see their own families occasionally."

Sorry, but that one doesn't wash. If you choose to be a teacher, you wear those evening meetings the same way as I, as a parent, support your 13 weeks or so annual leave. One trades one against the other. I, and many other parents am away from my family from 8 til 5.30 five days a week, 46 weeks a year. And am on call a quarter of my other waking hours. It's my job. And should you need a non urgent but important medical appointment, do you forgo your desire to attend that- 'because the medical people have families they'd like to see occasionally' as well? Quite.

I am not requesting 2 parents evenings every year, just maybe in Y7. FWIW, I have never set eyes on DS1's form tutor, who in theory will be my son's mentor and guide for the next- well, four years of his education, now! The 'settling in' parents eve was 'meet the subject teachers'- after DS had been there 6 odd weeks! Others here seem to have had a meeting with the tutor after the first half term then a full-blown parents evening around now.

And as for phoning the tutor or emailing them- not at our school you don't!

Why do you need teachers to tell you face to face how little Johnny is getting on when you have just had a full report on how little Johnny is getting on, that the teachers spent hours completing?

except erebus as a medic you will bne on £100-150 k (dh is one, as are many friends so don't try to down play the salaries) whereas your sons teachers if on mainstream payscale will be on between £21-30 K.
Why do you need to see your sons teachers again - what are they going to tell you that wasn't in little johnny's report?

erebus firstly this is not up to the teachers when these are they are up to senior management. Your child's school does sound like it hasn't thought it out properly. I understand that common practise is a tutor meeting in the first couple of weeks and then a proper parents evening later on in the year. That is only one parent's evening though for parents to meet subject teachers.

I would like to point out however, that overall parent's evening is a complete waste of time. Generally speaking those parent's that come to parent's evening don't have any concerns and those parent's that need seeing never turn up or simply reply with "Oh yes, they're like that at home too"

As for not being able to contact the teachers at school - this sounds quite unbelievable as this is not a school policy issue rather an individual teacher's preference. As a form tutor I have received a number of letters from concerned parents and as a result arranged meetings with them in my own time or simply called them back and had a chat over the phone about any individual concerns and then followed it up as I saw fit.

If you are concerned then write a letter to the form teacher and see what happens.

Great, yet another example of teacher bashing from the charming OP. Of course you can contact the bloody school if you;re particularly concerned about your child's progress. As many others have said (and you have not acknowledged), you will find out how your child is progressing by reading the report that his/her teachers have spent time writing for you. Get over yourself!

DS: Full end of term report, grade sheets every half term, 1 parents evening per year. Superb communication from the school - never had a worry; able to e-mail tutor/housemaster and have done so but the need has arisen only twice in three years. DS chose GCSE options and it just happened and didn't need any input from his parents; he has just chosen his IB options and again it has just happened. Have never had a concern, his teachers are approachable, helpful, professional and excellent. The entire school community is polite, helpful and a joy to deal with. I think I may have shaken hands with the chair of governors once and that one of DS's friends' fathers might be one but have never had to even think about raising anything with them.

DD: Been at state CofE secondary for one year. One parents evening, one meaningless grade sheet. Emotional meltdown, bullying by children and staff. I have written three letters to head and involved chair of governors, spoken to head of KS3 twice (totally ineffective), have met once with the head who makes the right noises and does the right thing by dd but does not take action to deal with behaviour or acknowledge it is a problem. Books were not marked in five subjects between March and June, three exam results are stilll outstanding, the office is rude and unhelpful.

At DD's school we seem to receive communicative snow via parent mail there certainly is communication but it is not about the right things. At DS's school they provide info when it is needed because they appear to value not only the boys but also the parents and treat them as intelligent equals. I have to admit the difference is £18,000 per annum and that we made a very bad decision for DD. Fortunately we have the means to change it.

Overall its a difference in attitude issue - at DD's school they seem to think they are doing us a favour. At DS's we actually think they are!