Year 7 Parents Evening - Help!

[whoknowswho]

My DS started y7 in sept and has settled in amazingly well. We have already had an informal parents evening with his form tutor which was fine. But now he has a subject teachers parents evening and he has lined us up 5 min slots with all the teachers and I don't know what to say to them!! He's doing really well in almost everything, he's a good student and keeps his head down and I know his marks as we've just had the results from all the end of term assessments. What more is there to say?? Do I just sit there and let them speak - I don't want to look like I don't care, cause I really do but struggling to see what we can gain from this evening. Anybody with previous experience?????

My DS also started y7 in September and we had our first parents evening at the end of last term. The teachers will probably introduce themselves and give a summary of how DS is doing. If you don't have any questions and he's getting on fine you'll probably be finished quickly. That's what happened to me anyway. It was a bit of a scrum though!

Yes fine to just sit there and let them speak. They will probably tell you what level your child is working at and say a few words about how he is doing generally. If you don't have any questions they won't mind

As NTL says it can be a bit of a scrum. You might not be able to see all the teachers. My strategy is to concentrate on the main subjects - English, maths, science - plus the teachers dd likes best . If I thought a particular subject was a problem, I would speak to that teacher, but dd is a good student too.

Enjoy hearing all the positive things bout your son. Last year my dd made me see her favourite maths teacher (had got her marks & places in the year from the other teacher who taught her) just so I could put a face to a name & hear some excellent comments on her maths skills!!!

Names to faces is useful and I think teachers like being able to have, honestly, something positive to say.

I'm certain DD2s Y6 teacher enjoys singing her praises far more than tactfully talking about DD1. (She had 3 years of steering dizzy, socially inept, dyslexic DD2 through juniors. Clever relatively quiet DD2 must come as a relief).
Personally I'm far more like DD1 and I find DD2 much harder to understand.

Having said all that, as a teacher, sometimes it does feel a bit pointless talking to some parents of the lovely students, because there is nothing very constructive I can say, other than 'well done, keep it up'. And if your whole evening is spent doing that, it does mean the whole thing feels a bit pointless. But as a parent, I can totally understand the pleasure in hearing nice things about your child! And it is nice to see happy parents and students.

I enjoyed yr7 parents evening even though we didn't have many "issues" to raised. It was a great opportunity to actually meet the teachers, to explicitly thank the ones we were particularly impressed with, and also for ds2 to have the opportunity to be praised by his teachers and us and to feel proud of his achievements.

Does DS go with you? It is lovely for them to get positive feedback.

Don't forget the teachers have loads of experience at this, and are very used to talking to parents. They'll take the lead.

In a couple of years you will be talking to them about GCSE options, so its good to get in the swing of things.

As a teacher, I use it to tell parents who are doing a fantastic job of supporting their children that they are. Just in case they don't realise what an impact having good parents makes, and I'd hate to think their input was going unnoticed. Often it is nothing to do with academic activities and all to do with attitude and enthusiasm for learning.
Tricky children? I'd rather make a longer, individual appointment in a less crowded evening.
I do know a lot of parents of secondary children who choose not to go to parent evenings because of the reasons given by the OP, and that is perfectly acceptable too. Illogical to go if you have nothing to talk about.
Your choice OP.

Even if you don't have anything to raise, you still need to go to show an interest for the sake of your son. How do you think he will feel if you are one of very few parents to go, especially if it comes across to him as you not showing an interest in him.

If you have nothing to say, at least take a little notebook and note what the teachers tell you. You never know in six months time they may contact you about a problem and you will at least then have a record that you attended, showed and interest and made a dated note of all the positivies you were told. No brainer really in my opinon.

I had DD's Y7 parents' evening last week and thought it was really valuable - I'm rather less bothered about NC levels than I am about how she genuinely is in class, and it was great to see that some of the teachers really get who she is - quite often in primary school I found the teachers seemed a bit unsure which one she was, in spite of spending all day, every day in the same classroom. I found the teachers very candid - had to laugh with the games teacher who said DD had been a complete pain to start with, though happily she had improved.

In terms of what you say to them, I tended to ask them if there was anything I could do to support her in xyz subject - something I'm sure DD is less than thrilled about because it was usually 'she can do these extra activities' or 'you can give her regular vocab tests' so now I will be the evil parent who has signed her up for extra homework.

On a practical note, I'd have got round quicker if I'd done English and Maths first - I did the opposite, and there were big queues by the time I got round to them.

Thank you all for the feedback it's really helpful. Unfortunately Raspberry, DS doesn't get to go with us - I think I would have found that more useful to see how he was with the teachers. You've got a good point Marriedinwhite - I would have felt guilty if all his friends parents were going and I wasn't . Thanks again everyone. Wish me luck... :)

Am reading this thread with interest as I have Y7 parents evening next week. We can take dd with us which is useful because she know her way round the school.
But there does seem to be a problem in that there are not enough appointment times available to see all the teachers. Some teachers are fully booked already. Any ideas would be appreciated.

My child's year 7 parent's evening is coming up but when I came to book slots a couple of days after the letter arrived I found there were none left. On querying this I was told by the Deputy that there are only half the number of slots or less per number of children and she cited the need to preserve the work-life balance of the teachers as the reason for this. Other schools I know of don't seem to have this issue and provide slots for all parents who want to see subject teachers. Has anyone else dealt with this issue at their school or do any teachers out there have an opinion?

The meeting is tonight. We have managed to make appointments with most of the teachers and the main subjects are all covered. I am wondering if it would be reasonable to ask for written feedback from teachers who we haven't been able to see?

At DCs (dcs are yr 9 and 11) school we book slots, but it is very rarely stuck to, so we just find out which teachers have a short queue and join those. We only ever came across one teacher who was a stickler for seeing everyone in the right order

EdithW that really isn't good enough (and I speak as a teacher myself, so understand the work/life balance issue). The school should be timetabling subjects so no, one teacher has too many pupils in one year group, so they can see all the Parents that want to see them. I'm sorry, it's hard work for the teachers, but it's part of the deal of being a secondary teacher, that you have parents evening fro each year group, once a year. I would be putting something in writing to the school and the Governors if the DH's response is the official response of the school, quoting all sorts of things about pupils doing better where school and home work together.
Where one of ds's teacher's hasn't been at Parents Evening for some reason (illness for eg) then you were able to sign up on a sheet, and they phoned you and conducted the parents evening time over the phone, once they returned to school.

Hi all, we had our evening last night at it was great - It was nice to put a face to the names like somebody said and also it was nice to listen to the teachers talking about DS and realise that they have got to know him in such a short time really - so thank you all for your advice. Crazymum- our school offered telephone appointments for a couple of teachers who weren't available so I think that must be the norm. EdithW - I'm sure the teachers should have time for every childs parents - doesn't every child count? I agree with BackforGood - put pen to paper, I'm sure you won't be the only one! Good luck.

We did manage to see dds teachers for all the different subjects. Some teachers did squeeze in extra appointments with parents. The English teacher was absent and we have been given her school email address so we can get feedback this way. It was interesting to meet the teachers, especially the ones dd does not like - was probably valuable for them to meet the parents too !

Oh yes, I like to be able to put a face to a name.

(So do the teachers )

Sometimes the timetable means you simply don't have enough slots for all parents. When this has happened to me I have always been clear that parents are welcome to phone and have a discussion about their child's progress or arrange a meeting on another evening (or I will call them if they prefer). I have never had any complaints about this - parents seem to understand that it is not my decision about timetable or arrangements for parents' eve!

As far as what to say, the teacher should have plenty to comment on, I always enjoy letting the parents of the most enthusiastic and dedicated pupils know how well they're doing. If you want something to say just ask if there's anything else you could do to encourage continued progress. As an English teacher it is really helpful if parents are encouraging reading for pleasure and can support the importance of written accuracy when their DCs are writing at home.

It sounds like you are the type of parent I enjoy seeing at these events