Year 7 Parents Evening - Unavailable slots for core subjects

[User32243535]

Sorry, but this might turn into a bit of a rant.

DC (Y7) attends what is meant to be a well respected grammar school. But at the moment, I am struggling to comprehend how they have developed such a lousy system for arranging parents evening appointments.

DC is our eldest child so we were not acquainted with this system before and didn't see it coming. Basically, we received a report and then according to the report, we were advised (via dc taking a sheet around to their teachers and booking a time slot) to arrange a meeting with the necessary teachers.

DC is a scatter brain and this hasn't helped with making the arrangements but on eventually contacting their teachers for Maths and English. dc was informed that there were no available slots left. Sorry, but Maths and English are core subjects and we care about our dc's education, I am fuming that we are not able to discuss these subjects with the relevant teachers (parents evening is held on just one evening).

DC doesn't have huge difficulties in these areas but reading the report there are one or two areas for improvement and I think it is important to discuss these two subjects in particular.

Anyone else experienced similar? The system of arranging slots on a piece of paper seems outdated from the outset. I e-mailed the head teacher regarding my concerns about dc not securing appointments a few days ago and I haven't received a response and I'm not able to discuss with anyone as the school office is now closed (dc has just informed me of the situation, which I believed would be resolved today.) Quite frankly not impressed with the schools communication either right now in regard to replying to my e-mail. Grrrrh...just so frustrated!

Also three minutes is insane - introduce yourselves, sit down, say what, two sentences? And then on to the next one. Parents would quite rightly be pissed off.

User32243535 has already become 'THAT' parent. Headteachers try to fob them off, class teachers dread having the child in their class and everyone else giggles about the entitled helicopter parenting. It discourages teachers from going the extra mile, I feel sorry for the DC who will have to deal with the consequences. Lets hope they can escape their parents control before its to late.

My older dcs are at 3 different grammars, we have experienced both paper and online systems. Pros and cons to both obviously.

A number of factors come into play - a major factor I would say, is how many of the year are taught by the same teachers. For DS2, there is massive duplication - most teachers have at least 60 students in the year so meeting every parent just wont happen. Last year I was late onto the online portal (due to being in A&E thanks to ds getting injured in a school rugby match...) and only managed 3 appointments out of 12 teachers, none of them core. I requested, and eventually received, online feedback.

Interestingly, oldest DS's school reverted to paper for his Yr11 parents evenings. Discussed this with a teacher who said that they prefer paper as they have more control over who they see and when they see them. If anyone specifically wants to see you, they'll arrange a booking.

You've mentioned your dc being disorganised, the teachers know the appointments are being negotiated and they generally do this in class. It's not up to the child to randomly approach them...

Children at grammar schools have problems adjusting to senior school life so I think you are a little off the mark in assuming that because it's a grammar there won't be academic issues.

Also three minutes is insane

As i said up thread ours are 4 minutes

There are buzzers

I hate the buzzers

A reasonable alternative, perhaps, would be to hold them during the teachers' working day. Then they could make as many appointments as necessary and not be expected to give up their evenings.

Of course that wouldn't suit working parents like OP but who cares as long as she gets her appointment?

Working parents have holiday entitlement. Our parents evenings start during the working day. My dh has never missed a single one.Judging by the heaving hall we fight our way through other working parents don't have problems booking time off work either.

Like most parents I don't think the op gives a shit how it's organised so long as she gets to see her child's teacher. She isn't alone,having 3 children myself I know all the parents we are friendly with feel exactly the same. It's once a year and should be provided. She isn't expecting weekly feedback on her child,she isn't bothering her teachers re little Jimmys homework grades or complaints about teaching she simply wants to see her child's teacher once in an academic year.That is not helicopter parenting.

Re the op being laughed at and the child dreaded. I sit in a staff room every day( albeit briefly). Teachers do not sit and giggle about parents as that would be more than a little unprofessional and there isn't time.Most want a good working relationship with parents and will bend over backwards to accommodate it. The kids teachers dread ime are not those with parents who simply want a once a year parents evening appointment but those who are disruptive with parents who don't give a shit.

Talking about how dc should have been more organised is irrelevant.

The school don’t have enough slots for the amount of kids. That’s not acceptable. Full stop, no argument. Don’t think OP sounds entitled at all. Even if her dc had got a slot other kids wouldn’t have done. The school need to sort this out and have two parents evenings if necessary.

www.gov.uk/guidance/school-reports-on-pupil-performance-guide-for-headteachers

It is certainly not an unreasonable request.

When i’ve taught in a core subject and had more pupils than slots I would double book every one and let them know they could see me but for 2.5 min only. Weirdly I was the only teacher on the night who just about kept to time.

Its all about the tone for me, I wonder if OP’s child was privately educated before moving to this GS?

My post would have been more along the lines of:

“Can someone reassure me that I don’t need to see all my DC’s teachers at a Yr 7 parents evening. He/she seems to be doing really well, the odd slight concern flagged up in a couple of core subjects but I know that an education is a marathon rather than a sprint and I presume that the core subject teachers would be in touch if they had concerns.

Dc was tasked with arranging his/her own timetable but is slightly disorganised asd didn’t get appts with everyone!! I realise teachers are busy enough and don’t want to raise it if it isn’t necessary. All advice gratefully received.”

Let’s get this into perspective, DC is at a GS, no concerns but perhaps one or two areas for improvement. Fuming?? Because the system didn’t wait for her unorganised child?

OP’s tone is absolutely dreadful.

Your DD's children have written reports. You don't have any concerns. Your child is at a selective school. As far as I can see, the only thing the Parents' Evening adds is the opportunity to hear the teachers say lovely things about your DD. That will be a nice ego boost, but is hardly worth kicking up a fuss about. (That isn't meant to sound critical - I only go to DD2's parents' evenings so the school don't judge me for being shit and disengaged and so I can hear them going on about how amazing she is.)

No it isn't it's understandable.

Every email I've ever sent has been dealt with pretty speedily and not getting a core subject appointment once in a year is pretty shit.

Parents evenings in year 7 are important. They set the tone for the rest of their academic life at the school. You glean so much more than a few lines on a school report.

And as for only getting an ego boost because it's a selective school,that ridiculous. They are still children studying several subjects of which they won't be superb in everything. One of my dcs was given a talking to re handwriting in year 7. Wasn't struggling in anything. We had no idea how bad it was. "Presentation needs improving" in the school report didn't really cut it. Several teachers showed us what the expectations are,spoke to ds and showed us his books. Explained to us and him how it would have an impact on his GCSEs.It was very productive having us and his teachers talking to him from the same page. I went away fully informed as to secondary expectations and how to support him.

This year my shy quiet boy has made superb progress and is flying in several areas. The progress he's made in one core subject is insane. He has a teacher that is well known for getting superb results and probably won't get him again. We wanted to ask how we keep him going in this vein and what the teacher thought he was doing to have done so well. Hearing his teachers give him glowing reports directly in front of his parents has been so beneficial for my shy boy who rarely used to put his hand up and politely tolerates the more disruptive elements of the class. Said teacher was clearly more than happy to see us,didn't have to fight for an appointment. The school wants good results and it's in their interest to help parents who want to support their dc.

I email any parent who I don't see - whether that is because they can't get an appointment or can't be bothered to attend

@User32243535 has been advised on numerous occasions how she can obtain feedback and info on how her DC is progressing, given that her DC wasn't organised enough to make an appointment with En/Ma teachers.

With the best will in the world, not every parent will get an appointment at on official parents evening, but there are alternatives in this modern day of technology what with email, phones and such like.

I honestly don't get what the big fuss is about.

Me too @pieceofpurplesky or give them a quick call. I probably would spend more time with each parent or carer by doing it this way than I would in a five min appointment slot.

I'm a core subject teacher. It is only for about 1 year group per year that I teach two large sets where I don't have enough appointments for everybody to the point that it's an issue, and it usually works out ok anyway.
The idea of putting on two parents' evenings per year group for everybody just so that those odd core teachers can offer all parents a slot (and they won't all be taken up anyway) would be such an exceptional waste of everybody's time. Would the core teachers who only teach 15 kids in that year group have to spread those appointments over 2 evenings and 6 hours? That's a lot of sitting around in the hall being unproductive.
Parents' evenings are directed time. There are only 1265 hours of directed time per year for teachers. Are you sure you want to take another 15 hours out of it to put on an extra 5 parents' evenings per year with most of that time going to waste? Which meetings would you cancel? A couple of INSET days? Just so that teachers can sit in the hall for hours and Mrs Entitled can get a 5 minute face-to-face with a teacher instead of an email?

If what you're getting in the report is 'presentation needs improving' then surely the report is the problem? And if teachers are going through detailed examinations of a child's work diagnostically and explaining specific support strategies, clearly enough for a non-specialist to understand and deliver them, in a 5 minute appointment, then it's hardly surprising that their isn't time to see everybody.

TooMany, how is your DS's handwriting developing as a result? Is his cutlery grip good? Can he use scissors, clothes pegs, threading cards etc successfully? It may be that he has difficulties with manual dexterity or fine motor skills. A GP would be able to do a referral for an OT assessment, which would identify any underlying issues (which, if he were my pupil, I would discuss with the parents in a separate meeting, rather than leaving for a parents' evening).

there not their!

One thing to add, is that the OP is obviously getting written reports - ie with words/comments.

At our school, and thus I suspect many others, we only get numbers / key words. So per subject, a column for Attitude graded 1-4, Vague trajectory GCSE grade range (don't start noble ) and rate of progress as in slow/steady/good/excellent. That's it. But actually it works pretty well on the whole. You can see exercise books if you ask them to bring them home so you can see teacher comments at any point in the year.

Be careful what you wish for. Our local school caved to complaints about not enough appointments in a 3 hour session and now sessions start at 2.00 through to 8.00. How are they doing that? The whole school closes for half a day 7 times a year. Yes, there seem to be enough appointments but outrage because a) it interferes with primary pick-ups, b) having to take time off work if only day time appointments left, c) spread of time between appointments could be hours and d) having to potentially take 7 half days off from work to facilitate childcare/transport for students who aren't able to make their own arrangements. The school have given parents what they want but the old way had less peripheral problems.

And also, online booking doesn't miraculously create more slots.

PS. Amazed it took 4 hours for someone to start the Four Yorkshiremen whine about how long/arduous/unpaid/worse THEIR job is....

Mum grip and formation all fine. It was left handed writing at speed that was the issue. Apparently a frequent problem when they start secondary( which we found out at parents evening).Didn't take long.Book flipped open,that is what we're talking about. Cue from me. This is what we want, book flipped open. Watch yourself when doing this and a couple of tips. Maths teacher then said the same and showed the issue with diagrams. Seriously didn't take long. Is it ok for sessions with parents re disruptive behaviour or struggling to take ages then or are we assuming that gets dealt with in a short amount of time?

Frankly it's now Feb. If I had a disruptive or struggling child I'd have expected it to be dealt with long before now. As you say Sen issues are often dealt with separately so still not getting why parents evening needs to be reserved for a few.

And re cutting into the school day it seems to be ok for my ds to lose his French teacher whilst he goes on a skiing trip very few can afford to go on or afternoons given over to all manner of extra curricular events.

As far as I'm concerned parental involvement once a year is up at the top with them as regards levels of importance so personally I wouldn't object to it starting earlier in the afternoon.

Just stop and think for a moment OP. One way children learn about organisation is to make mistakes and the need for them to make appointments is a great test for them. By introducing an online booking system that you state you would be straight onto you are removing this being your child’s responsibility. They will not learn if they don’t get chances to fail. Too many modern parents are missing the point that they do far too much for their children and are not equipping young people for the real world. Teachers work really hard and expecting them to add extra nights to accommodate extra parents evenings is unfair. I honestly think you are being far too demanding need to avoid a reputation as a parent who is overly hard work as your child will have to go into school every day for the next 5 or 7 years and be your son....without intending to sound unkind I do wonder if as a parent new to high school with possibly the relief that your son gained a grammar school place that you actually wanted to see the teachers to hear praise?

Ha ha heard it all now. Kind of a big assumption that an op wanting an appointment ,which should be provided once a year, simply wants to hear praise re her child. And we wonder why in many areas we have problems with low expectations from parents. Wanting a once a year parent's evening is deemed entitled and arrogant.

Just for the record you're far more likely to have a fuss made of you if you're top set comp. You see it all the time on here posters bragging re preferring their top set kids to be big fish in little ponds.

Op I emailed with questions I wanted answers. Sometimes it's useful having it all written as you can refer to it later. Face to face is better imvho but there advantages to emails. Do talk to your son and get him primed next year. I made my son aware that I'd be e-mailing and not best pleased if he didn't come home without the appointments we wanted. I also made it clear that the politeness he shows in class needs to be chucked out the window and he had my permission to push himself to the front the same as everybody else when the list went up.

Just stop and think for a moment OP. One way children learn about organisation is to make mistakes and the need for them to make appointments is a great test for them. By introducing an online booking system that you state you would be straight onto you are removing this being your child’s responsibility. They will not learn if they don’t get chances to fail. Too many modern parents are missing the point that they do far too much for their children and are not equipping young people for the real world.

This is by far is one of the most sensible posts I have read on MN

It's probably worth looking at the school's 'feedback about your DS's progress' as a whole package, rather than focusing specifically on the Parents' Evening.

• How often do you get a full written report?
• How often do you get a numerical / grades report?
• Is the marking in books sufficient that you can easily see how he is getting on?
• Do individual teachers respond quickly to e-mails or queries?
• How many Parents' Evenings are there per year?

DC's school has very regular numerical / grades reports, and then either 1 Parents' evening and a full written report, or 2 Parents' evenings. Individual teachers are extremely responsive to queries, both via e-mail and telephone, but marking in books is not uniformly informative across all subjects (it is absolutely excellent in most, but very basic in a few)

Overall, I feel well-informed and am confident that any significant issues are communicated and dealt with.

If, for example, teachers were not responsive, there were no written reports and there was a lack of availability at parents' Evenings, i might be more concerned - but if on balance the communication through other channels is good, I would think that was OK.

It is probably worth saying that if the norm becomes 'every teacher must see every parent face to face', then it is not the core subjects - generally large departments - who will dictate the number of Parents' evenings. It is the smaller departments that everyone still does who will really struggle - at DC's school, probably 90% of the year group do 2 languages in Y8/9, and 1 of those languages only has 1 full time teacher and 1 part time teacher. As the full time teacher also teaches another language, I think there are some years when she teachers >100 pupils out of the year group of 200ish. At 12 pupils per hour, there would need to be at least 3 Parents' evenings of 3 hours duration for her to see them all face to face.