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 The system of arranging slots on a piece of paper seems outdated from the outset.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!

but I do agree there needs to be a priority system for those who really need it.

Who would you prioritise and why?

All parents generally value education you aren't unique in that

I worked in one school where we had parent-teacher meetings throughout one school day. Parents only saw the form teacher and reports had just come out, so you discussed those and then made a couple of targets. It was really good.

Honestly OP you need to chill.

Have you even had parents evening yet?
Or contacted the teachers you missed to ask for feedback?

You can't start saying the system needs a whole scale change before you have even experienced it.

And you can be pretty certain they will have considered an online system.

Please ensure you only use up your timeslot with each teacher. Gone are the days of 20mins appointments. You need to prioritise what if anything you raise. They won't give you an in depth discussion of the report.

Well ds does go to a private school (so small classes), doing A levels (so only 3 subjects) and we still had a huge 1.5 hr gap between teachers 1 & 2.

Your expectations are unreasonable.

Online booking doesn't make any difference to the number of slots - it just allocates the slots to those who book online rather than arranging through the students. I actually find it less flexible as a teacher - I will double up appointments if arranging with students if I have two classes, but you can't do that on the online system. It's fundamentally impossible to see 50 people unless the parents evening is 5 hours long, which would be horrendous. If I teach two lower school classes in a year group I will call or email anyone who wants to see me and doesn't have an appointment. As they get older teachers are much less likely to double up classes/ they do less subjects and it will get calme.

Nope Queen; not I. But I will be e-mailing the head regarding a possible change in a system that does not seem to be working, stating the reasons for this (and some gleaned from this thread - thank you). Nothing would change, if everyone sat back and never expressed their opinion, especially if there is some rationale behind it. It's not about being important but is about asking for what you want...even if it is ultimately not possible, rather than putting up and shutting up about a lousy and seemingly outdated system.

This is such a non issue I can't even... Rather than being "fuming" be proactive and contact the school. Ask to speak to his teachers either by phone, email or set up a face to face meeting. I don't understand why you haven't done this?

Green...prioritise those children who are generally struggling with a particular subject. I strongly believe that there will not be many children in this position at dc's school given the entry requirements etc.

Parents night is generally a complete waste of time, its just a courtesy that teachers afford parents, to put names to faces, it has no educational value

Totally agree.

You seriously need to chill OP. Please don't email the head with 'suggestions' about how they can improve. I'm dying inside on your behalf.

CAMe...In the process of doing so, just formulating a rational email in my mind rather than typing out a rant like I have done on here but thanks to those who have replied...I think it has helped me with the process of generating a more coherent e-mail by firstly letting off steam.

I think that's shite op.

I have dc at grammar schools. One is superb and has 2 parents evenings with houses on separate days. There are appointments for everybody. Hall not rammed and no bunfight.Senco there too for us to see if we so wish.The other not as good in this respect however we have just about got appointments for everything we need. If not we get a very speedy email with all questions answered.Frankly I'd personally speak face to face than have to email hoards of parents.

I don't believe disruptive or lazy children should have priority.Why should they? Why are they waiting until parents evening to deal with it?

Just had our parents evening at the school with just one evening. Not going to lie it's hell however every appointment was incredibly useful and far more useful than the reports. We had documentation to look at of every test and key assessment they'd all done,their exercise books, text books they were using and a teacher there to question over comments in the reports.Every teacher spoke to our dc,asked them questions and if they had any to ask in return. I came home with a fair few useful notes from questions I'd asked.

I fail to see the point of parents evening if it's not like the above. If it's ok for parents to go for years without a parents evening for subjects Ofsted need to clarify this.

We had documentation to look at of every test and key assessment they'd all done,their exercise books, text books they were using and a teacher there to question over comments in the reports

Ah. You see I can't think if anything more uninteresting than going into massive detail for each of my dcs subjects. It literally has nothing to do with the parents. A polite interest is fine, surely?!

I have a child with Sen,I see no reason why she should get priority. Every child will have areas they need to improve on and big issues can often be uncovered face to face. Teachers and parents communicating face to face can glean a lot of info in a short space of time.

Interesting also, that many people see it as a waste of time...I suppose thinking back, nothing much was gleaned from dc's primary parents evenings but I suppose there was always the chance that something pertinent might have been flagged up on these occasions...I think it happened once in dc's case and we were able to put in extra support etc. If teachers think it is also a waste of time...does it then become a case of just going through the motions? There is something in this that says perhaps teachers should be in control of who they should/should not see (re priority cases). Also, I think it is a fair comment to say, year 7 parents are going to be more eager to see teachers...especially if it is their first dc entering secondary education...it is all new to them as well (and perhaps a little bit daunting?) so not completely unexpected then, that there could be a clamour for appointments.

I teach a core subject at a grammar school. Believe me, there will be more students than you expect struggling with the demands of the subject now we have to start focusing on preperation for the much more rigorous GCSEs as soon as students start in year 7. If I have one class in a year group I manipulate who I see slightly by reading the times in my booking sheet and asking students whose parents are available at that time to put their hands. Thereby I can subtlety pick students who I most need to see first. If I have more than one class in a year group this can’t be done and it has to be first come, first served. I try to see as many parents as I can but with more than one class on a year group it is not possible to see everyone. Parents do get half termly tracking grades, however, which give an indication of how their dc is doing and are able to e mail in if there are any concerns. I doubt anything I say at parents eve is a surprise is parents have looked at the codes on the tracking grades.

Nope far from it. It clarified and gave far more info than a generic statement in a report. We got masses of extra info on areas such as essay writing techniques,extra websites,info on the school assessment system,areas to work on and why etc,etc. I asked masses too,things I really wouldn't want to pester teachers over by email. It was lovely for my kids to have praise,face to face encouragement and a time that showed significant adults in their life were giving their individual education importance.

Well worth being rammed in a hall for two hours stressing over getting to 9 appointments on time.

However it's done it's going to be someone's parent missing out.

You have no idea what the other children are or aren't capable of and what their educational ability is like

Teachers wouldn prioritise children with SEN and behaviour issues .... but these should be on going and addressed during the year anyway.

I fail to see how you can say with absolute certainty that your child is a priority. He's one of 50/100/180 ....

Unfortunately that's the way it works whether it's in line or papers based.

Toomanytealights...At last, I think I have found someone on a similar wavelength...the points you have raised are very salient in my view...do you take your dc's along to parents evening...I suppose this is suitable for older children...yes, lovely to get face to face encouragement too. Do your dc's attend a large school...the school sounds like a model example from the way you describe it (and I don't suppose you are talking about a private school are you...other posters have unhelpfully, suggested removing my dc and sending them to a private school because of a system that is clearly not working).

I agree that unfortunately someone has to miss out

Ds1 was organised and motivated

He was also crippled with anxiety...so was much too shy and nervous to approach a teacher

So it worked for us...but absolutely appreciate that it won't work for others

You seem to think that the school have not considered online booking. They will have and they will have rejected it.

Our appointments are 4 minutes long

They insist the kids go,150 kids per year. Both schools Outstanding. The bunfight one isn't perfect and ironically I don't think provides enough parental info throughout the year,rests on its laurels and doesn't ask for parental opinion ever. It does however have lots of strengths.

The other one with parents evening spread over two days is fab re informing parents,canvases parental opinion with lengthy questionnaires etc. Wonder if parents evening cropped up and they geared it towards what parents want.

I'd politely complain. If you don't it won't ever improve.

Not private,state grammars.

Yes Toomanytealights...that's my thinking...if I don't complain then nothing will ever change - that's exactly the stance I'm taking.

I have 125 year 7s. In the very unlikely event of every parent wanting to see me, how long would that take?
Shifting to an online system won’t increase the number of appointments, it will just mean the OP gets one as she will jump onto her computer.