Virtual parents evening

[ODFOx]

After years of parents evenings where everyone is clustered into the school hall waiting to pounce on the next teacher on the list while scowling at the parent who takes 9 minutes instead of five and upsets the whole system, we attended our first virtual parents evening this week.

The system gave us 5 minutes with each teacher and worked out the most efficient booking order for us.
On the night each 5 minutes counted down and the meeting cut off and connected you to the next on the list at the appointee time.

In short it was brilliant; much less stressful than the old way and very focussed in the time allowed.

Are all schools doing this and how have you found it?

I think it worked well, the timings have never gone better. But, it took our attendance down from 45% to about 30% and another year group from 50% to 40%. Which isn’t ideal. Did avoid the yearly punch up between two families though.!

I agree. Ours wasn't quite as well organised as yours - there were ten days of stress trying to get the appointments lined up as different teachers were using 5 or 6 different methods to book or assign slots. There was no automatic cut-off after 5 minutes and some teachers did run late by a few minutes but compared to the nightmare of the crowds, noise levels and queues at a normal parents evening it was an utter delight. I did miss the cake though. There is normally really good cake.

Yes ours was similar. 7 minutes with each teacher with a countdown clock showing how long was left. Much better than going in to school and leave all frazzled 2 hours later!

Yes, we've had these for both DCs secondary schools this year, much easier and less stressful, I liked the fact that it was private and quiet, the DCs liked it too (they sat in).

Speaking as a teacher they are ideal. Parents book direct so there is no ‘but Johnny said my appointment was now’ nonsense. You can have a frank conversation without worrying another parent is listening in and it’s much easier to end a conversation online at the appointed time than it is in person.

Best thing is if the timings work out/it’s convenient for the teacher they can do it from home too (god bless the virtual background).

We don’t have automatic shut offs but even so they are one aspect of changed protocols that I really hope stay forever.

Oh yes OP. Ours too was brilliant as you say. Last PE I was so angry as the teacher and parent before us sat chatting about golf despite the fact their time was over and I was sitting just right behind the parent and in the teacher’s view. I don’t like when the system allocates you appointments back to back because it meant there was no time to get from end of the building to the other and up and down stairs but because it was virtual, that wasn’t a problem at all.

Any over chatting just got cut off and the next one started. Brill!

It’s really good I agree

Totally brilliant. We've had them over schoolcloud which is the one with countdowns and automatic appointment making and it has worked so well. We've also had the child makes the appointment (or not) and the teacher calls on teams version and it was crap in comparison. One teacher never called - twice - one over ran our appointment and another was late to our appointment. Schoolcloud was bish bash bosh job done.

It’s also great if one of you is at work and the other has a small child

That was always tricky before

Yes OP. Exact same experience. No stressful running around from one building to another, no long queuing up. Only negative was 5 mins for me was not enough. Should have been 10. Rest super-good. Wish it stays same even after Covid leaves us for good

Our school uses schoolcloud also which gives 1 minute between appointments - it worked brilliantly allowing us to see all DS’s teachers one after another within an hour, no messing around.

I organise the parents evenings at our school and we've been doing virtual ones for about 6 months now. Overwhelmingly positive feedback from parents and teachers alike. We also use schoolcloud. The one minor niggle was when only one parent could join appointments (which didn't work for separated parents) but they've recently added functionality to allow 2 to join separately which is great. Can't imagine we'll go back.

As a teacher, I was a bit dubious but I really liked it. I could do the appointments on my ipad whilst having my computer next to me with all my data to hand, not on paper.

I liked that it stuck to time without any awkwardness.

Yes, we were told only one could log in so DH had to dash home from work but that was before Christmas.

We found 5 mins was long enough as the teachers knew who they were seeing next and were prepared, unlike in the school hall where it was a free for all and they had to shuffle papers, find scores etc when you sat down.

I think this is definitely something that should stay, post Covid. We have found virtual parents evenings to be so much better than in person ones!

I'd much rather have face to face ones. Y11 for DD1, technology didn't work at all and couldn't speak to a single teacher, in spite of wifi being fine all day for Teams and Zoom calls. For DD2s, it did work on Teams but it was really confusing where to click next for each appointment, loads of parents failed to access it properly, and we had to have it in DD2's bedroom as she had to login to her school platform rather than sending the appointments to parents.

I think it could work, but the technology is too uneven at the moment, as is people's experience of using it.

Our school used school cloud too. I was really impressed at how easy it was to use.

Booking the appointment times was straightforward and attending was so easy. Click on the link and there was teacher on the screen. 5 minutes of chat and then teacher disappears at the cut off time.

We only attended one real Secondary school parents' evening before lockdown and while it was nice to meet teachers face to face, it was so chaotic and loud. I do actually prefer the online version. It was calmer and a lot more confidential than being in a busy hall. I also was able to eat my dinner in between appointment slots.

Agree, so much better in general.
We got 5 minutes with some teachers which was enough, but only 3 mins with those who teach multiple classes across the year group - fine if there's no issue but if did need to ask something more complex it wasn't enough time.
And one teacher had connectivity issues - so of my 7 appointments I've actually got to have request a phone call from 3 of them next week!

Primary parent here but my DD school has been issuing ParentApp to book face to face appointments for a while, it prevents the whole lost slips etc. issues.

Loved it.

Actually better than usual for us as ds is a well behaved yr10. It meant some teacher told more and gave better advice because they wanted to fill their 5 mins. Rather than, he's good - off you go.

I liked our Primary School one last term. Much more efficient.

Except our internet crashing.. luckily online again with a minute!

Our school used school cloud and it was great. The only issue is that when a teacher ran late, it meant we had just 3 minutes because you can't adjust the timings. I loved it. None of that awkward intro/exit dance. You have 5 minutes - use them!

I actually miss the physicality of it. My eldest starts secondary this year and I think it's they stayed to virtual parents things evenings, you'd hardly ever see the school and get a feel for things. I enjoyed the ones more where you could go in and spend some time looking at DCs books and the art on the wall in the classrooms.

I haven't met either of DCs teachers in the flesh this year. Although obviously got a good impression of them during home schooling. But think you'd miss something particularly at secondary where you don't get to drop them off etc any more.

I agree it is a far better system. Our appointments were automatically booked by logging on and after 5 mins we moved on. Even better my kids father could join us from his lounge rather than me having to tolerate and chat to him for three hours whilst we wait for the teachers.

Yes we had the same and it was much more efficient and reliable 😃