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Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

Original poster

Are you able to speak to all core subject teachers this year for parents evening?

79 replies

Schoolparentsevening · 04/02/2022 07:51

Hi, I just wanted to ask about peoples experiences for parents evenings in secondary atm. We have been offered approx half amount of appointments for 9 subjects. Missing some core subjects inc maths and with staff talking about subjects they do not teach- essentially relaying information from other teachers. I know covid etc has had an impact but the school think that this is “enough” I think it’s not great. I would have liked to speak to o core subject staff and also option staff. So not everyone but the subjects my child will choose from. So are you having similar issues? Please let me know.

OP posts:
dementedpixie · 04/02/2022 07:56

We had a virtual parents evening and managed to talk to all the core subject teachers. Only had a 4 minute slot with each though so you had to speak fast Grin

ChildHeadache · 04/02/2022 07:59

Virtual evening gere. Yr 8 but tbey choose options now... many people could only get a few teachers. I got 3 and not the options she wants to take 🙄.

Within 15mins of the booking system apparently most were booked. They did offer a short email but they didnt want ti encourage a ton of calls home...

GeneLovesJezebel · 04/02/2022 07:59

Yes, but it’s still virtual.

ChildHeadache · 04/02/2022 08:00

Ours were 5 mins! But still cut off on the one we wanted to talk to and felt too long on tbe one we were happy with quickly!

CMOTDibbler · 04/02/2022 08:01

We had virtual, and tbh I prefer that anyway. I got 5 minutes with everyone we needed to talk to, and perfectly on time

bringonyourwreckingball · 04/02/2022 08:02

Yes although science was 1 teacher feeding back for all 3 subjects. GCSE year. I love virtual parents evening, huge improvement on spending hours hanging around and only seeing a couple of teachers

ChildHeadache · 04/02/2022 08:28

Wow so different to ours! Our teachers just didnt have the availability!

Also as much as virtual was more convenient - were in the second year and we've never been into my daughters school. It would have been nice to see the teach area, art area, music etc to see qhat her world is like everyday. And also as we're choosing options to get a feel for those areas too.

CovoidOfAllHumanity · 04/02/2022 08:35

We've had virtual since Covid and it is so much better than when it was in person. So easy to book with the ap and we can attend easily after work from the kitchen table rather than rushing around worrying about parking. Lots of the teachers seemed to be doing it from their kitchens too so doubtless better for them.
We had 5 mins back to back with each teacher which feels a bit exhausting but gets it over with
No issues booking with all of them. When it was in person DD had a paper sign up sheet and would miss out on half of them (she said accidentally/ no appts left)
The time limit is set by the software and it kicks you out after 5 mins so no running late due to the person in front and it focused minds on just saying what is necessary
I really hope they keep it this way or at least the booking aspect of it.

SuspiciousHumanoid · 04/02/2022 08:38

I haven’t had a face-to-face consultation with any of DS’s teachers since he started secondary, and he’s in year 9. All I’ve had are tick box charts, not even a comment from an actual teacher.

HelloKeith · 04/02/2022 08:49

5 mins ish on Schoolcloud. One subject teacher reporting for all teachers - so 1 appointment for all sciences. School finishes early on parents evening days though - partly so they can run parents evening from 3pm, partly so some teachers can scramble home as the school wifi can't cope with them all being online at the same time.

minisnowballs · 04/02/2022 09:20

Year 8 - just had it. Five minutes with each teacher on school cloud.

Most were great, couldn't get a couple (due to staffing issues, currently French and music taught by supplies) but easy to get all core subjects.

Five mins felt too long with some teachers and too short with others.

We had one that went very wrong - maths teacher told DD2 she was
underperforming using one of those grade trajectory things - and we'd never seen the trajectory so had no idea. She wept silently for the next three minutes.

Five minutes wasn't enough to put that right but the next day I had a call with the teacher as soon as I'd emailed and he (and the head of maths) met with DD2 as well to explain the issue (some sky-high CATs score that means she'll never be able to hit her targets).

Overall quite impressed - except with the stupid trajectories.

MermaidEyes · 04/02/2022 09:24

Parents evening here is still online which I prefer as we are able to speak to as many teachers as we wish, albeit only 5 minutes for each one. It's actually a much better system as pre covid you only got to see the form tutor, which is a pretty pointless exercise when they don't even teach your child and only see them for 10 minutes every day.

ChildHeadache · 04/02/2022 09:26

Ours just couldn't fit say 90 parents into one evening... seems like we were unlucky!

parietal · 04/02/2022 09:43

ours was virtual & exactly 5 mins per teacher. we got to speak to about 1/2 of the subject teachers, but that includes all the ones that matter (GCSE choice subjects for a yr9)

Original poster
Schoolparentsevening · 04/02/2022 14:10

I don’t get why it seems like
Most parents aren’t getting to speak to the majority of subject teachers. It’s only 5 mins per slot online surely that takes less time than the old face to face meetings used to. Makes no sense. I think communication can be really important at secondary level. It’s pretty bad form.

OP posts:
Silkierabbit · 04/02/2022 14:13

We get 4 mins per teacher so very little, virtual and 20% of staff are of with covid so those obviously are not doing slots. Prefer virtual, 4 mins is tight unless everything is perfect.

Pootles34 · 04/02/2022 14:23

Ours is virtual still, and like others I prefer that. It is a very short slot, but I would hope if they flag an issue that needs further discussion you could talk separately?

skyeisthelimit · 04/02/2022 14:31

We had ours last night, I couldn't book the History teacher so only got 4 appointments , each for 5 minutes. It wasn't quite enough for some subjects to discuss GCSE's as all they did was bang on about what hard work it is and how they have to put the effort in.

ChildHeadache · 04/02/2022 16:32

Well I guess at 5min a person thats max 12 an hour. Over 3 hours thats 36 people.

If you teach 60/90/(3-4 classes so not even whole year group!! ) then you by definition can't even see half....

Not that that's solved face to face just amazed its working for so many on here!

HelloKeith · 04/02/2022 16:48

The online stuff has got to be far better than the usual all crammed in the hall speed dating bollocks. I've never, ever, seen all of a child's teachers at one of those. I've rarely been able to see English and maths on the same night even if I've hung around for hours on the off chance. And they always involved DC making the appointments on a first come first served basis which never happened. Schoolcloud seems a far better way of doing it.

Iknowitisheresomewhere · 04/02/2022 16:56

Virtual here and I like it.14 teachers, 5 minute slots, done in 70 minutes.

Tree543 · 04/02/2022 17:01

Had one for my yr9 last week online. I had 5 min appointments with 8 of them, he is choosing options so wanted to talk to a lot of them.
You have to be quick with the online booking though. Be ready to book the second it opens or you will miss out.

Cattitudes · 04/02/2022 17:10

Virtual here still, prefer it to the in person sharp elbow fest that it was before. I think that there is possibility a case to have f2f in yr7, 9/10 and yr12 but the rest of the time you don't need childcare for younger siblings, don't need to worry that French teacher is running late and so need to divide up so we don't miss English. Plus it takes about 45 min rather than 15 min drive, 5 min park, 5 min to get into the hall and find out where people are, 1.5hrs seeing teachers because there are breaks between them, 5 min back to car 10 min getting out when everyone else is coming in/ leaving 15 min drive home. Plus dh can dial in on the train home for any key teachers.

Definitely one of the good things!

MagnoliatheMagnificent · 04/02/2022 17:17

Do you all let your kids listen?

premiumcogd · 04/02/2022 17:19

We get 3 minute virtual slots. 3 minutes!!!!
Spoke to only French in November and only Maths last week. Both 3 minutes long. DD in year 8 and that's the only contact we've had with any of her teachers since she started year 7 that I haven't instigated.