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Secondary education

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

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Original poster

Online parents evenings

68 replies

mightyducks · 18/03/2022 18:26

My DS’s school has emailed to say they are continuing with the online parents evenings, for at least the next year, and after having 4 minutes with each of his teachers I really want to go back to face to face. He has SEND and his progress is always concerning and we have lots of questions for the teachers, we can’t possibly do this in 4 minutes or the 3 minutes we got with some teachers due to them joining late. What are other schools doing?

OP posts:

BluerThanRobinsEggs · 18/03/2022 21:10

In person I've managed at most 4-5 appointments per child. The child had to make the appointments themselves which didn't help. One time I only had 2 appointments as that's all the child could get and they were 90 mins apart One child would only ever make appointments with teachers who had something positive to say... These last 2 years I've got to speak to all of their teachers for the first time ever. Without having to leave the queue for maths because some parent is wibbling on 15 minutes after their time was up, and i had to be at English for that appointment, and I was already late because someone cut in front in Spanish.

SavoyCabbage · 18/03/2022 21:14

Have you actually been to an in person secondary school parents evening @mightyducks? There is no way you can get to see 14 teachers. You target the ones you need to see for whatever reason.

AuntieStella · 18/03/2022 21:17

Utterly love them! One of the best things ever - no getting stuck behind the parent who wants to yak on beyond their appointed time. Easy to arrange follow up calls if you really do need a longer slot.

No travelling, no schelpping round playing 'hunt the teacher' across several rooms.

elephantoverthehill · 18/03/2022 21:21

We have found that attendance is much better on on-line parents evenings, no having to go out in the dark, rain, find a parking space, baby sitters etc. Plus I am warm, the heating goes off in the evening at school.

Dailywalk · 18/03/2022 21:22

I loved the online version last year but tech problems meant that our most recent one this week was a bit of a disaster. F2f would be my preferred option even if still only 5 min per teacher.

Thepaintedgarden · 18/03/2022 21:24

I'm with you op. I much prefer f2f parents' evenings. I fear these are here to stay though.

Original poster

mightyducks · 18/03/2022 21:26

@SavoyCabbage

Have you actually been to an in person secondary school parents evening *@mightyducks*? There is no way you can get to see 14 teachers. You target the ones you need to see for whatever reason.

Yes I’ve an older daughter, been to many of them!

OP posts:

Original poster

mightyducks · 18/03/2022 21:28

@Malbecfan

If your DS is on the SN register, you should have reviews at least once if not twice each year. I certainly have to give information on all my SEN students twice each year PLUS the 3x reports.

I get a review of his learning plan every September with the SENCO liaison officer but I don’t get to see or speak to any teachers as part of it

OP posts:

Twitterwhooooo · 18/03/2022 21:30

My ds had SEND and I've always emailed SENco, Form Tutor or Head of Year about anything other than the routine 'how's he doing?'

Or email teachers directly and ask to speak on the phone outside of parents evening.

I bloody love online parents evening. No loud, crowded hall, waiting for 20 mins while the previous parents overrun and leaving early because it's just all Too Much.

LadyMacduff · 18/03/2022 21:34

@mightyducks for the sort of overview you are looking for, I would contact the form tutor and/or Head of Year who can gather this information on your behalf. This could be as simple as looking on his progress and behaviour records, or emailing his teachers for comment and then feeding back to you. You can do this at any point in the year. I have done it many times for the students I teach.

ChocolateRiver · 18/03/2022 21:42

I’m a teacher and I much prefer online. I know the order so can have everything I need organised. Plus there’s no over running. F2F was very badly organised in my school, parents didn’t keep to appointments and those that didn’t have one queued up anyway. Teachers would regularly have queues of parents still waiting after the finish time because of this and we had to stay. We have an online system where teachers can log things like poor behaviour, non-completion of homework so parents would already be aware. We also send data reports too so parents know if their child is on track. 3-4 minutes is enough in the vast majority of cases.

Hercisback · 18/03/2022 21:44

Teachers feed information into the EHCP review though. I write a few lines for every student I teach with one twice a year.

I'm not really sure what else you're after? A longer appointment isn't appropriate face to face.

McFuckSake · 18/03/2022 21:50

Does your secondary school not use a type of system where you can log in and see info for every subject on behaviour, punctuality, having correct equipment etc?

Dds school use something called classcharts, I know other local schools use it too.

user1471427614 · 18/03/2022 21:51

I'm a teacher and I hate the online appointments. My 5mins starts counting down as soon as the phone starts ringing so it's not even 5mins mins. Still lots of no shows. If I was in the hall another student would be able to take that slot. Personally I believe you loose alot when the student isnt involved in the conversation. Cant wait to get back in the hall

TracyMosby · 18/03/2022 22:07

Personally I believe you loose alot when the student isnt involved in the conversation.

Loose alot?! Teacher of what exactly?!

And why can’t the students be on the video call? Phone calls are not the same as online parents evening.

MoFoFlo · 18/03/2022 22:10

Did DD's parents evening last night. Online, which was a relief as I currently have covid. The booking system allows you to leave a note that the teacher sees beforehand if there are any specific issues or questions which was helpful.

Had one technical mishap where a teacher accidentally disconnected herself at the start of the call and didn't get back on until 40 seconds before the end. She's going to call me next week to give an update on DDs's progress.

ChocolateRiver · 18/03/2022 22:16

@McFuckSake the school I work in uses class charts too. It’s a great tool and is widely used by everyone. If parents check class charts regularly there really shouldn’t be any surprises at parents evening.

Original poster

mightyducks · 18/03/2022 22:17

@McFuckSake

Does your secondary school not use a type of system where you can log in and see info for every subject on behaviour, punctuality, having correct equipment etc?

Dds school use something called classcharts, I know other local schools use it too.

No , we don’t have anything like this, the only up day you get is parents evening

OP posts:

user1471427614 · 18/03/2022 23:14

Tracymobsy. Alot of the parents at my school choose to turn off the video and dont have the student present.

What do you loose.... in my opinion you loose an honest conversation where the student can take responsibility and agree on how to make improvements.

Teacher of what..why does this matter but for your information a teacher of computing and business with 15 years experience

TracyMosby · 19/03/2022 06:50

@user1471427614

Tracymobsy. Alot of the parents at my school choose to turn off the video and dont have the student present.

What do you loose.... in my opinion you loose an honest conversation where the student can take responsibility and agree on how to make improvements.

Teacher of what..why does this matter but for your information a teacher of computing and business with 15 years experience

Yeah you've completely missed my point there.

Galaxyrippleforever · 19/03/2022 06:56

@user1471427614

Tracymobsy. Alot of the parents at my school choose to turn off the video and dont have the student present.

What do you loose.... in my opinion you loose an honest conversation where the student can take responsibility and agree on how to make improvements.

Teacher of what..why does this matter but for your information a teacher of computing and business with 15 years experience

Pp is saying you haven't written 'lose' and 'a lot' correctly. 'A lot' is 2 words and 'loose' means 'my trousers were too loose'.

DockOTheBay · 19/03/2022 07:03

Online seems like a great idea, but 4 minutes isn't very long- usually the appointments are 10 minutes.

I agree with others who said you don't need to speak to all 14 teachers, and you'll struggle to fit them all in. If there are any subjects you're particularly worried about maybe make an appointment to meet another time for a proper discussion.

Hercisback · 19/03/2022 07:08

@DockOTheBay I have never been in a secondary school that has 10 minute appointments. That's far too long.

OP you haven't elaborated on how a face to face session would be any better without you being a CF and messing up everyone else's appointments.

DockOTheBay · 19/03/2022 07:11

We used to have 10 minute appointments at the secondary school i worked at, but that was real life parents evenings so maybe online is different. Of course some people wouldn't take up the whole 10 minutes but, for GCSE especially, it gave you a chance to properly talk.

DoobryWhatsit · 19/03/2022 07:11

At my school, we get 5 mins for KS3, 7 mins for KS4, and 20mins for KS5. The extra couple of minutes make a huge difference.

But online or in person, there always were time limits, and it always screwed everything up if people didn't stick to them. There always was, and still is, the option of asking to continue the discussion at another time.

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