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Secondary education

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Original poster

First parents’ evening - and it’s virtual

63 replies

OverTheHillAndDownTotherSide · 03/05/2023 21:31

First parents’ evening for year 7 DD. We get 2 minutes per teacher. DD going though ADHD assessment currently and transition hasn’t been smooth. Have not had any meetings with school, just a couple of phone calls with tutor and SENCO. Haven’t met any of her subject teachers.

So I’m wondering what questions we should prioritise in these 2 minutes.

OP posts:
Original poster
OverTheHillAndDownTotherSide · 04/05/2023 17:27

NurseCranesRolodex · 04/05/2023 17:19

You won't have time to discuss any of this. I'd let the teachers speak so they can share how & what your DC is doing. If time at end ask something. Make separate appointment to discuss your assessment etc. Parents night is the teachers chance to share how your DC is getting on.

Been and gone. See update above.

OP posts:
Original poster
OverTheHillAndDownTotherSide · 04/05/2023 17:29

seratoninmoonbeams · 04/05/2023 17:16

Wow. Two minutes. I thought our allotted five were bad enough. Agree with PPs though. You won't really get to talk for those 120 seconds.

1m 50secs max per session. One teacher didn’t show at all, one arrived with 30 secs remaining. The others I got about 1m 45secs with. There was time for a question or 2 with a couple of seconds and I let one of them go 10 seconds early.

Parents WhatsApp is alight with
complaints about the timing and no-shows.

OP posts:
Dodgeitornot · 04/05/2023 17:36

@NurseCranesRolodex Don't you find this really a waste of time though? 2 mins to basically be read what you get on a report. I'm not sure I'd bother even fussing to get an appointment. Im not surprised OP is pissed off. I feel like it's a bit of an insult to the teachers too as parents evening has always been when you discuss issues/strengths and if they have an issue with a student that's maybe not large enough for a phone call, but needs to be addressed, you can't possibly do that in 2 mins.
As for contacting the teacher, a teacher can't have all these parents contacting them for a separate appointment to discuss things in more depth. That's an insane workload and the whole point behind staying after school for parents evening, is that you can build a home to school contact and the kid sees that. What's the point of writing a report, to then have a whole evening taken from you to read it to a parent for 2 mins. Talk about doubling up on work.

MargaretThursday · 04/05/2023 17:37

Generally virtual parents' evenings are so much nicer-but 2 minutes? We get 8 minutes.

However I find parents' evenings at secondary tend to involve mostly teacher talking to pupil. For ds it goes something like this:
Teacher: How do you think you're doing?
Ds: fine
Teacher: How did you find this bit?
Ds: fine
Teacher: I think you might have found this bit a little harder
Ds: shrug
Teacher: Think you need to work on this.
Ds: yeah
Teacher: Have you seen this we're working on next?
Ds: yeah
Teacher: Next term I'd like to see a little more work and enthusiasm in lessons.
Ds: fine

I think you get the picture 🤣

Dodgeitornot · 04/05/2023 17:38

OverTheHillAndDownTotherSide · 04/05/2023 17:29

1m 50secs max per session. One teacher didn’t show at all, one arrived with 30 secs remaining. The others I got about 1m 45secs with. There was time for a question or 2 with a couple of seconds and I let one of them go 10 seconds early.

Parents WhatsApp is alight with
complaints about the timing and no-shows.

Show quote history

Flippin heck did they have a timer in the corner of the screen or something? My DDs school let go of virtual parents evening thankfully but when they did it you could choose a 5, 10 or 20min appointment depending on need. They didn't have many 20min slots obv but it seemed to work well. This is a state school.

Original poster
OverTheHillAndDownTotherSide · 04/05/2023 17:41

Yes. There is a button to start each meeting and the 1m 50s starts counting down immediately. It turns red at 60s and boots you out at zero. The teachers appeared to be frustrated by it and most apologised for it being so short.

Then a 10 sec countdown till the next “start meeting” button appeared.

OP posts:
MargaretThursday · 04/05/2023 17:43

WM schools are known for their pastoral care. I bumped into DD’s year 3 teacher yesterday who asked how she was getting on. Even the school receptionist, who I bumped into last week still asks after her. And her nursery class teacher last month

I'd say that was normal teacher meeting old pupils/parents, so I wouldn't worry about losing that level of care if you moved.

I saw dd1's year 1 teacher yesterday and she asked after her. I see dd2's nursery lead quite frequently and she always wants to know what she's doing etc. DD1 is in her 20s and dd2 is 19yo.
Dm's a teacher and she is always bumping into old pupils/parents from up to 40 years ago and she always asks after them and their siblings.

Unsuredad123 · 04/05/2023 17:52

First session done. Teacher turned up with all of 10 seconds left on the clock. Let's hope the rest of them are better than this.

TizerorFizz · 04/05/2023 18:29

@OverTheHillAndDownTotherSide
I know someone said I was wrong to suggest moving but honestly this is crap. You obviously know this so I would be alternative making plans if I could.

Dodgeitornot · 04/05/2023 18:34

@TizerorFizz I mean I wouldn't move just because of a crap parents evening but yea you're not wrong that she should look into moving if the overall picture is rubbish. However, you suggested moving countries which is a slight overreaction I would think.

OrangeBlossomTime · 04/05/2023 18:50

It's ridiculous.
Our school hasn't gone back to face
Waste of bloody time!

NurseCranesRolodex · 04/05/2023 18:59

Dodgeitornot · 04/05/2023 17:36

@NurseCranesRolodex Don't you find this really a waste of time though? 2 mins to basically be read what you get on a report. I'm not sure I'd bother even fussing to get an appointment. Im not surprised OP is pissed off. I feel like it's a bit of an insult to the teachers too as parents evening has always been when you discuss issues/strengths and if they have an issue with a student that's maybe not large enough for a phone call, but needs to be addressed, you can't possibly do that in 2 mins.
As for contacting the teacher, a teacher can't have all these parents contacting them for a separate appointment to discuss things in more depth. That's an insane workload and the whole point behind staying after school for parents evening, is that you can build a home to school contact and the kid sees that. What's the point of writing a report, to then have a whole evening taken from you to read it to a parent for 2 mins. Talk about doubling up on work.

Agree! 2 minutes is box ticking and says alot about the value the school put on links with home & the pupils work.
IME the shortest parents night appt was 5 mins at Secondary, 10 at Primary. Not acceptable to be contacting the teacher directly, leadership team there for a reason.

NoTouch · 04/05/2023 19:05

FrownedUpon · 04/05/2023 12:33

Just listen to what they have to say. That’s the point of parents evening, to hear about their progress/needs. You can’t just go in with a barrage of questions.

In our school we have the report before the parents evening. So the teacher has already given their feedback about progress, the whole point of the meeting is for parents to discuss it and ask questions! Not just to listen to the teacher regurgitate what is on the report again, that is a waste of time.

If I didn't have any further questions on a subject, or something else I wouldn't book a slot with that teacher and leave it for someone who did have questions.

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