Parents Evening system -not Good at all

[mumLizIn]

Hi I have an S1 child and first time doing Parents evening, it is so overwhelming. there must be a better way of doing this. we have to see like 9 teachers for 5mins each time. I still missed 4 subjects. Why is high school not doing grading system which i think is more accurate way of doing school assessment in high school. Teachers will mark students according to marks in quizzes, attendance, quarterly exams, class participation and projects. if there is any further comments from the teacher, it will be shown on d card as well. Students will be graded and they will have it on a card which they will bring home to parents for signature. so only Students with problems will be notified by school for a parents visit to talk to teacher/s.

I think parents evening is down the most efficient way it can be.
I prefer now we book online rather than the only getting appointments with the teachers who are going to say nice things like when we booked our own at school.
I find 5 minutes enough to ask the questions I want to ask. I’d far rather have a 2 minute conversation than a number on a piece of paper.

Schools DO notify parents if there are any problems! Schoola send out progress reports several times a year anyway. As a high school teacher, I do 7 parents evenings a year- at 3.5 hours each, that's 24.5 hours a year meeting parents - and that's usually after a full day's teaching. Do you think that is too little?

We get a termly report (emailed directly! Your idea sounds like you have been watching too many 80s high school films) along the lines of what you propose, but then also have online parents evening. I hate in person ones unless they can be super strict about running to time.

I det an alarm for 5 minutes before the online booking system opens, as I only got to see 4 teachers when my eldest was in Yr7. If a teacher teaches more than one class in that Year group, they simply have too many pupils.

You don't need to see every subject teacher. Just the ones your DC has said they are struggling with it where they are constantly asking for help with homework, maybe anything your DC used to enjoy but now dislikes to see if there's a reason. There's no need to spend 5 minutes talking to the English teacher (for example) if your DC loves the subject and you will only hear positive comments.

Ours not only gives you only 5 mins but does it in classrooms so parents are frantically running from classroom to classroom, I swear they do it for comedy value. It's such a stupid system, within 20 mins parents just queue up to see the teachers they really want to see and ignore the schedule (which pisses me off) DH and I had to divide and conquer last time.

You don’t have to see any teachers you don’t want to. I didn’t use to see art or other specific subjects by year 8/9 as I knew the DC would not take it.

Teachers do let you know if there are issues so you should know. Do you not receive a report? In the end at my DCs' school they did parents eves online which was much better actually, logistically. It is a busy evening but I agree @Malaguena123 - teachers are giving up their whole evening several times a year. I always found 5 mins plenty to discuss progress and what to do going forward.

If you have specific concerns you can always email the teacher.

I do think PE would definitely be improved with a 5 minute bell. I have seen a teacher desperately trying to wrap up but a parent still going after 15 minutes..

Oh how I wish parents all thought like this! I’ve had genuinely stunning classes where I’ve had (tbf a lovely) evening telling parents how great they’re doing but didn’t need to see any cos of issues

You do get reports with grades on at our bog standard Glasgow secondary school. Twice a year. Also has comments about your kids behaviour, homework and level working at.

We prioritised the teachers for the subjects ours were struggling with.

I find it a bit sad that the advice on here is to only bother speaking to teachers of subjects in which the child is struggling.

I do totally understand the logistical struggles, (I'm an ex-secondary teacher- usually always had two classes per year group too), but surely it's beneficial to the student to hear some good feedback, especially in front of their parents. Those one or two subjects that go against the grain in terms of feedback might just give the confidence boost the child needs and the balanced insight that the parent needs to help the child succeed.

Edited to add: actually it's probably quite demoralizing. 'We won't bother finding out more about where you are doing well/subjects you enjoy/meeting a teacher that you have fostered a good working relationship with, we only want to know about where things aren't going well'.

Having said that, I've yet to go through it as a parent yet (DS is 3) so I know I might be being too idealistic. It's sad though, isn't it?

For year 7 which I think is the same as S1, we just saw core teachers so maths English and science and then anything Ds might be interested in taking as an option. So no need to see the drama teacher, music or art teachers either.

The way it worked in the DC's school was you saw their form teacher only in the October which was mainly about settling in, organisation, have they handed in their homework. Then we got 3 reports a year detailing their attitude to learning as well as their grades but grades only appeared on term 2's report as they were still all finding their feet in the first term.

Also the school had a phone call tick box so you could get a call from their form teacher who checked their planner daily during the 20 minutes form time, the planner showed behavioural stuff, both positive and negatives. If you wanted to speak to a teacher about a concern you emailed the school and the teacher called you back within 48 hours.

Parents' evenings for 5 minutes works well, think how much you can say in 5 minutes. This is how every maths one went, "Well what can I say, love him in my class, I set the work, he does it, same with homework and he puts his hand up lots, engages well with the work and other students" what do you think I can reply to that? Just, "Brilliant, anything he needs to work on?" and their answer, "No." Done.

We get four minutes online and it automatically cuts off. Pretty pointless imo as are the reports that are a cut and paste job. My husband is a teacher I see how much time goes into it but the output isn't worth the input.

@Mandoidi no I think you're right, even just as a parent I enjoy the praise, it's encouraging! We don't usually take DS but will be from this year (Y9) and I think it's important he hears the good as well as the areas he needs to work on which are the parts I will want to focus on.

We get a termly report. We have online parents evening at 5 mins per appointment and it works well. There's a little clock ticking down in the corner so both teacher and parent know to get in what they want to say in the allotted time. We speak to maths, English, science and then a selection of other subjects.

@Mandoidi oh deffo I used to go and hear what English said about DD and PE about DS! It’s always nice for them to hear praise.

My DD had a lot of MH difficulties in her teenage years. All dx and under CAMHS. Low self esteem was up there as a symptom. I'll never forget sitting down in front of her maths teacher and him saying "Sorry, this is only for pupils in my class". She'd never missed one lesson and always did well in maths. He did t even recognise her name. Awful.

To be fair planning parents evening must be a nightmare for schools.
At my DDs we have to book online, 5 minute slots with each teacher. Which is fine in theory BUT there are always parents who don't book and turn up anyway and then some teachers talk for longer than 5 minutes so you miss your slot and go to the next one then try and fit in where you can with first teacher etc, so that the whole system crumbles.
I actually think turn up and sit to wait in turn for each teacher would work better

Before I retired, my school has moved to monthly tracking of behaviour and effort. This information was sent to parents and Heads of House. Reports were written termly and in reasonable detail. What had been covered that term, what the particular pupil was doing well with and a specific point to improve. The parents night was an opportunity to let parents know how well their child was settling in/doing, both academically and behaviourally. If an in-depth discussion was required, the parents were asked to make a separate appointment with the Hod. If there were significant issues then the Hoh was also involved. I have often had two classes in the same year group or doing the same certificate. Five minutes per pupil doesn't ensure all pupils' parents can be seen. I considered parents night a two way discussion, between the parents and me. I would not have been happy to leave out the parents of pupils who were doing well. They deserve my time as much as those who struggle a bit. There are always areas where able pupils can extend themselves.

For 5 minute appointments you have to prep well.
At most 3 bullet points, questions or issues.

Don't bother seeing teachers if all is going fine and you have nothing to ask.

Examples:
. DD says sometimes you go too fast and she can't take notes fast enough
. How can I support more at home?
. DS wants to do this for GCSE, is that feasible
. DD says sometimes the behaviour of others is disrupting
. Does she add enough detail? Other teachers are raising this as an issue.

We booked an appointment with DD's PE teacher in year 11. She wasn't doing GCSE PE, was never much good at it, and used to hate it in year 7. We just wanted to be able to tell him how enthusiastic she was when telling us about her PE lessons, and that he was doing a tremendous job. He probably wondered why on earth we'd made an appointment, but hopefully he appreciated the feedback.