Tough parents evening?

[Hello12x123x]

I had parents evening with year 11s today I’m an NQT.

All of year 11 didn’t get their predicted grade in the mocks and were about 3/4 grades below for my subject. This is the same as other teachers in my department.

When I shared this a lot of students/parents were shocked or upset which makes me feel bad like I’ve failed them and its my fault. I have said they are doing well recently and that one mock doesn’t determine everything so we need to keep an eye on things and see the marks on future assessments and we will have some revision lessons but they need to keep up the work. I don’t know if this is right was I too positive should I have been more negative?

Im worried Im going to be blamed for their lower mark in the mocks by the parents and they’ll say I’ve been too positive about it?

Oh bless you. Try not to take it personally. You just started teaching them this academic year and it's not exactly the easiest of times.

Does your department have a plan? This sounds like a wider issue from what you describe.

Do you know why they did so badly? What were their grades like last year before lockdown?
If they had no idea and thought they were on track then I can see why they’d be concerned.
It’s definitely not your fault though. Please try not to blame yourself. Speak to your HoD and get some advice.