How long are your appts at parents evenings?

[LadyMuck]

Assuming that you just meet with your class teacher, how long is your slot?

[stepaway]

10 mins

[LIZS]

10 or 15 mins iirc

[Feenie]

10 minutes

[sneakergirl]

5 mins here! Utterly ridiculous!

[TheGashlycrumbTinies]

15 mins, but ok to over run by a couple.

[MintyCane]

10 mins but we are always welcome to talk to them in the mornings or afternoons. I think it is fine, they have so many to do. They are always well prepared. I always have to go last because of work. By the time I get there I just want to offer them a cuppa and a tissue, they look worn out.

[atworknotworking]

5 mins here too, last one sat with a beepy watch on

[daisy71]

Can I just butt in here in defence of Ms/Mr beepy watch?
Some parents, despite knowing how long the time slot is, feel the need to sit and talk for half an hour. This then has a knock on effect for all other appts and if everyone did it, would make a 15 hour parent's evening for a class of 30 children. This would be on top of a working day beginning at 8am or before.
Teachers are usually more than happy to schedule appts for those who may need longer at other times.
The last parent's day I did, two divorced parents refused to sit in the same room to discuss their DC, requiring separate 10 min appointments. The Mum sat for one hour talking about her counselling for depression, the Dad later on for three quarters of an hour about his relationship with ex. Believe me you hear it all (stories of tantric sex and new lovers and their great postions being memorable ones).
So, beepy watch may just be being very prudent.

[Elk]

nursery 15mins
rest of school 20 mins

[Butkin]

10 mins but we are encouraged to get there early to look through all their workbooks, art etc which are laid out in advance.

[Kelloggs36]

This year I am going to try the beepywatch strategy because I always get behind despite the best will in the world! With 29 sets of parents to see, multiplied by 10 mins each is almost 5 hours as it is and we still have to get lessons planned and work marked etc and surely we are entitled to go home?

I think that it would be better if parents could ask for a longer slot so that it allows us to plan for it and spread the other parents out over an extra day (ours is over 3 evenings as it is) to take the pressure off a bit. We don't like keeping other parents waiting.

[Millenniumbug]

How long do you get at the DRs as a first appointment - on average?????

[LadyMuck]

We usually get 10 minutes, and there is a member of staff patrolling to ensure that time is kept. But I noticed that when they have sent out the options for choosing a slot with the teacher the evening will be 2.5 hours long and they have to cover 20 parents, so 7.5 minutes each, or accepting that the evening will over run by 50 minutes, so the teacher will have been there for 3.5 hours by the end (assuming that time is kept!)I'll be amazed if the teacher has any voice left by the end!

[Feenie]

We used to do 4 till 8, often running over closer to 8.30 - 9, and I regularly had no memory of who I'd spoken to in the last hour or so, I was so tired.

We do 2 evenings over 2 nights now - longer, but much more sensible. Parents have 10 mins with me and can look at work for as long as they like. After 16 years I am well practised at fitting in all vital info into 10 mins and/or steering parents towards a longer appointment in the near future!

[Goblinchild]

!0 minutes, agree about the need to have a way of stopping some parents overrunning.
It's a bit egocentric not to recognise when your time is up, or to get snippy with the teacher. It's not as if the beep means she gets to go home, unless you're the last appointment.
Some parents have multiple appointments and have chosen their time carefully, so one appointment with a pfb or parent with issues can seriously bugger up everyone else's times.
I don't have a beepy watch, but I have Other Strategies.
And of course, parents are free to make another appointment. Just not at 8.30pm.

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

One of dds teachers used to offer a sweet from her tin of Roses when it was time to go.

[primarymum]

I'm the same, 10 minutes and I try to keep rigorously to it, not for my benefit but for the benefit of parents who are following and for those who need to see the teachers of other siblings on the same night. I don't have a bell but there are ways and means
( except for one set of parents who we literally have to get up and walk out on, switching the lights off as we go!)

[Goblinchild]

First ten minutes free...

[katiestar]

The autumn term one is just 5 minutes and the spring term one 10 minutes.i just don't get how parents can sit and talk for 30 minutes when they know there is a queue behind them.Bring on the egg-timer or stopwatch !

[Goblinchild]

You don't get how they can do that?
Usually by being oblivious to anyone else's needs, and by assuming that what they have to say is of prime importance, even if it is about them and their opinions rather than their child.