Year 7 Parents Evening

[RubyMurry]

It's the 1st parents evening for year 7 ds tomorrow. Have to go on my own as dh is working (he is a chef and it's Valentines so therefore he can't get the night off!) Would this be the time to speak to the year leader about the set that ds is in or would I be better off asking for a separate appointment? He is always getting detention due to the other boys in the class (it's whole class detention not individual) at least half the boys (not ds) is on report for one thing or another and he says that class work suffers because of this behaviour! Ds is not an angel by any stretch of the imagination but he tries hard at school and wants to do well.

Ds also says that he is not being challenged enough and is quite often bored in class, the homework is not as challenging as we had been led to believe and not as much as we had been told (hardly any this term!)

We only moved back to the UK last summer so ds could have a good education and we have left things so far so that he could get used to the school and to make friends but dh and I feel now is the time to sort things out.

Thanks for reading this far and I hope it makes sense! Any advice gratefully received.

[secretscwirrels]

I don't think parents evening is quite the right place for that discussion there simply isn't time or privacy.
A year 7 parents evening at this point in the year could be just with the form tutor? Or it could be the speed dating free for all that happens when you see all the teachers.
You may get a written report or summary of grades before hand. I would go along and listen to what they have to say about his progress. Then make a separate appointment to see his tutor or head of year to discuss all your issues.

[RubyMurry]

Thanks secretscwirrels, it is a free for all with the different teachers, supposed to have appointments but can't see how it will stay on time with a school this size. I will try to arrange an appointment with head of year as ds's form tutor only has him for registration. We had a report before Christmas and it seems he is doing well but we think that he needs more of a challenge or he will just sit back and do nothing

[BackforGood]

I disagree - I think this is exactly the time to do it. Whenever there have been any issues in any subject area at school, I've always brought them up at Parents Evening, and, if you don't get an appropriate resposne then, then the Heads of Department, or, if needed, HT are around to take things further. I don't see the point of going, and then not raising something that is concerning you.

[RubyMurry]

Thanks Backforgood, will see what happens tomorrow night and take it from there, ds reckons he is going to get a good report from all his teachers! He may be in for a bit of shock

[annh]

I think you have to play it by ear when you get there. Secondary parents evenings tend to be noisy, crowded and stressful. Your appointments are presumably only 5 mins long so there is really no time to do anything more than a brief discussion. Do you even have an appt with the Head of Year? At our school, only certain students are allocated appointments with the HoY, usually the ones who are on report.

[Decisiontimesoon]

Flag it up with the form tutor and ask for a separate meeting to go in and discuss