How often does your child have a Parents Evening?

[lazymoo]

I only ask because my DD is in year 7 and we have had afternoon tea at the school last October, to get to know what clases the kids did. We have had a very brief report a list of subjects and what the effort they have put in to each class and what the grade is. but no comments, that came at Xmas. After Easter we are having a tutor meeting, which I thought was her Parents Eve., but it turns out that it is a chat about Past, Present and Future, but we don't ever actually get to meet any of her teachers from here on in, just a look at the class rooms last Oct. Is this Normal or not.
By the way at the School DD goes to; each pupil is assigned a Tutor and they then have him/her from Day One until they leave, so I do see how for example the Science teacher could say to DD's Tutor, LazyMoo's DD is X position in class, and needs to improve on Y, but her Z is good. But, I am sad I would of liked the oppurtunity to speak to some of the other Teachers; especially the Music Teacher who made her cry this AM

[lazymoo]

Sorry I wasn't to clear the meeting after Easter iis with DD's Tutor.

[PenelopePitstops]

one parent evennin per year which allowed to meet every teahcer and one tutor
meeting allowingnto seee the prgress on a more general scale (state school\0

[mumblechum]

I had presumed there'd be a meeting each term, as at primary, but at my ds's new school (he's in Year 7), there was one parents evening in late Nov/early Dec where each teacher was available to meet at allocated times.

I met about 5 plus form tutor and even that took all night. To meet all 16 teachers in one night would have been impossible, so picked the ones I thought most relevant (poor old Drama teacher sat all alone in the hall whilst there was a massive queue for Science and Maths teachers).

It seems odd to me that your dd's school doesn't offer at least one opportunity per year to meet the individual teachers.

[portonovo]

One meeting with form tutor about Oct/Nov, then one with subject tutors in the summer after full reports have gone home. You see as many teachers as you want or have time to (it can be a bit of a scrum). We usually see the core subjects and one or two chosen by our child. Except this year it's options year and they have to do the core subjects so we changed tack and only saw the teachers whose subjects she was thinking of choosing.

We also have 2 interim reports each year - these are just attainment and effort grades for each subject, not full comments.

[bigcar]

Dd1 is in yr11, we have one parents evening a year with the opportunity to meet any, but not all of her teachers. Then one target setting day when we have 15mins with her form tutor to discuss plans for the year. We also get a brief report each term with ABCD grades for effort, classwork, homework etc. Not the same as seeing the teacher, but at least we have a rough idea how she is doing.

The school is also happy for parents to ring and speak to any teacher, may be if you have concerns you could try this. Since she started her GCSEs we have found email very useful, every teacher at the school will give their address as its one via the LEA.

It is hard when they go to senior school as you have nowhere near as much contact with the school as you do at primary, but I dont think any school would object to you ringing to discuss a problem or arranging to go in to see a particular teacher.

[Hulababy]

When I was teaching, there was one parent's evening per year - spaced out throughout the year for different year gorups. Appointments were made for parents with each subject teacher and form tutor if required; pupils respinsbile for making appointments and recording them.

Pupils also received one written report per year.

[Lilymaid]

DS2 has a traditional parents evening only for Y9 (GCSE choices) - evening means after school, so parents have to take leave to attend. I think that Y7, 8 and 10 now only have a tutor consultation day (which is today) where the class tutor will see each set of parents for 10 minutes during the school day (8.30 - 3) and will relay information from other teachers. Y11 has a meeting after mock-GCSEs where GCSE level/ 6th Form college etc application can be discussed. (NB even for Y9 and Y11 the student has to book the sessions with the teacher, so it means that you don't always get to see
DS1 was at an independent school so had an "old fashioned" parents evening (in the evening) every year where the school organised the bookings and you came out actually having some idea of what was going on.

[fizzbuzz]

Union guidelines are:
1 parents evening for each year
1 report each year.

Anything over and above this is beyond union recommendations.

At our school we do the above + for Y7 meeting with form tutor in October.

[chestnutty]

Lilymaid, my dds school is just starting to have review days instead of parents evenings.
Went to the first last week and must say that i didn't find it very useful at all.
That could be down to the form teacher as I don't think he really got the idea either.
I found talking to subject teachers in the past alot more informative and useful.
I told the deupty head before we left but we will see. I spoke to another teacher as well who thought it was agood idea and that parental attendance was very high compared to traditional evenings.
Should keen parents be penalised for the parents that can't be bothered?

[Lilymaid]

Chestnutty - yes we haven't found it very useful to talk only to DS's tutor. On the plus side she has been his tutor since Y7. On the downside she teaches Art (not DS's best subject and not one of his GCSE subject) so I feel she might not be able to relay much useful information about other subjects. Similarly, I wouldn't expect a Maths teacher to be very illuminating about History etc. I also have issues with the school reports (two per year, but all but the last report issued are merely marks A-C and attainment targets). However, we have contacted individual teachers on many occasions and found that they have generally responded quickly and helpfully. I wonder whether the teachers spend more time responding to individual e-mails and phone calls than they would if they produced traditional reports with comments and had face to face parents evenings?

[mumeeee]

In my daughters high school there is a parents evening twice a year for year 7's then once a year for the rest pof the years,except year 9 when they have an options evening which parents are invited to.
We didn't have a meeting every term in primary it was twice a year.

[lazymoo]

Thanks, I am looking forwrd to the Tutor meeting next week, but still feel sad that I won't have atraditional Parents Evening, I suppose time will tell eh!

[fizzbuzz]

As teacher find it very weird that you only get to see form tutor. I see my form for 15 mins every day, and that's it. I cannot possibly know how they are doing in all subjects.

What happens at our school, is you see subject teachers on parents evenings, and if yoy want to or need to see form tutor you see them as well.

[REIDmylips]

we have one parents evening per year group per year, however for year 7 we have a 'target setting day'. This is where the parents see the form tutor who has effort letters for pupils for each subject. We give this information to parents and have a brief 5/10 minute discussion with them about how they have settled in etc.

I too only see my form for a short time each day and would much prefer to stick to the 'traditional' parents evening format tbh.

[slayerette]

At my school we have a 'New Parents' Evening in the first term, mainly for Yr 7 parents, where they get to meet tutors and Maths, English, etc teachers. All students have one parents' evening and two reports per year - so some form of feedback each term. Parents can see all subject teachers on a parents' evening or email/phone any of us at any time or request a meeting if they want.