Ant tips/ comments to maximize the chance to......

essex-mum18 · Post by **essex-mum18** » Mon May 11, 2009 8:47 am

Morning all,

It will be the first time to have a parent evening soon for my y7 son. I often hear parents saying that they were unable to see all the teachers or time was running short in between time slots.

Any comments/ tips would be welcome to maximize the chance to see all/ most teachers at the first parent evening. Thank you in advance.

solimum · Post by **solimum** » Mon May 11, 2009 9:40 am

Try not to get consecutive appointments - leave at least 5-10 mins between. Depending on how the queues are organised be prepared to give up on a teacher who is over-running seriously to get back on track with another who is keeping well to time, or even (if there are two of you able to attend) split up. Go back to the slow ones later, or phone the school the next day and arrange another time. If your son hasn't managed to make appointments with all the teachers make sure you at least know the names of the others so you can spot if they are looking lonely and you can jump in! Take a book/ newspaper to read, or get to know some of the other Year 7 parents if you don't already. Don't take younger siblings if you can possibly help it. If there are any subjects you have particular concerns about, write brief notes in advance so you don't forget that vital question. Be tolerant if the teacher doesn't immediately remember your child - they may have several with the same name and yours will only stand out if particularly chatty or problematic. Try not to eavesdrop too obviously on the parents in front! Take a bottle of water....

Snowdrops · Post by **Snowdrops** » Mon May 11, 2009 9:53 am

[quote="solimum"]Try not to eavesdrop too obviously on the parents in front! quote]

I always treated these evenings like going to the sales (but without the ankle kicking

).

Know which teachers you want to speak to and have them at the top of your list - splitting up is a good idea too.

Post by **hermanmunster** » Mon May 11, 2009 10:35 am

solimum wrote:Try not to get consecutive appointments - leave at least 5-10 mins between. Depending on how the queues are organised be prepared to give up on a teacher who is over-running seriously to get back on track with another who is keeping well to time, or even (if there are two of you able to attend) split up. Go back to the slow ones later, or phone the school the next day and arrange another time. If your son hasn't managed to make appointments with all the teachers make sure you at least know the names of the others so you can spot if they are looking lonely and you can jump in! Take a book/ newspaper to read, or get to know some of the other Year 7 parents if you don't already. Don't take younger siblings if you can possibly help it. If there are any subjects you have particular concerns about, write brief notes in advance so you don't forget that vital question. Be tolerant if the teacher doesn't immediately remember your child - they may have several with the same name and yours will only stand out if particularly chatty or problematic. Try not to eavesdrop too obviously on the parents in front! Take a bottle of water....

agreed - could swap the water for a St Bernard carrying Brandy if there are lots of stairs to go up and down

I also find that you have to be flexible re appointments, as you say, jump in if there is a slot and if you have to wait for one teacher for a long time then just catch up with the others later.

DSs school was curious in first year - we all saw form tutor but subject teachers were seen to some extent "by invitation" - though you could see them if you wanted. - turned out that if you got no invites then things were going fine and it was a bad sign to get too many invites.

hilltop · Post by **hilltop** » Mon May 11, 2009 11:13 am

Be there a little before the official starting time. You might be able to slot in another teacher before lots of parents turn up.

Post by **hermanmunster** » Mon May 11, 2009 11:14 am

hilltop wrote:Be there a little before the official starting time. You might be able to slot in another teacher before lots of parents turn up.

also book the early appointments - more likely to be on time!

surreymum · Post by **surreymum** » Mon May 11, 2009 12:26 pm

And try not to get caught trying to read all the marks upside down in their notes of all the class results

Snowdrops · Post by **Snowdrops** » Mon May 11, 2009 12:31 pm

sj355 · Post by **sj355** » Mon May 11, 2009 1:34 pm

surreymum wrote:And try not to get caught trying to read all the marks upside down in their notes of all the class results

OK I admit it. Guilty as charged!

essex-mum18 · Post by **essex-mum18** » Mon May 11, 2009 2:41 pm

surreymum wrote:And try not to get caught trying to read all the marks upside down in their notes of all the class results

Never thought about it, very tempting though!!

Thanks for all the inputs, so far. Very useful indeed!!