Parent Evenings - who to see?

[BucksBornNBred]

I was just wondering how people choose which subject teachers to see at parent evening. I should know by now really but it always comes as a surprise when I have to make a decision? Should it be DC's choice? Should it be a mix of good subjects and bad subjects? Should it be the ones DC is most likely to take at A level? Should we see as many as possible?

Any advice would be appreciated. Many thanks.

BBB

[scary mum]

I always asked mine to get as many as possible. It was always hardest to get the maths & English teachers as they seemed to teach more than one group. Bear in mind that your DC will chose the ones most likely to give a glowing report and possibly tell you the the RS teacher (insert other subjects as necessary) says that they don't want to see you. If there is someone you particularly want to see, but don't get an appointment, you could always email them for an update. If there is a problem the teacher will either request to see you at the parents' evening, or will make contact outside anyway.
I am soooo glad that the days of parents' evenings are nearly over for me. I hate them with a passion!

[BucksBornNBred]

Thank you scary mum... I hate them with a passion too! We usually let DS have a say which usually ends in avoiding all the subjects he hates though we do try to strike a balance. As this is Yr10, I thought I might take it all a bit more seriously but I am at a loss as to which to choose. He is doing well in most subjects and I can see from his books that he is getting good feedback to help him improve. Other than showing support and an interest I am not sure what parents are supposed to get out of these evenings?

[kenyancowgirl]

Parents get reassurance that their child is doing ok - advice as to where their child can focus and improve to get the top GCSE grades, if they are doing well. Parents also get hints how to help children improve if they are doing averagely well - if there are major problems then the parent should be aware in advance, and the PE can be used to discuss improvements.

We always ask them to get as many as possible - my boys both know that I will follow up with staff that I don’t get to see so they have learned to always get ones where they have a slightly lower grade at exams etc. At Y11 we made sure to see teachers of subjects being considered for A level (although not possible with “new” subjects).

They are a pain but, this too shall pass....can’t believe I won’t have any more for my eldest!

[BucksBornNBred]

Parents get reassurance that their child is doing ok - advice as to where their child can focus and improve to get the top GCSE grades, if they are doing well. Parents also get hints how to help children improve if they are doing averagely well - if there are major problems then the parent should be aware in advance, and the PE can be used to discuss improvements.

We always ask them to get as many as possible - my boys both know that I will follow up with staff that I don’t get to see so they have learned to always get ones where they have a slightly lower grade at exams etc. At Y11 we made sure to see teachers of subjects being considered for A level (although not possible with “new” subjects).

They are a pain but, this too shall pass....can’t believe I won’t have any more for my eldest!

Thank you KCG. We do always attend and see as many teachers as we are allowed to but always feel the feedback is what I already know (having said that, DH probably knows less so more enlightening for him). I think it probably reinforces to DS what is being written in his books by actually having the teacher explain the weaknesses/strengths.

I am still none the wiser as to which ones we should choose though

[Octsmum]

OP, Perfect timing as we had the parents evening letter today asking us to choose which teachers to see. As we've moved from a small primary where my DD just had one teacher - this is a very different situation!

As she's just started y7, I think I'm going with English & Maths, Science plus a humanity & language plus form tutor from a pastoral care perspective. Any others will be a bonus. Though re-reading I'm feeling unfair to pe / music / art etc!!

Trying to get something meaningful in a 5 minute slot is going to be interesting to....I shall go with my questions at the ready & hope the teachers are well prepared...

[loobylou]

This is an interesting thread.
We've never had to choose as we can see all the teachers if we want to (in reality I don't think we ever went to computing or DT as both my children hated those subjects). In years 7-9 we could only see one science teacher but they had the books and results and comments from all 3 teachers.
In years 10 and 11 it has been expected that we will see all the teachers.
I've always found it very useful. I've never taken any questions or anything though - I just assume I'll be told what I need to know.

[2childmum]

We always aim to see as many teachers as possible - and find that, if we hover about long enough looking hopeful, even the teachers we don't have an appointment with usually manage to fit us in!

DD now has two teachers for each A level subject, and we could only make an appointment with one, but the second for each subject beckoned us over when they had a space and so we saw them all at the last parents' evening.

[kenyancowgirl]

Trying to get something meaningful in a 5 minute slot is going to be interesting to....I shall go with my questions at the ready & hope the teachers are well prepared...

We have always found the teachers to be pretty well prepared - as I have said before - there should be no nasty surprises at a PE - if your child is doing really badly, this should NOT be the first time you have hear about it - this is different to "he/she is too much of a chatterbox" or "needs to remain focussed on the task in hand" type comments, where the child is still doing well (obviously, if these are causing the child to not do well then they would have flagged it up beforehand!)

But - as a parent coming out the other end - a real plea to those starting in Y7. You are allocated 5 minutes for a reason. There are a lot of parents for teachers to see and usually they do not get "free" slots between children, like you do. Plese DONT think that you are different and need to speak for longer - even if the teacher isn't good at keeping to time - be the responsible one and only use your 5 minutes - the most frustrating thing for everyone is getting stuck behind a parent (usually of a very capable child) who just want to hear teachers waxing lyrical - it is unfair on the staff as you make everyone late or eat into someone else's time. If you need more time then make an appointment for another day/time to discuss further!

[Surferfish]

We normally try to see as many as possible.

In the lower years if you have to limit it to a certain number I guess its obvious that you might want to concentrate on subjects that your DC might likely be doing at GCSE.

In years 10 and 11 try and see them all if possible.

I generally quite enjoy them and find them useful, although I do remember in some of the lower year ones it was quite obvious that the teacher had no idea who our DS actually was and just chatted for 5 minutes generally about what the class had been studying that term!