School parents evening...any teachers here enlighten me

[shopgirl771]

I just don't get parents evening in infants schools. Maybe it's a little more in depth when they get to junior or secondary school. I know teachers aren't allowed to be negative at these things but it appears that every parent at my sons school has had a beaming review. Don't get me wrong that's great but even my sons review who has asd and has 121 support was simply...."he's doing brilliant. Below average (which we know and is no surprise) but he's getting support but he's doing brilliant" and that was it! I just came away thinking u could if emailed me that. Is it just me? I don't understand the point!

 

[supertabby]

We've got the first parents evening next week, so don't know yet how it will go - but we've had more feedback than that just from a playground chat at pick up time. More from nursery too. Sounds a shame that the school didn't spend more time with you? But maybe our experience is not the norm, I don't know.

 

[OmarsMum]

Ours is a bit different, it's more of a goal setting meeting, they benchmark each student based on specific criteria (social, behavioral, academics, etc), we get a feedback on his current level and then they discuss his specific goals for the term. We get a printed goal setting list from his key teacher & we get to meet all other teachers like PE, arts, music and Arabic.

 

[alibaba24]

With mine the teacher wasn't all "she's doing brilliant" the overall opinion us she's doing really well and the teacher is happy with her but the teacher also spoke about things she wasn't perfect at x

 

[sabby52]

My sons reviews are always excellent but I will also be told about the silly stuff he does, from primary 1 (reception) right up to his most currant meeting I have always been told he is a chatter box and likes to roam around the classroom, I dont think I have ever had a 100% brilliant review lol

 

[jd83]

The preschool my son went to gave a pretty good overview when we had the parent teacher conference last year. She was mostly positive, but she made sure to let me know areas he was more behind in (speech, for example, and he's on a speech IEP), areas he excels in, that he talks a lot and it can be distracting to his learning (again, I already know this, but its still good that they inform me that it can be problematic in the classroom so I can talk to him about it again).

It's a shame they hussled you in and out of there so quickly without really telling you anything of value. You could try emailing the teacher specific questions about how your lo is doing if you think that would give you a better idea.

 

[New Mrs W]

Is she a very young teacher? When I was an NQT I was very nervous and used to say what I thought the parents wanted me to hear. I'm more honest now. Still careful with the words I choose but I tell the truth now! Z

 

[shopgirl771]

The preschool my son went to gave a pretty good overview when we had the parent teacher conference last year. She was mostly positive, but she made sure to let me know areas he was more behind in (speech, for example, and he's on a speech IEP), areas he excels in, that he talks a lot and it can be distracting to his learning (again, I already know this, but its still good that they inform me that it can be problematic in the classroom so I can talk to him about it again).

It's a shame they hussled you in and out of there so quickly without really telling you anything of value. You could try emailing the teacher specific questions about how your lo is doing if you think that would give you a better idea.

I could email I suppose. I do take s long time to process info which is why I rely on my oh to respond in situations like this as I'm about a day behind lol

 

[shopgirl771]

shes in her 3rd year of teaching. is that still classed as new? but yes i think maybe she was a little unsure. x

 

[Jchihuahua]

I teach reception and am honest at parents evenings. If there is an issue I talk about it.

 

[shanny]

I always think a question to ask is are they making progress as this doesn't matter what level they are at

He's doing brilliant isn't specific enough for me

 

[jd83]

I always think a question to ask is are they making progress as this doesn't matter what level they are at

He's doing brilliant isn't specific enough for me

That's a good question to ask! OP, I also always ask what areas they think would be the most helpful for me to work with him at home that would benefit what he is learning in the classroom. For example, DS1 is in kindergarten now, and we just had parent teacher conferences last week. I asked this question, and she told me to find some sight words games online to work on learning the next skill set, as he's actually further ahead than some of his peers with learning his words, so she thinks for him personally, he would get the most out of working ahead on words than continuing on with the same ones he already knows. So that's what I did over the weekend. I found like 5 different games on Pinterest, printed them out, cut out pieces, etc, so now we're ready to start working on new words with some more engaging ways to do it.

Did you get a chance to email the teacher more specific questions? Don't feel weird about it! If you weren't able to find out much at the conference, there's nothing wrong with shooting her a few questions about specifics with your lo's learning.

 

[george83]

Our head teacher has worked hard over the past couple of years to make sure all the teachers at my school give out the same information at parents evening ensuring we are actually giving factual information not just passing 'naff' comments. We have to say the levels they are working at, what this means in terms of their actual attainment, the progress they've made and targets for their future. Behaviour is also discussed both good or bad.

That said for a number of years the teacher who taught the class the year below me ignored what the head said and constantly did her own thing. Therefore the following year I had parents who had been in your situation and didn't really know much about their child's ability/progress

 

[sequeena]

My son has sn and is in a unit. Parents evening allowed us to see what he is doing. He has transport to school so we don't have contact with his teacher every day and he can't tell us what he is doing. I had no idea that with a lot of help he can draw a number 2. I didn't know he went to the sensory room every day or had mouth exercises every morning. We hadn't seen his IEP until then either (we needed to sign it) so it was really good to see that and it was good to see thomas in his school environment.

 

[shopgirl771]

thats fab. x