How To Get The Most Out Of Parents' Evening
Parents' evenings are a great chance to get valuable feedback on your child's progress from the teacher. Most schools will invite you to attend a parents' evening at least once a year, so watch VideoJug's guide to getting the most out of parents' evening.
Step 1: Prepare
The time allocated for your appointment will be tight: around 10 or 15 minutes. Make notes beforehand of the things you would like to talk about, so that you have an agenda for the meeting.
Step 2: Taking your child
Some schools will encourage you to take your child, some will ask you not to.
It can be a good opportunity to speak openly with the teacher without the child present.
Or it can be a good opportunity for children to hear the teacher saying good things about them.
Step 3: Bust the jargon
Teachers will try to talk without using jargon, but they may slip into it accidentally. If they do and you don't understand what they've said, don't be afraid to ask.
Step 4: The future
Parents' evening is an opportunity to look at what both the parent and teacher can do to maximise the child's performance in the future.
Set specific targets for the child; things you and the teacher can work towards at home and school.
Step 5: Further appointments
Don't overstay your allocated time as there will be a lot of parents waiting to see the teacher.
If you need to continue the discussion, ask to make a one-on-one appointment with the teacher for a later date.
Step 6: Feedback
After the meeting, be sure to give feedback to the child on what has been said. Begin with a positives, then explain what needs working on in future. Finish on another positive. Children respond better to praise than to criticism.
