Parents Evening
Last year we had the P.R.D. Personal Review Dialogue. Instead of the traditional evening format, a meeting was set up between parents, child and one allocated teacher during the day for approximately twenty minutes.
This year, when I am handed a letter with tear off slip from the school for me to sign and return (a day before the event I might add) I see we are back to the old system of queuing to see ten teachers...
On arrival at school I am handed a Floor Plan. Parents are asked to allow no more than five minutes with each subject teacher. It is now 4.15 pm and we have until 6.30 pm...There are forty seven teachers in the Hall and eight in Room 11...
I always think at this stage it might be better if my other half had come with me. We could have each started at opposite ends of the hall and met in the middle but he always opts to stay at home and make the tea...
I mentally plan my zig zag from one end of the hall to the other but Son No. 2 suggests we visit Room 11 first to see his Media teachers. I soon find out why he decided to come with me. He is doing remarkably well in Media with Distinctions for his essays (he wants to be a Music Journalist) and I'm sure we overstepped our timeslot.
The unoccupied teachers are all doing a sterling job supplying yellow plastic chairs in little rows behind the teacher in question so tired parents can sit down whilst waiting. The only problem with this is that you can hear what is being said to the parent in front of you...and when you know the person it can be rather embarrassing to hear that 'So and so is extremely lazy...'
We reach our target of joining the queue to see teacher number ten at 6.25 pm...
The PRD System did seem a little less fraught and there was plenty of time to discuss your child's progress and targets in a relaxed atmosphere without charging from queue to queue. However, I feel it is of course more beneficial to talk to each teacher individually instead of gaining an overall picture from one person.
Another advantage is that working parents don't have to take time off during the day.
And the queuing isn't too bad really. In fact it's quite sociable. You get to see people you haven't seen since last time and you talk to the ones you don't know who are next to you in the queue to ease the boredom of waiting... I think I only saw one incident where someone tried to jump the queue but he was soon seen off by Son No. 2's friend's mum...
I wondered if other schools have different systems?
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All I remember of Parents' Evenings is my elder son pleading with us not to reveal that he was related to his younger brother and sister who were a couple of years behind him and noted troublemakers. Now all three are model citizens with families of their own.