A Guide to Parents’ Evening for Parents

Usually taking place twice a year, parent and carer interviews are a school staple. It’s the first chance to meet the teacher who spends so much time with your child, who has their own relationship with them and who has some great insights to share with you about their educational and social development.

Some parents can feel trepidation at the idea of going ‘back to school’ and facing a teacher. Others want to get to the bottom of a niggle; and then it’s great to just put a face to a name and have quality time talking about your child.
 

Face-to-Face Time with a Teacher

The main thing to realise is that you don’t get very long in these interviews and it’s essential to get the most out of it. This is a precious conversation where the teacher can also learn a great deal about your child.

Most teachers look forward to meeting new parents because it can give them ideas on how to motivate or support your child. But this will be a ten- or fifteen-minute conflab.

It’s best to deal with serious, in-depth issues or concerns on a separate occasion by making an appointment to see the relevant member of staff. At Parents’ Evening, a quick summary of your child’s story so far in their new year group is usually what you’ll get.

These precious minutes need to be useful, and you should hope to come away with something positive and something to work on. The abiding message I would give, is make this a conversation. Come with questions, comments about how your child is feeling about school and their routines and give the teacher insight about what your child likes beyond school, what they are like at home and what they think generally of education.

It can be a time of revelations too! Some parents find out that their child has not been doing home learning tasks, or regularly forgets essential kit. Sometimes it’s a more positive revelation – the teacher describes a pupil who you might think cannot possibly be your child.

Children are very often different when in front of a teacher or classmates. One fun game to play before the evening is to ask your child what they think the teacher will say about them…
 

The Pupil-Teacher Relationship

Hopefully, you will find that the teacher has quickly got to know your child and describes their attributes and attitudes well. They may want to share a great piece of work or an anecdote.

It’s valuable for a teacher to hear how your child manages with homework and reading tasks, whether they share their learning at home and talk about topics or friends. Ideally, you’ll hear the teacher talking with pride.

Some teachers like to show initial pieces of work and to set a target with you that your child can work on at home. These can range from doing regular reading, learning number facts, or maybe working at spellings.

Many schools have detailed learning information on their web pages and home support systems that you can ask about or see a demonstration of. These might require logins that you may be given. Sometimes, the school may offer workshops or demonstrations on the evening that you can go to.

Some schools are happy to support you with simple stationery, such as a book for writing notes, or advice on where to go next with something you want to work on together at home. As with any learning at home, the best kind is the one that the child feels motivated to do. Again, the teacher may give some great ideas to inspire this home-school relationship.
 

Supporting Learning

An initial Parents’ Evening often revolves around attendance, punctuality, homework, reading, uniform and general attitudes to school. Older pupils would be expected to be more independent of the parent, while the emphasis for Key Stage 1 or younger pupils will be on early reading proficiency and what the school has to offer. For example, my school has drop in and read sessions.

Lower Key Stage 2 children are in that mixed stage where the school would be expecting some independent learning alongside some support from you with routines and being ready for each different school day. Learning times tables is always an area for emphasis here, so you can expect information or targets on that subject.

Many schools will leave you with a target slip, focusing on what your child needs to work on next – if not, a notepad is something to consider, to write down next steps. These targets will be reviewed at the subsequent parent interview, usually in the spring term.
 

Top Tips for Parents' Evening

• Have a couple of questions ready and get these in early. Hopefully, after the introductions, the teacher will ask you if you have anything urgent to ask.
• Ask what you can do at home to make school life more of a success. Let the teacher know what your child is like at home. Sometimes teachers can find clever ways to motivate children.
• Write the key points down, then share what was said with your child. Try to be positive, so that your child feels they have some successes. This is like a double-positive whammy for children. Teachers often ask children what their parents said when they got home! Some schools encourage children to take part in the interview.
• Come away with one thing to do — routines, homework, some way to engage with learning and creativity at home. If you receive one, you could discuss the target slip with your child.
• Sometimes friendships can be a concern. You will be in the child’s classroom; this is your time to see their learning environment and get an idea of the layout. Teachers like to know if your child is distracted by or not getting along with someone and will try their best in limited space to accommodate this.

These top tips are available to download as a printable Parents’ Evening checklist.

Successful parent interviews are a conversation, a two-way sharing of information that can really boost your child’s sense of success and well-being. The idea that their teacher spoke positively and proudly makes a child want to come back for more. Even if there are niggles and targets to work at, teachers will go out of their way to find your child’s potential and involve you in this — Parents’ Evening can open some of these doors.

I have been a teacher for 28 years, deputy head for about twenty-four of those, and taught from Reception all the way up to Year 6. In this time, I did a two-year stint with my local authority as an adviser for ICT, working in a wide range of schools with teachers and children. I have always been a class teacher at heart, inspired by the wonderful minds of pupils, which makes teaching such an intense but creative and satisfying career. 

Take a look at CGP+ resources by Simon.