Parents’ evenings are a crucial part of the school experience. Whether it’s the first meeting or the tenth, every few minutes spent between teachers and parents is an opportunity to further everyone’s understanding of the child, giving them the best possible opportunity to develop.
At our private school in Devon, we understand that parents will want to know as much as possible about what their child is like at school. Therefore, just as teachers prepare for parents’ evening, it’s really useful for parents to come with good questions that help them get as much from the appointment as possible.
Take a look below at some of our most popular parents’ evening questions, designed to cover many different aspects of your child’s school life and future development.
Key Tips to Make the Most of Parents’ Evening
If you’re preparing for your first parents’ evening, it’s worth knowing what you’re going into; many parents speak about being unprepared the first time!
Parents’ evening is an opportunity for teachers and parents to discuss the performance of a child at school. It’s a great way for everyone to deepen their understanding of the child and helps both sides contribute to the child’s academic and personal development.
Every institution will do parents’ evening slightly differently. However, it generally involves small sessions face-to-face (or, if necessary, over video call) where a teacher will talk directly to the parents of a child about how they’ve been performing. Sometimes, the child is present for these meetings, but other times it may just be the teacher and parents.
To make the most out of your parents’ evening, here are some key things to consider:
Address Major Issues Before the Evening
It’s worth spelling out that parents’ evening is designed to be an opportunity to provide updates on performance, not as a meeting to discuss larger issues.
If something major has happened that you think the school should be aware of, tell them as soon as possible, don’t wait for the next parents’ evening to bring it up.
Time is Precious
Parents’ evening is a very busy time for teachers who will have a lot of meetings to run. As a result, appointments are usually short. Most schools will have meetings between 5 and 10 minutes long.
Teachers will have things they want you to know as a parent, so the time you have to ask additional questions is very limited. As you can see, preparing with the right questions is really helpful!
Respect Open and Honest Dialogue
We know it can be challenging, and quite emotional, to hear a teacher talk about areas where your child isn’t performing as well as you might have hoped. In these moments, it’s crucial to remember that teachers want your child to succeed as much as you do.
While praise can be great for motivating children, being honest about areas of improvement is also important. So, come to parents’ evening with a desire to listen and learn, and you’ll hopefully come out of it with lots of ideas that can help your child.
Consider Academic and Personal Performance
Lastly, parents’ evening is not just about academic performance (although that can be a big part of it in later years ahead of exams). These meetings are also an opportunity to learn about how your child behaves away from you.
It’s good to ask about how your child acts at school: do they engage in lessons, and do they get along with other pupils? If you or your child’s teacher notice anything that might be a concern, you can often start to put measures in place to overcome such difficulties.
For more information on how parents’ evening should work, check out our dedicated article on getting the most out of parents’ evening. For now, here are some of our favourite questions to hear from parents.
“How Can I Support What You’re Doing in the Classroom?”
This question is consistently one of the most popular amongst teachers as it gets to the very heart of what parents’ evening is about: strengthening the connection between teacher and parent/carer.
So much of a child’s education is a result of what happens outside of the classroom. Homework is an obvious example, but even things like helping children be organised for school and keeping them enthused about learning over the summer holidays all play a role in your child’s development.
If you want to leave parents’ evening armed with ideas for helping your child, asking this question is the easiest way to achieve that. It might be that your child doesn’t always read the books they’ve been set. Any little bit of targeted support could make a big difference to their school life.
“Is My Child’s Performance In Line With Expectations/Objectives?”
While academic performance isn’t always the most important thing to consider, we know it’s important, particularly for children preparing for exams or the next stage of their education. This question can help turn the focus towards academic performance while also acknowledging that children develop at different rates with varying expectations.
There can be many reasons why a child is underperforming or overperforming in a particular subject. By asking the question, you may discover a reason that you never would have expected.
For example, you might find your child loves a particular activity at home but is shy and nervous doing the same activity in the school environment, which is holding them back. Or, you may discover that your child is developing a strong passion for a particular activity which you never would have expected, which you could help them to develop further with out-of-school activities.
“Is My Child Engaged During Lessons?”
This question is a fantastic way to learn more about both academic and personal development.
Schools are unique environments, particularly for young children, where they are listening to different authority figures, not just their parents and other carers. In this environment, surrounded by peers, teachers can discover new sides to children that simply don’t emerge at home.
How a child engages in different lessons can help you learn a lot more about your child. For example, you might find that they enjoy taking on leadership roles in group tasks, or they put their hand up a lot. You may also discover that they are great at focusing on individual tasks such as reading and writing.
“Are There Any Areas Where My Child Might Need Extra Help?”
Answers to this question might come up when discussing the questions mentioned above. However, if you feel like you need more information to work with from your meeting, particularly when discussing challenging subjects for your child, then this question can be a great help.
As discussed above, there are many small ways that teachers might feel parents could help a child improve. Whether it’s something small like making sure their homework isn’t rushed, or something big like trying activities to help grow self-confidence at home, your child’s teacher should be able to suggest something that could help your child’s development improve.
“Does My Child Seem Happy?”
This question is great for parents’ evenings with young children, when they will often be taught by only one or two teachers who can get to know every child very well..
Because this question is broad and open-ended, it provides space for the teacher to be open and honest with their observations.
Avoid the temptation to load it with a statement such as “I know they struggle with X”, which can force teachers to focus on one particular issue; instead, allow them to freely discuss your child based on what they see. You may discover something new, or you may be able to explain certain behaviours based on what they do at home, helping the teacher to come up with potential solutions or support.
Of course, if your parents’ evening session is only five minutes long, you may struggle to get all of these questions answered. Therefore, it can help to rank them in order of importance to you. Is academic performance crucial to understand in this parents’ evening, or are you more interested in their personal development and friendships?
Some schools will allow follow-ups if you come across areas that both teachers and parents would like to work on, and many schools will host parents’ evenings multiple times a year, so it helps to take notes and to keep the communication flowing as much as possible.
We hope that you and your child can get the most out of your next parents’ evening! If you’re interested in learning more about parents’ evening at St Peter’s Prep or have any other enquiries, feel free to get in contact with us.
