Parent's Evening

This evening saw the first Parent's Evening of the Y11 cohort in the academy where I am currently placed. Having only been there two weeks, I wasn't in a position to be able to comment upon most (if any!) of the progress made by the students, but it was nice to be offered the chance to observe what is perhaps one of the most important evenings for a child's understanding of their current direction, and how their parents/carers/etc. can assist.

I was lucky enough to observe parents of all varieties: those who knew exactly how their child is doing, those who have no clue, those who are extremely "into"  education and those - unfortunately - who seemingly couldn't care less. That said, it was also interesting to see how this reflected in the pupils, and it is not true that one attitude begets another. Some of the parents who were the most uninterested had a child that was extremely promising and into their education, and vice versa. Perhaps this is a lax attitude by the parent in the former, and an overbearing attitude (thus the child rebels) in the latter...

It showed the importance of measuring progress, identifying strengths of every pupil and finding out their opportunities for improvement. The teachers whom I observed had data, reasoning and effective solutions to back up their observations and, in some instances, the disbelief of the parents that their child could be "under-performing." On the whole, it was a very positive experience and one that demonstrated to me that you should know your pupils but also make sure that those who are looking after them are also kept in the loop.

The Y11s need to realise that time is rapidly running out. Those who are on target need to push themselves over this final hurdle, and those who are slipping really need to envisage how results day is going to feel when they see that below-C grade and know, deep in their heart of hearts, that they could've done better...