School-info4u.com holds a fundamental belief that parents and carers should always be involved in decisions that may affect their child's education. Attending school meetings is an essential part of this.
When you attend school meetings you are given the opportunity to discuss with the school how to help your child get the best out of his/her education.
Ask your child’s teacher questions during meetings and ensure that you get clear answers from them.
Make some suggestions to the teacher about how they can get the best out of your child and motivate them. Your child's teacher will really welcome this.
Things to remember
- Sit down and talk to your child before the meeting and make sure that they’re clear about the reason for the meeting. Explain to them that the meeting will give you and their teacher the opportunity to work together in order to find ways to help them.
- List all the subjects your child enjoys most/least and the reasons why etc. You can discuss this at the meeting.
- Write down some of your child's concerns and discuss them with their teacher.
- Be on time for the meeting and maybe think about
inviting your partner, a friend, your child’s mentor or Connexions Personal Adviser for extra support.
- Be assertive and take notes during the meeting so that you will have a written record of what has been discussed and/or agreed.
- Enquire about how well your child is progressing in their lessons.
- Make sure that you let your child’s teacher put their views across to you, without interrupting them. Pay careful attention and take their points on board.
- Stay calm and try not to challenge the teacher in an aggressive way because this won’t help the situation. Getting too emotional and losing your temper will give people the impression that you are a ‘un-cooperative’ parent or a ‘trouble maker’.
- You must avoid coming across as aggressive because this will backfire on you and the teacher will not want to listen.
- Make it as clear that you are prepared to work with the school to enable your child to achieve.
- Hopefully your child’s teacher will be positive and show concern. If the teacher fails to talk about your child’s strengths and just focuses on weaknesses, bring this to their attention- in a very diplomatic way of course, and ask them to talk about some positive things as well!
- Make a request for your child to be assessed if you believe that they have a learning difficulty or emotional/behavioural difficulty etc.
- If you don’t understand a particular word or terminology, you should ask the teacher to explain what he/she means.
- Make sure that you understand what the schools expectations are of your child and you as the parent or carer.
- Make sure you read documents properly first and get answers to all your questions before agreeing to sign anything.
- Make sure that everything that has been agreed is written down. Ask for a copy of the document for your own records.
- After the meeting you should write to the teacher telling them how useful you felt the meeting was and that you are looking forward to working with them much more closely. This will also be your proof that you are trying to work with the school. Keep a copy for your files.
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‘There is only one rule for being a good talker, learn to listen’. Christopher Morley
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Good questions to ask your child’s teacher at school meetings
- Is my child underachieving?
- Is my child put in separate groups, suited to his/her ability in any lessons?- This is called ‘streaming’ or ‘setting’.
- What a lessons is my child doing well in/not so well in?
- Is my child forming positive friendships?
- Do you have any suggestions on things that I could do to help my child improve in school?
- Does my child participate in discussions and activities in class?
- What books is my child currently reading?
- Does my child truant from school?
- Does my child hand in his/her homework and finish his/her class work?
- What tests has my child taken or will my child be taking?
- Do you get the opportunity to talk to my child on a one-to-one basis?
- How do you manage my child's behaviour in the classroom?
- How effective are these strategies?
- Do you use more than one type of strategy to encourage my child to behave well?
- Do you feel that certificates, awards and rewards are effective?
- How often do you give my child certificates, awards or rewards?
- Do you think that my child has a right to air his/her opinions?
- Do you value my child's opinions?
Gifted and talented children
If you believe that your child is gifted and talented you should be asking the following types of questions:
- Has my child been tested to see if he/she is gifted and talented?
- What type of test did my child take and what was the outcome?
- How is the school meeting my child’s needs.
- What types of initiatives are there for gifted and talented pupils in the school?
- Can the school put me in touch with any support groups for gifted and talented children?
Your child’s school should have support systems in place and/or a special initiative for gifted and talented pupils. This will help to challenge your child in school and prevent them from becoming bored or frustrated.
If this is not the case, the school should at the very least be differentiating their work. * Differentiation means that the teaching process will be changed according to the learning needs of the child.
Get confirmation of this, ask them to explain how this is working out so far and how many teachers are using differentiation with your child.
The school should be able to give you some advice on how to support your child. They should also be able to signpost you to local organisations and clubs.
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All schools should follow a policy which provides them with guidance on how to deal with gifted and talented pupils.
Click here to see a sample version of what a typical school policy should look like.
*Please note that your child's school policy will differ. This is only meant to provide you with a rough idea of the sorts of things that a typical policy should include. Ask your child's school to provide you with a copy of their own policy.
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Talking to your child after a school meeting
After attending a meeting sit down with your child and tell them how it went. Be positive and enthusiastic and make sure that you support and encourage your child.
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