How to host an effective Parent’s Evening

Posted on by J.J. Hamilton

Parent’s Evening is, genuinely, a lovely evening. As a teacher, it’s one of my favourite events of the year. I get the opportunity to meet the parents, carers or guardians of the young people that I teach every single week and understand a little more about them. I also get to spend a solid block of time reflecting on their progress, celebrating or offering guidance on how to do even better in my class.

There’s so much discourse online about how Parent’s Evening is only useful if you’re able to speak to the parents of the most disruptive pupils. While that does have its benefits, it’s not why I enjoy it so much.

The best part about Parent’s Evening? The good kids. The ones who consistently get it right. Speaking to the ones who do all that and yet might not always get the recognition that they deserve. It fills you with so much joy.

When you’re first training to teach, I feel that these are the sorts of events that you just don‘t get enough practice with. You spend so much time learning about pedagogy and behaviour management, and what goes into making somebody a good form tutor, but not many opportunities to focus on conducting a really successful Parent’s Evening.

This was especially true for me, having had my training year interrupted by the pandemic. Then, when I started my ECT1 year, all of our appointments were online, anyway, which was a whole other kettle of fish. Don’t get me wrong, there were things to like about teaching through a computer, but it’s a bit of an impossible job to do well while using Zoom.

Anyway, when I was training, I think I must have attended two Parent’s Evenings – maybe three. Then, I was expected to run them all on my own.

I think that my first solo Parent’s Evening was conducted online and for the Year 11 class that I’d inherited. Trial by fire is the phrase I’m looking for.

Now, five years in, I’ve been through my fair share and have cobbled together a few key ingredients that you’ll need for a really successful Parent’s Evening:

  • How long for each appointment?
  • What should you talk about?
  • How do I wrap up each conversation?

This can be your go-to guide whether you’re a seasoned veteran or conducting your first ever appointments. Read all the way to the end for a few stock phrases to add to your arsenal to help with running a really successful evening.

How long for each appointment?

5 minutes.

Well, really, it’s whatever your school dictates. Mine states that each slot is 5 minutes, and that’s how long my parents were given when I was still at school. In my opinion, this is the perfect amount of time to discuss everything that needs to be said without feeling like you’re taking up too much of their time.

Think about it: if there are any big problems, the child’s parents should probably already know via phone or email. If they’re making expected progress, it’ll be a shorter appointment. If they’re not making expected progress, discuss why and your agreed plan of action going forward. If anything else needs to be said, you can book in for a longer meeting at a later date.

Whatever timespan you do settle on, it’s really important that you stick to it. If I go over by even 1 minute per appointment, I’ll quickly add an extra 34 minutes to the end of my day. Parent’s Evening often goes on until 7pm at my school, so it’s important that you’re leaving the building on time after a tiring day.

What should I talk about at Parent’s Evening?

The answer to this question changes with every child.

For a student struggling with behaviour, you should focus on behaviour management, such as through building resilience or using apps to understand self-regulation. For a student struggling academically, you should focus on exam technique or content acquisition. There’s no such thing as a one-size fits-all approach.

….that being said, there are key areas that I will start every conversation with. First, I’ll ask the student how they think they’re doing in History, to gauge their interest outside of the classroom and to gather their honest opinion. Then, I’ll state whether I agree or disagree, and why, before moving onto behaviour or academia – whichever is more pertinent. Then, I’ll discuss their attitude to learning in class and outside of the classroom, such as whether they complete homework to a good standard.

If it’s a Year 9 class, I’ll advise on whether I think the student would be suited to GCSE History – though I refuse to outright stop somebody from picking the subject. It’s so important that children are given the freedom here, as long as the choice that they’re making is a fully informed one. While I could do the same for a Year 11 student hoping to study A-Level History, I always find that our time slots quickly disappear with everything else we need to get through.

You always find that, the more invested a student is in your subject, the more there is to discuss – and the harder it is to stick to your 5-minute conversation limit.

I’ll always end the conversation positively, sometimes with an action plan if needed, so that we can continue to work together in a way that’s conducive to their learning.

How do I wrap up the conversation?

Wrapping up a conversation at Parent’s Evening can be tricky. You could be deep into a conversation before realising that your line of parents has developed into a mile-long queue. Therefore, you’ve got to get pretty good at finishing your conversations in a timely manner that feels satisfying to all parties – parent, student and teacher alike.

I find that the most straightforward way to finish an appointment is by being upfront: tell them that you’ve said everything that needs to be said and invite any further questions. As a result, nobody will leave the conversation with anything left unsaid.

However, I will always endeavour to end the conversation positively – sometimes with an action plan if needed – so that we can continue to work together in a way that’s really conducive to their learning.

Key phrases for your quote bank

If you’ve never hosted a Parent’s Evening before and are feeling nervous, try to incorporate these quotations into your conversations:

  • “Hi, nice to meet you. I’m NAME, STUDENT’s SUBJECT teacher.”
  • ”I wanted to start by asking STUDENT how you think you’re getting on in SUBJECT?”

If the student isn’t present for the appointment, try this one:

  • ”I wondered if STUDENT ever discusses SUBJECT at home, and what their thoughts were on how they’re getting on?”
  • ”I can see from STUDENT’s recent assessment that they got x%, which shows that they’re slightly under/on-track/overperforming compared to where we’d expect them to be.”
  • ”Let’s talk about STUDENT’s behaviour/attitude to learning in my class. I feel that STUDENT is _________, which has a really positive/negative effect on other pupils/their learning.”
  • “STUDENT’s key focus to do even better should be _______. Does that sound doable?”
  • “I think that’s just about everything that I needed to discuss, unless you have any questions for me?”

My parting piece of advice: if you feel disingenuous by reusing quotations that you’ve found on a blog – then don’t. Parent’s Evening is all about delivering information and offering advice on how a student in your class can continue to thrive, or to start making the right choices. If you feel like that’s something that you need support with, then that’s nothing to worry about; we all start from somewhere.

As long as you’re clear, precise and detailed, you can’t do any more as a teacher.

Do you have any upcoming Parent’s Evenings? I’d love to hear how they go, and whether you were able to stick to your time limit, in the comments below.

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