During my POT 2 Placement I was able to attend 2 Parents Evenings.
For the Year 9 one I was there for the whole evening from 4:30 PM until 7:30 PM We had between 5 and 10 minutes the main purpose of this parents evening was as follows.
- To review their progress from Year 8 to year 9
- To Review their progress across the topical tests they had and highlight and strengths and areas for improvement
- To say what targets they could achieve in the next collaborative group project to improve their areas of weakness for certain programs
- To promote the ICT GCSE Course for the next year as they where choosing their modules.
As we went through each pupil was able to ask questions on areas that they found hard and we where able to praise the pupils that had done well and then target the pupils that needed improvement. It was hard as many of the bright pupils that achieved high scores did not want to carry on with the GCSE as they saw other subjects as more valuable and beneficial. We had to re iterate how valuable ICT is in the modern era but not force them. I liked how my mentor just encouraged them to do what they enjoy.
It was good for mee to see this as I was able to look at the tracked scores that they achieved throughout the year and focus on what pupils found hard so that i could tackle these in my Learning Objectives. This term I will have free rein over them as so it will be a good opportunity to focus on their specific learning neeeds and sett targets to meet them.
For the Year 10s this was mainly to
- Review their current progress with their GCSE Coursework as many where quite behind. They where given exactly what they needed to prepare for each of these pieces of coursework.
A few year 10s needed to be prompted to get a move on and this had to be done in a firm yet diplomatic way with parents present
For both of these evenings I was able to contribute with a few points and thoughts on what i will be teaching their pupils.
The main difference I say between my Home School and Complimentary school was that parents where on the whole more supportive of their children and work and took a definite interest in what subjects they where doing but mainly the area of achievement as parents where paying at my complimentary they wanted to see the results.
Signed Trevor Medhurst
Please email tgm@kesbath.com for confirmation