Parent/Teacher conference

This time, the parent/teacher conference was done a little differently. There used to be a booking system for parents so that a time frame was chosen by the parents to see the teacher, however this time as we wanted to get more parents and families to come to the conferences with their children, the leadership team developed a more relaxing and casual approach where the parents and family members can drop by anytime they wanted during a set time frame.

When I first heard this was going to happen, I was a little anxious about how it was going to go as I was worried if many parents turned up at the same time, or if I wanted to have a private conversation with some families. We knew that this approach was very successful in the senior classrooms, so it was time to adapt it in our junior classrooms. It was important that we would give it a go.  After talking to a teacher who has done this last term helped to understand how and what I could do if say, a couple parents turned up at the same time.

I had my classroom ready with the children's writing books on the table,  and play equipment ready for the children. I was wondering how many parents will turn up, and was so surprised with a great number of parents/family members came to the parent/teacher conference. It was definitely wonderful to talk to parents who I do not talk regularly, for example, children who are on the bus or whose parents drop off their children at the gate.

I had a couple of parents turned up about the same time, but the parent really respected the space while I was talking to the other parent. I was able to have really meaningful and positive conversations with the parents and family members, it was just such a nice atmosphere. I had a few parents who talked highly about our school, and their love of multiculturalism and what we do at our school.

I had 11 families at the parent/teacher conference, and it was a really awesome turnout. Even though I was worried about a few things prior to the day, I think having it a new way really was not too bad at all, it rather attracted more family members to attend because of the tone that we set in the beginning as a very casual and relaxing conference where their children can show their parents around.

It was great learning for me as this was the second parent/teacher conference after having my own classroom, it definitely developed the relationships with the family and I got to know more about them which was really important for me. I was able to provide individual support that the children can benefit from to continue working with the children and their families.