Parents Evening

There are a couple of times in the school year that I do not relish in any way. They are, report writing time and parents evening. My workload goes throught the roof for the reports and when it comes to parents evening, there is the worry that you will be criticised or that you do all the talking for ten minutes to a stony faced parent.

I am quite cool under pressure and even though I have had this, I don't let parents know I am anything other than cool as a cucumber. In my first post, I had a particularly aggressive parent come to see me who refused to sit down and was not in any way friendly. I got through this unscathed.

Then there are the parents who look at you as if to say- "who is this child of which you speak?" Mostly because they are angels at school, and total monsters at home. Sometimes though, a parent will try and convince you that the rude, obnoxious child you describe in terms of 'not putting in enough effort, does not write ANYTHING, will NOT read, does not know how to speak to peers and adults...' is in fact reading War and Peace at home, has just collected second Nobel prize and is collaborating with Stephen Hawking on his next book.
Fine, have it your way.

Then there is the time-keeping. I am absolutely HOPELESS at keeping to the ten minute slot. By the end of the night I am running over half an hour late and that is with a planned break for catching up.

At the end of it all, you are inevitably left with the feeling you should be doing more. This is the nature of the job. Nothing is EVER good enough, whether it comes from parents or yourself.

Still, all over for another year. Reports are next, but I do not have to be there when they are opened.