Parents’ Evening Guide: Booking, Questions to Ask and Making Ten Minutes Count

How parents’ evenings usually work

Most schools hold them two or three times a year: often one in the autumn term, once children have settled into a new class, and another in the spring. Some add a short meeting in the summer term or replace one with a written report.

In primary schools you usually see the class teacher, sometimes with the teaching assistant. In secondary schools you may see several subject teachers in a row, each for a few minutes, which makes planning the order of appointments important.

Booking is now mostly online. Schools often use a booking system such as SchoolCloud, Arbor or their own parent app, and send a link by email with an opening date. Popular times, straight after work, can be gone within hours of booking opening.

Many schools still offer video appointments, which suit parents who work away or cannot get childcare. They tend to run to the minute, and the call ends when the slot ends.

Where it goes wrong

The booking email is the weak point. It usually arrives a week or two before the evening, says when booking opens, and is easy to read and forget. By the time you go to book, the only slots left are at 4pm, when you are still at work, or at 7.50pm, after the teacher has seen thirty other families.

With more than one child it gets harder: two teachers, possibly two schools, possibly on different nights, each with its own booking window. Secondary schools add another layer, because you are trying to fit five or six short appointments into a single evening without them overlapping.

The other thing that goes wrong is the meeting itself. Ten minutes passes quickly, and it is easy to come away realising you did not ask the one thing you wanted to know.

Getting the slot you want

1. When the email arrives, put the booking opening date and time in your calendar with a reminder, not just the date of the evening itself.
2. Book as soon as booking opens, especially if you need a slot straight after work.
3. With more than one child, book the hardest one first: the teacher or school whose slots are scarcest.
4. At secondary school, leave five minutes between appointments with different teachers, and book the subjects you are most concerned about first.
5. If no slot works, email the teacher. Most would rather arrange a phone call than not speak to you.

What to ask

Teachers usually start with an overview, so use your time for what you most want to know. Pick two or three questions in advance and write them down.

• How is my child getting on with their friends, and are they happy in class?
• Are they working at the level expected for their year, and is there anything they find hard?
• What is one thing we could do at home that would help most?
• How do they behave when something is difficult: do they ask for help?
• At secondary: are homework and coursework being handed in on time, and how will we know if they are not?
• Is there anything coming up this term we should know about, such as tests, options or trips?

If you have a specific concern, say so at the start rather than in the last minute. If it needs longer than the slot allows, ask for a follow-up meeting.

Afterwards

Write down what the teacher said that evening, while you remember it. Share it with your child’s other parent or carer, and talk to your child about the good things first. If you agreed to do something at home, such as reading every night or practising times tables, put it somewhere you will see it.

If anything worried you, follow up by email within a few days, so there is a record and a next step.

Primary and secondary are different

At primary school, parents’ evening is usually one conversation with the class teacher, who knows your child across every subject. It is a good place to talk about friendships, confidence and reading as well as progress.

At secondary school it is usually a series of short conversations with subject teachers, each of whom sees your child for a few hours a week. They will focus on their own subject: effort, homework and how your child is doing against their target. If you want a fuller picture, ask to speak to the form tutor or head of year, who sees the whole of your child’s school day.

Reading the school report alongside

Many schools send a short report or data sheet before parents’ evening. Read it first and note anything that surprises you, then use the meeting to ask about it. Terms vary between schools, such as "working towards", "expected" and "greater depth" at primary, or grades and targets at secondary. If a term is not clear, ask what it means for your child.

If there is a problem

Sometimes parents’ evening is where you hear something you did not expect: a child struggling, or behaviour that does not match what you see at home. Ten minutes is rarely enough to deal with that properly, and it is fine to say so. Ask what the school has noticed, what they are already doing, and when you can meet to talk it through.

Equally, if you have a worry, do not wait for parents’ evening to raise it. Teachers would much rather hear early, and a short email to the class teacher or form tutor is always a good first step.

How Peakly helps

Peakly reads the parents’ evening email when it arrives and sends you a WhatsApp message with what matters: the date of the evening, when booking opens, and that you need to book. The dates go into your Google or Outlook calendar automatically, with a link back to the original email so the booking link is one tap away.

With several children, each message says which child it is for, so two booking windows at two schools do not blur into one. And at 8pm the evening before, your daily summary reminds you that it is parents’ evening tomorrow.