Castleford Academy
Castleford Academy
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Castleford Academy strongly recommends that you attend parents’ evenings in order for yourself and the school to work in partnership to ensure your child achieves their true potential. The dates of the parents’ evenings for 2022-2023 are listed below (subject to change due to Covid-19 restrictions).
Taking an interest in your child’s education is the most important thing you can do to help them achieve their full potential. The dates below are subject to change due to Covid-19 restrictions.
Year 7 – 13th October and 9th February
Year 8 – 27th April
Year 9 – 9th March
Year 10 – 26th January
Year 11 – 17th November and 30th March
Year 12 and 13 – 24th November
If you are unable to attend Parents’ Evening you may wish to contact your child’s year leader to make an alternative appointment to discuss your child’s progress either face to face or over the telephone.
Talk with your child about what they’ve done well and what could be better. Encourage them to talk about more than just schoolwork – this is a good time to discuss attendance, friends and issues like bullying.
Make notes to take to the parents’ evening with you.
Meeting the teachers
Don’t be embarrassed to ask questions if you don’t understand what the teacher is saying or if you want something explained in greater detail.
1. How long should my child be spending on homework? Independent study? Per week?
2. What does my child need to revise for their exams in your subject? When should they start revising? How many hours per week should they revise?
3. Are there any study guides you would recommend I buy to support my child’s learning?
4. My child says they don’t know how to revise, how can I help them?
5. What can we be doing at home to help?
6. Are there any visits/ days out/ activities you could recommend that I could do with my child to further their understanding/passion in your subject?
7. Do they work hard enough?
8. Is there any particular area he/she could improve on? How? Can I do anything to help at home?
9. How would you describe my child’s attitude towards coursework/homework?
10. How does he/she get on with the other children?
11. How willing is he/she to take part in discussions and participate in class?
12. Is his/her progress in line with the expectations for the group/class/school?
Take notes if you think it will help you to remember what has been said. You may want to use the (Parents’ Evening Summary Sheet) to record actions for your child following parents’ evening.
At the parents’ evening, be prepared to listen to what the teachers have to say. You need them to be clear and honest with you, so you get a good picture of how your child is doing at school. I f you and a teacher disagree, it’s important to find a way forward that puts your child’s needs first.
Remember… … teachers are there to help you, not test you.
Go through your notes from the evening and make a list of positive actions your child can take. You might have already agreed some of these with teachers using the parents’ evening summary sheet.
Talk with your child about what was discussed and agreed with the teachers, and go through the list of action points together.
Pin the action list up where you can both see it and discuss your child’s progress regularly.
If you need to, stay in touch with your child’s teacher. They will be able to tell you how things progress at school – particularly if they have said your child has had problems in the past.
Links in the Parents Section
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