Your Parents’ Evening Checklist

Parents’ Evening is one of the most important dates in the academic calendar. Talking to parents and guardians about their children’s journey at school has a significant impact on your relationship with them and your school community as a whole. That’s why you should ensure the event is planned in the best way possible, without overwhelming your school staff. We’ve compiled a checklist to help you prepare for Parents’ Evening… and make it easy!  

#1 Choose a location 

Before you even choose a date, it’s important to have a clear idea of how you want the event to run. You can choose whether you’d like to host a classic in-person Parents’ Evening, or one online, with video sessions. Even after the pandemic, hosting Parents’ Evening online has many benefits; it makes it easier for busy parents to join the meeting from anywhere in the world, avoiding the crowds at school, finding a parking space, the risk of running late, etc. Once you’ve chosen your preferred setup, choose dates and times and start notifying your staff. 

Check out the video below for more information on virtual Parents’ Evening: 

#2 Contact families in advance 

We recommend trying to give parents and guardians as much notice as possible when inviting them to your Parents’ Evening. Even before they can register and book in their slots, send them a ‘save the date’ text message with Teachers2Parents. Then, closer to the event, send them a reminder, just to be safe. 

#3 Update your website 

If your families are used to checking your school website for information and key term dates, you should add your chosen Parents’ Evening date to your term calendar and publish a notice or blog. If this is not something you usually do – this is your chance! Your school website is the perfect place to store important information and deliver announcements. Getting parents and guardians in the habit of checking your website regularly would significantly decrease the number of calls your school staff receive. If you’d like to have a chat about school website design, book a demo with our team, and they’ll help you explore the solutions we offer to find the one that fits you the best. 

#4 Start taking bookings 

When setting up a Parents’ Evening event, either in person or online, our platform gives you the option to choose how long you’d like each session to run for, and to add breaks in between. Breaks are essential for your teachers – they will get a chance to recharge between appointments, have a drink, and prepare for the next meeting. Once you and your staff have finalised everything in the backend, send your schedule to parents and guardians, and they’ll be able to make bookings from their own devices, by selecting an available slot of their choice. If you are hosting Parents’ Evening online, they will receive a link to the video call prior to the meeting. All you have to do now is sit back and watch the bookings as they come through! 

You’re all set  

You’ve done it – your Parents’ Evening will be a success. If you need any help going through our Parents’ Evening platform, or you’d like to find out more about the service, contact our team and they will be happy to help!