Guest Posted July 3, 2007 Share Posted July 3, 2007 Hi everyone, It is my reception open evening for new parents next week and I have just had a meeeting with my head who says that he wants us to go into far more detail than last year. Last you we did a formal presentation of just 4 slides in the main school hall with all FS and management staff present. 1st slide discussed general things such as times of school days, dinner money, etc etc. 2nd slide was an overview of FS currciulum - 6 areas of learning, ELGs. 3rd slide went into detail about play based currciulum - indoor and outdoor and offered an example of this and last slide was all to do with parents. However this year he says he wants us to go into more detail. I do not feel that this is a good idea as proir to me and my year group partner speaking the head does a big speech, school meal people talk and then after us a parent helper and a member of the PTA speak. I feel that going into too much detail is pointless at this point as we hold a currciulum evening in early Oct to discuss ways which parents can help at home, phonics, FS curr etc- I also feel uncomfortable standing in front of all the management team and approx 70 parents doing a lengthy speech. After the presentation all parents came into the classroom which was fully set up and got time to talk to staff, ask any questions etc. Please, please please could anyone share the kind of info and detail they go into at these type of events, notes etc? I really would appreciate it. NB While the parents were entering we had a slideshow of photographs from the present cohort to give parents an overview of what it means to be a child in our reception and I am planning to do this again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sue R Posted July 3, 2007 Share Posted July 3, 2007 I think what you have described, within the kind of evening it is, that you do (particularly the slideshow in the classroom!!) sounds just about right - I'd be brain dead after as much input as is being suggested and probably forget most of it! I think your curriculum evening in October sounds like really good timing and much more useful for the parents - both they and the children have got used to school by then! I would suggest you try to hold out for keeping your input about the same! Easy for me to say, I know Let us know how it 'pans out', Sue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rea Posted July 3, 2007 Share Posted July 3, 2007 Hi Ariel, from a parents point of view I'd have to agree with Sue. I used to hate all the inofrmation given at school, I could never think of things to ask and was always too shy to do so anyway. I think the October thing is fine, everyone will have settled, children and parents, into the school routines and any questions will probably have more relevence. Could you maybe add a couple of slides showing how maths is learnt through play, how CLL is promoted without the need for worksheets etc. Its usually the areas parents want most info on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 3, 2007 Share Posted July 3, 2007 I did exactly this last week! It was my first time, to 100 parents. The Head did the the general school info. The Office staff did the attendence, punctuality, legal bits and bobs. The medical lady and nurses did that side of it. My FS team split what goes in a healthy lunchbox, uniform and what happens on the first day. I said that if I have to speak, then everyone has to speak! Over the years the hall has been set up with rows of chairs and a large screen/projector and FS co did a power point on Curriculum and slides which she talked through. What I did instead was play music as parents came in, the hall was set up into groups of tables with some activities the kids might do and my talk was about 'What we learn in Reception and how we learn it'. I talked through the curriculum and learning through play. I added in a few obs quotes from the kids - funny ones (and I felt a lot more relaxed after that), then my hubby found a package on the computer called Photostory 3 for Windows that I made into a slide show of the kids. I put 'Shine' by Take That on the slideshow which was very uplifting!!! It went down brilliantly - I felt smug for ages and got loads of brownie points! he he! The parents went off to the classrooms for 30 mins then came back into the hall for a grand tour of our new school website. Hope that helps. It was a much more modern, pacey and practical approach than previous years. The parents had to sit through a lengthy but necessary bit of waffle but playing the song and foot tapping along to it broke it up and they paid more attention later on. R.X Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 4, 2007 Share Posted July 4, 2007 Hi I think that what you do already sounds great. I recently attended my daughters open evening and it was really good. The parents started in the hall and were given booklets for our children which stated which teacher/group/key worker etc. they would have and general info re uniforms, school day etc. We were then split into 5 groups and we rotated around a visit to the kitchen to sample food and talk to cook, a talk by PFA and office stuff, visit to the reception classroom to have a look round and have brief talk from reception staff about play, visit to outdoor classroom and finally the head briefly went through the phonics/reading scheme which is new to school (Ruth Miskin). The foundation staff didn't really say that much but were there to answer questions. It was really interesting and many parents were impressed with the organisation. Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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