Parent Teacher Meetings Start Time

doc_17

Quick query folks. We recently moved to an earlier start time in the morning and as a result now finish at 3.20 instead of 4. It says in the circular that parent teacher meetings start at 4.15. Can they start at 3.35? ie 15 mins after school finishes? The circular says:


Inrespect of three formal parent/teacher meetings per year;



1. Meetings will commence at 4.15 pm in allschools (each school closing 15 minutes earlier than normal) and will concludeat 6.45 pm.

Now that seems fairly definitive. But it also implies that we should finish at 3.05 then as well?

RH149

Yes-that's what happens in our school -it's a real pain-class finishing at 3.05 and having to wait around for the 4pm start.

happywithlife

If you have a start time of 3.35 that gives you a finishing time of 6.05 ( if my math is right)
The reason the 4.15-6.45 came in was to allow working parents attend, which your 6.05 finish wouldn't do. Therefore I think you have to stay within the original format.
I am presuming you are tui.
Would you not use say 45 mins for a whole staff meeting and knock it off the CP hours sothe time isn't completely wasted? How many meetings like this would you have? Added up, it may make a small difference :-)

RealJohn

We finish at 3.30 and our PT meetings start at 4.15. To be honest, I prefer it that way. Gives us a chance to relax a bit after the day's work, go for a spin etc. and be a bit more refreshed before dealing with parents.

doc_17

RealJohn wrote: »

We finish at 3.30 and our PT meetings start at 4.15. To be honest, I prefer it that way. Gives us a chance to relax a bit after the day's work, go for a spin etc. and be a bit more refreshed before dealing with parents.

When you say you finish at 330, us that your normal finish time? Or is that 15 minutes earlier than usual?

S

RealJohn

doc_17 wrote: »

When you say you finish at 330, us that your normal finish time? Or is that 15 minutes earlier than usual?

S

Sorry, that's our normal finish and we finish at 3.15 when there's a PT meeting.

Miss Lockhart

We finish at 4.10 and start at 4.15. No mention of the circular.

ejak1

happywithlife wrote: »

If you have a start time of 3.35 that gives you a finishing time of 6.05 ( if my math is right)
The reason the 4.15-6.45 came in was to allow working parents attend, which your 6.05 finish wouldn't do. Therefore I think you have to stay within the original format.
I am presuming you are tui.
Would you not use say 45 mins for a whole staff meeting and knock it off the CP hours sothe time isn't completely wasted? How many meetings like this would you have? Added up, it may make a small difference :-)

This is what we did in an ASTI school I worked in. The hour waiting around for the meeting to begin was offset against Croke Park hours. We used the hour for organising ourselves for the meeting and discussing issues with our colleagues regarding the students' progress. It was great to use a Croke Park hour this way and we got clarification in writing from the ASTI that this time could be used for CP hours and brought it to the attention of the Principal. Several other schools I know have done the same. It was considered to be a planning task but not an onerous one as it was relaxed and informal but productive.

happywithlife

ejak1 wrote: »

This is what we did in an ASTI school I worked in. The hour waiting around for the meeting to begin was offset against Croke Park hours. We used the hour for organising ourselves for the meeting and discussing issues with our colleagues regarding the students' progress. It was great to use a Croke Park hour this way and we got clarification in writing from the ASTI that this time could be used for CP hours and brought it to the attention of the Principal. Several other schools I know have done the same. It was considered to be a planning task but not an onerous one as it was relaxed and informal but productive.

We did the same - used it as a whole staff meeting prior to pt meeting so we were all on the same page with regards to key students in a year grouping ;-)

joebloggs32

Miss Lockhart wrote: »

We finish at 4.10 and start at 4.15. No mention of the circular.

That insufficient time under the articles of the time in the workplace act for a proper break. Management are obliged to close the school early to facilitate a proper break.

kronsich

Quick question. The Croke park hours can be used to cover half the amount of the P/T meetings.

Is the other half done during normal school hours or during a teachers free time after school? Did we concede this in Haddington Road? Can't find this info on asti or TUI website.

happywithlife

kronsich wrote: »

Quick question. The Croke park hours can be used to cover half the amount of the P/T meetings.

Is the other half done during normal school hours or during a teachers free time after school? Did we concede this in Haddington Road? Can't find this info on asti or TUI website.

That's the half-in half-out rule isn't it? It's pre Haddington road time. Croke park maybe? Or even before that again. It may be in the FAQ section

kronsich

Yeah I saw the half in half out. Is that half within Croke park hours and half during normal school time? Or is the second half during teachers own time, outside of SnS and Croke park?

byhookorbycrook

In primary ,all p/tms are after school, we count one day's worth towards Croke Park. I start straight after school and also meet some parents before school in the morning.

kronsich

Ah yeah I have friends in primary teaching. One day seems fair for a class group. In secondary, each teacher would have seven class groups so this year I have six parent teacher meetings to attend, 2.5 hrs each.

joebloggs32

PTMs first went to half in school time and half out under the PCW agreement about a decade ago in return for a small pay rise, along with staff meetings.

Then under cp1 those parent teacher meetings that had been conducted in school time were moved to after school with the hours coming out of your 33 hour cp commitment. This has been continued under Haddington Road

joebloggs32

kronsich wrote: »

Ah yeah I have friends in primary teaching. One day seems fair for a class group. In secondary, each teacher would have seven class groups so this year I have six parent teacher meetings to attend, 2.5 hrs each.

Has your school got a separate meeting for transition years?

byhookorbycrook

It's over two days, one counted for CP and the other on our own time.

katydid

doc_17 wrote: »

Quick query folks. We recently moved to an earlier start time in the morning and as a result now finish at 3.20 instead of 4. It says in the circular that parent teacher meetings start at 4.15. Can they start at 3.35? ie 15 mins after school finishes? The circular says:


Inrespect of three formal parent/teacher meetings per year;



1. Meetings will commence at 4.15 pm in allschools (each school closing 15 minutes earlier than normal) and will concludeat 6.45 pm.

Now that seems fairly definitive. But it also implies that we should finish at 3.05 then as well?

We don't have Parent Teacher meetings, as I work in FE, but the rule for Croke Park hours is after school hours. And that depends on the school, and when the end of the school day is. Ours is 4.30, so we can't have our Croke Park meetings until 4.30. Presumably a school that finishes at four can meet at four.

Why should that not apply to PT meetings?