Effective collaboration between parents at home and teachers in school is the key to ensure academic success of children. Keeping this in mind, many schools have taken sincere efforts in providing the parents with opportunities to have fruitful interactions with the teachers of their children throughout the academic year, especially through Parents-Teachers Meetings (PTMs) that are usually conducted on a monthly basis. However, due to the busy work schedule, many parents often do not get enough time to visit the school frequently to have one-on-one discussions with the teachers of their children. As a result, due to the lack of communication with the teachers, parents find it difficult to keep a track of their children’s performance at school. This in turn makes it difficult for the parents to get involved effectively in their children’s learning at home. Therefore, parents should make sure that they attend all the PTMs. Here are the top reasons why it is necessary for the parents to attend parents-teachers meetings.

Get a review of your child’s progress – You can receive feedback from the teachers about your child’s assignments; her involvement in classroom learning activities and her participation in extra-curricular activities such as competitions, field trips etc. You can also know whether your child takes enough initiatives to learn and grow in the school’s environment.

Receive the assessment of your child’s overall conduct – You can know about your child’s overall behaviour in school and the emotional relationship that she has developed over the time, with her teachers & non-teaching staff, with her classmates, junior children and with the senior children of the school.

Get hands-on experience of the school’s atmosphere – Byattending PTMs, you can get hands-on experience of the school’s overall environment, including its premises and the infrastructural facilities. You can also visit your child’s classroom, library, laboratories and all other places where she spends her time while in the school.

Know better about the teachers & the non-teaching staff – You can get a general idea of the overall conduct and attitude of the teachers, School Head and the support staff, towards their colleagues and the children.

Inform teachers about your child’s behavioural patterns – As a parent, since you know more about your child’s behavioural patterns right from her infancy, you can use PTMs as an opportunity to discuss with the teachers about your child’s physical & psychological strengths & weaknesses. Such discussions will help the teachers to know better about your child as an individual.

Discuss your child’s inherent talents – At PTMs, you can highlight your child’s special skills & talents that she has demonstrated at home, which you think can also be nurtured at school as well. Such discussions will help your child’s teachers contribute greatly towards her holistic development.

Make teachers aware of your child’s concerns – At PTMs you can discuss about the special physical conditions of your child, such as any particular things or substances which she may be allergic to or the classmates/friends with whom she might have issues that need to be resolved. Informing teachers about this will help them in ensuring that your child is nurtured in a safe environment at school and also thoroughly enjoys the time at school.

Meet the parents of your child’s friends – Apart from teachers you can also meet the parents of other children as well, during the PTMs. By interacting with the parents at the PTMs, you will be able to know about the common issues that are worrying all the parents, which you can raise during the meetings.

Give feedback about improvement in school – Above all, you can make use of PTMs as the right forum for giving your feedback to the school for its improvement in terms of the quality of education and the infrastructural facilities. You can also cross-check whether the facilities that the school has promised to offer are actually available for the children or not. At PTMs, you can also register complaints regarding the infrastructural facilities which you think, should be improved by the school’s authorities.

So, make the most of the PTMs conducted at your child’s school and get involved in her learning, by collaborating with her teachers. With your active participation in your child’s learning at school, she will be able to achieve progress and success in her academic career. Moreover, your regular visits to the school and your interaction with the teachers during the PTMs will make your child realise that you are an inherent part of her learning journey.

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