Sucessful School Meetings for Learning Support at Secondary School
- Always make an appointment
- Let people know why you are coming in so they can be prepared to answer your questions.
- Ask the HOD learning support if she can email all subject teachers in advance of the meeting for feedback on how well your child is coping with class and homework.
It can be very helpful to have the following people attend your meeting:
- Year level Dean, HOD Learning Support / Special Needs, School Counsellor, a representative from any agencies working with your child.
- Ask who will chair the meeting and if they will be responsible for advising the people below when it is on.
- Ask who will take minutes and distribute them to all at the meeting.
Possible questions to ask
- What are Jon’s grades in each of his subjects this year? Is he passing or failing this subject?
- What is the feedback from each subject teacher regarding John’s performance in this class (see form attached that you may want to pass out to individual teachers).
- Is Jon keeping up with his written work in his subjects? Does he have full sets of class notes?
- If not, how can we make sure Jon does have full sets of notes?
- Is it possible for Jon to have minimal homework that requires writing?
- Do the teachers understand the nature of Jon’s special needs? Do they need some extra help to understand how to support him in their subject area with his specific disabilities?
- Have staff got a copy of Jon’s Cognitive and Educational assessment?
- If Jon needs extra support would it be helpful to put in a referral to the RTLB services?
- Is Jon eligible to have a reader / writer for all his assessments and who would be responsible for making sure that happens?
- Can someone at school teach Jon how to work well with a Reader / Writer and make sure he gets practice using one?
- Would Jon qualify for a laptop and free assistive technology through the Ministry of Education Special Education services? Who would put that referral in?
- Is Jon getting any TA help in classes that require a lot of note taking?
- How much TA time is Jon getting? Can parents also contribute financially towards extra TA time
- Can staff email some of their work to Jon?
- Can Jon acquire talking books to complement the texts books he uses at school?
(To check Nat Library for titles go to: www.natlib.govt.nz/catalogues)
- What can be done to make sure parents know what the homework is for each class? Should he be on a homework daily? Have a homework buddy? Have teachers email homework directly home?
Does Jon need a Behaviour Management programme put in place?
- Who would run this programme?
- When will Jon need his Ed Psych updated? Will the school contribute financially to this?
- Are people following through with what they say they will do? Who will monitor any plan put in place today?
Tips for Parents attending meetings at school
- Always make an appointment so that the people you want to be there are and that they have time to listen to you.
- Specify if you wish your child to attend or not. It is possible to have some time speaking with staff alone and then bring your child in at some point.
- Write down what you want to say.
- Take a support person with you if you are angry or upset.
- Go into the meeting with some ideas around what you would like to see happen next.
Have someone take notes – particularly about
1. What is going to happen next
2. Who is responsible for that happening.
3. In what timeframe can it be expected to happen in.
4. When you will meet again to review progress.
- Ask who the school can recommend to support your child – some agencies are only available by school referral.
- Thank staff who are prepared to do extra things for you and your child such as monitor daily behaviour reports .
- They don’t have to provide much of the extra help they offer and many do it willingly.
Don’t:
- Talk for too long and bring up lots of things that happened in the past .
- Be overly critical about other schools and teachers .
- Swear or use aggressive body language.