Dear Parents and Carers

For the parent- teacher meetings after half term, we will be offering a choice of either a virtual meeting, as we did last year, or a face to face meeting. We are offering both in response to parent feedback that technical issues did prove tricky for some families and devices last year and we wanted to make sure this wasn’t going to be an issue for those families again for these meetings.

If you are wanting a virtual, video meeting on the Thursday OR a face to face appointment on the Wednesday in school - please look out for the email and text message inviting you to choose and book a meeting slot from the choices available. (The instructions are below explaining how this is done.)

The meeting options on Wednesday 3^rd November will be face to face only, for parents to come into school (3:30pm – 5:30pm), and on Thursday 4^th November, these will be virtual video meetings only (3:30pm – 7:30pm).

As always, we will try our best to give you your preferred choice of meeting. If this is not possible, and you have any difficulties making a date of time that is offered, please contact school and we will ask a member of the staff team to contact you to discuss this with you.

BOOKING YOUR MEETING:

What do you need to do first?

You will be able to book your appointments online

Parents Meeting booking slots will be on:

Wednesday 3^rd November 3:30 – 5:30pm  - THESE ARE MEETINGS FACE TO FACE, PARENTS TO COME TO SCHOOL TO CHAT TO TEACHERS AT THE ALLOTED TIMES

Thursday 4^th November, between 3:30 and 7:30pm – THESE ARE VIRTUAL VIDEO MEETINGS, WHERE PARENTS WILL CHAT TO TEACHERS OVER THE VIDEO LINK AND DO NOT NEED TO COME INTO SCHOOL.

We will send a link to your mobile phone and/or your email address which will take you to our online booking system to select a time that works for you from the options available.

LINKS FOR BOOKING TIMES WILL BE SENT OUT ON WEDNESDAY 20^th OCTOBER – BY TEXT

(Also see page 5 of the Parents Guide booklet for pictures of what you should see)

Once you get this message, that includes the link, please follow these simple steps to book your slot:

1. Click the link that you receive through text and/or email to take you to the confirmation page. You will need internet access to do this.

1. Enter your child’s first name to continue. If you have more than one child, any of their first names will work.

1. Next you will be taken to the booking page. This will show your children alongside all of the teachers that you can book in with.

1. Click ‘Please Choose’ to be shown a list of available times that you can click to book.

1. Please click ‘Book this Slot’ to complete your booking. When the button has turned green you know your booking has been made.
    
2. At any time before the Parents Evening, you can click the link on your phone or email again to check your booking time or even un-book by clicking the green booked button.
    

Make sure you book your parents evening as soon as you can, to ensure you get the best time for you.

There are also further guides, including photos of the steps you need to take, and what the video meeting will look like above this section.

If you need paper copies of any of these guides or documents, please contact the school office and they will organise to get these to you.

If I choose a virtual video meeting, how will it work?

Before the video call time slot, you will receive a link by text message/email. You need to click on this to be able to join the video meeting. (See pages 6 - 9 of the Parent Guide).

Important things to remember:

• You must join the call at the exact time your booked meeting slot is. The system is automated and the teachers will not be able to start the meeting at different times.

• You will only have the 10 minutes allocated to your meeting. After this time, the video call will automatically stop and the connection will be ended. Teachers will not be able to stop this happening and cannot lengthen the time you have. The Teachers 2 Parents system is in full control of this.

• Please use one of the links below to check that the settings of the device you will use for the meeting will allow sound and video. Please try to test this before the meeting time.

networktest.twilio.com

test.webrtc.org

If you need any help or support in getting this booked or set up, please could you email the school office on : parents@laneendprimary.org.uk  or ring or text the office and leave a message explaining what you need. Someone will get back to you as soon as they can.

The Pastoral team will also be supporting parents and carers in booking their virtual parents video call. One of the team may give you a call to see if you need any help or support.

Thank you for your continuing support

Asa Britton and the Lane End Team