Education is a beautiful encounter, witnessing the growth of children and carrying the common expectations of schools and parents. At ACZS, different divs hold “one-on-one” parent-teacher conferences at the middle or end of the learning period to help parents understand their children's learning and living conditions, and to participate in the construction of personalised growth plans for the next stage of their child's development. With the concept of co-education, the Primary School and the International High School held a series of parent-teacher conferences in November, according to the actual schedule of each div.
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Review of IHS Parents' Evening
Due to the busy academic schedules of students, the IHS Parents' Evening was cleverly arranged during the evening of November 17th. We believe that the Parents' Evening is more like a warm discussion than a cold, typed communication. Hence, both parents and teachers were able to openly exchange views, face-to-face, on the progress and needs of students from different perspectives.
Teachers focused on sharing the students' academic performance in class, including learning attitude, concentration level, motivation in answering questions, and they had a long talk with parents about their child’s potential and progress.
Every student entering G10 has to face serious academic challenges, so synchronising with parents on students' homework and tests is the best way to help students. In conjunction with the students’ Individual Education Plan (IEP), teachers provide an in-depth analysis of recent tests results and provide parents with a range of quality learning resources outside of school, such as books and online courses, to support further study by students.
Individual children may have special needs or may not be academically proficient. Therefore, the teachers will ask about this in every family meeting to make sure that the students received the appropriate support to overcome the challenges they face.
Enrichment activities are an important part of the holistic education at IHS and will play an important role in the children's future pathway. At this parent's evening, teachers shared with parents information on the Co-curricular activities (CCA): clubs, interest groups, and sports activities, students are enrolled in, along with feedback on Academic Activities (AA),such as the external AMC maths competition, and opportunities provided for Supra-curricular Activities (SCA), namely the Harvard online CS50's Introduction to Computer Science course.
Behavior and Socialisation
As students mature mentally, the psychological condition and social activities of our seniors are of utmost concern to us. We also shared with parents information about the student's social activities, emotional state, and behavior, and we exchanged information with parents about the student's daily life inside and outside of school.
Taking into account the previous stage's academic performance and growth progress, as well as the parents' expectations and suggestions for the student, we worked together to set long-term learning goals for the student, including the student's performance in specific subjects, progress in grades, and participation in competitions. In addition, some of the teachers introduced the students' future study and career plans to parents, sharing information about the choice of university majors, international education trends, and the job market to provide parents with more references for future development.
Review of PS Parent-teacher Conferences
In order to let parents know more about students' academic progress in school, improve and plan students' learning methods and strategies for the next stage, and to realise the goal of "home and school work together to nurture for future", the Primary School, during the period of November 13th to November 24th, sharing students' learning and living situation in school during this half-term through the communication between teachers and parents.
Based on the students' classroom performance, social development skills, homework completion, and mastery of academic skills in the first half of the semester, the teachers provide feedback to parents on the growth progress of each student and propose specific optimisation plans for each student's individual situation. With the deepening of communication, many parents gained a deeper understanding of which subjects their children have an advantage in and how they will be educated in the future. The joint growth of schools, teachers and families has gradually formed a stronger educational synergy.
In this one-on-one parent-teacher conference, the language team prioritised the three main points of the conference through group discussion: first, the students' status in school, second, the completion of students' homework, and third, the combination of this practice assessment, in-depth sharing of the child's strengths and weaknesses with the parents, in order to support the children's progress and development in the future.
Since the beginning of the school year, primary school math education has been popular among children. Teachers provide students with different practice exercises in the classroom to stimulate students' interest, cultivate the spirit of inquiry and the ability of group cooperation. In the parent-teacher conferences, math teachers shared the growth of children's skills in mathematical abstraction, logical reasoning, mathematical modeling, intuitive imagination, mathematical operations and data analysis through the feedback of special teaching activities such as summary and analysis, homework leveling display and analysis, and co-curriculum activities, as well as comprehensive assessment of students by combining the math folders, weekday practice exercises, and monthly academic feedback sheets.
As a future-oriented and multicultural school, English education has always been one of the keys to helping children stand out in the future at ACZS. In this parent-teacher conference, the primary English teachers combined and students' daily learning situation, summarised the practice of the subject phase, and the direction of the subsequent study, and had an in-depth communication with parents. Teachers first analysed the children's usual preparation before class, class status, word dictation and homework completion, and then combined with the children's practice in the previous units, proposed a personalised learning plan.
During the Parents' Evening, I deeply felt the concern and expectation of the school and teachers for the children. Teachers are not only concerned about the children's academic performance, but also their physical and mental health development. Teachers introduced parents to their children's learning and life in school, and also shared targeted methods and experiences of educating children. Through exchanges with the teachers, I have a better understanding of my children's situation at school and am more concerned about their growth and development. I believe that school and family should work together to promote the child's growth and development. At the same time, I also realise that educating children requires more patience and attention, and I need to establish good communication and relationship with them.
As a parent of an IHS student, I had a lot of feelings after participating in the Parents' Evening. Firstly, I have a deeper understanding of home-school “co-education.” Also, G10 students need to bear greater academic pressure and curriculum difficulty, so helping them get through difficult times should not only be the responsibility of the school itself, but also parents need to play an important role. Secondly, the school's concept of holistic education has enlightened me because the world of the future will not only require academically qualified individuals, but also those with highly developed soft skills, such as leadership, creativity, and teamwork. Lastly, I feel that my child is more confident and open-minded after 2 months of study, and he is now able to express his inner thoughts and opinions bravely and clearly, which I think is the unique feature of Chinese-Western integrated education.
Under the careful guidance of the teachers, my child has shown good learning ability and motivation, and has the ability to think and solve problems independently, which I think is the biggest surprise for us since we chose to join ACZS. During this parent-teacher conference, I have also gained a deeper understanding of our children's individuality, which is unique, and as parents we should fully respect and support their individuality and give them key support and encouragement.
As we are exactly halfway through the school year, the timing of the parent-teacher conference was perfect. During the parent-teacher conferences, I met with teachers of various subjects, and the one-on-one discussions allowed me to get a clear picture of my child's learning and life at school. In addition, during the parent-teacher conferences, each subject teacher has detailed records of grading, evaluations, and files of students' homework and exams, so that to work together with parents to set personalised learning goals for our children, and I highly appreciate this way of co-education.
Nick Nightingale
International Head of School
Parents’ evenings are an important opportunity for teachers to share information with parents on their child’s performance to date, academic targets, and steps the student can take to achieve their study goal. During the week leading up to the parents evening, our team of teachers reviewed and had in depth discussions on students’ performance, challenges, and strengths based on recent midterm exam results. This information and more were recorded in the updated Individual Education Plan (IEP) of each student, which later provided the basis for discussion with parents during parents’ evening. At the end, we were happy to see so many, many parents enthusiastically attend our first parents’ evening to learn more about their child’ s performance and most importantly, what they can do to help their child’ s education.
Lisa Ding
Academic Head of Primary School
Schools, as professional educational organisations, have the responsibility and obligation to establish a close partnership with families through various ways. By working together, we can build a community that promotes growth and truly maximises the impact of parenting. Parent-teacher conferences are an important form of learning exchange. In parent-teacher conferences, parents can share their educational experiences, learn from each other, and grow together. Such exchanges not only help parents better understand their children's learning at school, but also promote communication and cooperation between parents and teachers, thus providing strong support for the overall growth of children.
Linda Guo
Head of Year 10 & English Teacher
At the parents' evening, we were heartened by the enthusiasm and interest of the parents. Each subject teacher shared with parents one-on-one about their students' recent learning and personal development at school, including their positive attitudes and enthusiasm for learning, as well as their significant progress in teamwork, classroom participation, and self-management during the first two months of school. Going forward, we will also work with parents to focus on each student's individual needs so that we can work together to refine the student's Individual Education Plan (IEP).
Liz Zhou
Academic Dean of Teaching at PS
Through this one-to-one parent-teacher conference, we have improved parents' understanding of the school's work. We were pleased to see that parents had more communication with their children and were able to see more clearly their children's confusion and expectations for the future. All the teachers of Primary School have also got a clearer teaching direction from this conference, and we will not only focus on the students' academic achievements, but also their overall development.
