Sometimes parents are not aware of events, or they are told too late of the event, or they have misplaced the paperwork or forgotten. Knowledge of who these parents are, enables the school to respond appropriately. Encouraging parents to get involved in their child’s education is a very positive step towards student academic performance.

 

Double click the column marked ‘Num wanted’ to sort parents by the number of interviews they have requested. You may want to double click again to sort in reverse so those parents who have not made any interview requests are sorted to the top of the list.

 

How many parents have not responded?

 

Does the school have a system in place to request parents respond – even if they are not wanting to attend the evening? This is a good idea as the school then knows the parent is properly aware of the event and has chosen not to attend. The school may still choose to follow up these parents, but perhaps with less emphasis compared to parents which have not responded at all.

 

Does the school advertise in their documentation that failure to request interviews or failure to respond may result in the school making contact with the parent to verify they know of – but are not wanting to attend? A polite note in this vein may politely ‘encourage’ parents to seek involvement in cases where they were wavering or had chosen not to. They may prefer to attend than to have to actively acknowledge they are not wanting (or able) to attend the event.

 

Consider how booked out the interview schedule is already. If there are very few places left, there is little need to follow up parents as there is no space left to accommodate them anyway.

Provided there is space remaining in the schedule, consider a sliding scale of contact approaches, such as email, more notes, actively asking the students, or phoning parents directly.

Key questions to ask parents who have not responded:

 

Were you previously aware of the event?

 

Are you able to attend?

 

Is there any particular reason for non-attendance (Unavailable due to work commitments / have no concerns about my child)

 

Will you be interested in attending a subsequent event?