GUIDANCE AND ADVICE

Holding parents’ evenings online is a new experience for both parents/carers and teaching staff in Levenmouth Academy and because of this it is important to establish some ground rules so that all participants are following the same protocol, which should ensure everyone’s wellbeing and help the evening to run smoothly.

• Conversations should take place in appropriate rooms e.g. kitchen, lounge, study and not in a bedroom.
• Sitting in a quiet environment where you can give full attention
• All participants should be appropriately dressed as they would be for a real-life face to face appointment
• You may wish to have your child or young person with you as you would in previous parents’ evenings
• This is chance for both you and the teacher to talk about your child's progress and achievement
• Time will be limited on the call and you may find it useful to jot down any questions you would like to ask
• Please be respectful at all times during the consultation as you would if you were meeting face to face
• The meeting must not be recorded by the school or the parent, this is in breach of the hosting company policy and Fife Council policy.
• Both teachers and parents/carers have the choice of using audio or video
• Please try to be on time as the slot times are not flexible at all and will start/finish exactly on time  
• The first 30 seconds of each conversation allows for a short break for the teacher who will initiate the conversation at some point when they are ready during this time. 

Strong, positive and constructive relationships between staff and parents/carers are very important to us in Levenmouth Academy. Please note, therefore, that in the extremely unlikely event of verbal abuse, staff will end the conversation and refer the matter to the Senior Leadership Team.  

Tips for Troubleshooting

• Staff will be asked to check their devices beforehand, so we hope all is well at our end. 
• Please read the guide carefully beforehand to ensure you are using a suitable browser.
• Try logging on up to an hour before - if you can’t see “Join Video Appointments” please check through the list below to troubleshoot:  
• The same parent who made the appointments MUST be the one to log in as the appointments are linked to his/her details only and NOT to the other parent.  
• Check the names match exactly what we have on the system.
• Check the email address - in some instances the system shows that parents are sharing the same email address which you may have forgotten.  
• Make sure your camera and microphone and volume are fully enabled in your settings and that you have allowed the system to access them. 
• Better sound is achieved if only one person speaks (closely) to the microphone at a time.  
• If one party loses connection, please just wait whilst they log in again - you should be able to resume. 
• If there is a sound /display issue, try clicking the microphone/camera icon off and on again.  
• If there is still an issue, try logging off and logging on again or try another device.  
• Keep an eye on your email/appointments in case the teacher has a later slot they could book you into.  
• If possible, have a back-up device ready for you to log on and use.  
• It may not be possible to solve any technical issues on the night so please be forgiving in case of technical hitch. We are doing our best to make contact at this difficult time. If you encounter any technical difficulties and have to leave the call, there will be a survey where you can fill in details to report this or phone the school the following day.