As we are moving towards the end of Term 3 it is now time for our second set of student conferences for 2016. These will be held for all teachers on the evenings of Wednesday 21st and Thursday 22nd of September, with some teachers also having some day slots available across Monday, Wednesday or Thursday of that same week. 

At Amesbury School we report on student learning and progress every term. In Terms 1 and 3 each year we hold student conferences, where students discuss their learning with their parents and one of their teachers, and talk through their learning goals. For children in Years 4-6, we send home a learning report through our ALF software in Term 2 & 4 , reporting on recent assessments, national standards and learning behaviours. Children in their first, second and third year at school have this report created near their school anniversary.

Our Term 3 student conferences  will be running in the last week of Term 3 (19th - 23rd September). Conferences for all Te Rito students and those booking with Anna and Urs will be in the evenings only (3:30 - 7:50pm). For conferences with Derek, Mike, Dan, Demelza and Marianne there will also be some day options for conferences within this week.  

Where at all possible, we ask that people stay within these particular days to book conferences. Teachers will be staying particularly late on these two days to hold the conferences, so we prefer that teachers do not stay late on other days to hold additional conferences. Thank you for your support with this. 

Please find booking information below, including the teacher each student needs to book a conference time with.

• School interview website - We use the 'School Interviews' website to allow parents to book conferences online. Please follow this link: www.schoolinterviews.co.nz.

• The school code is qmysz   Enter this code on the home page of website and it will take you to the booking process for this round of conferences.

• Who to book with - we are asking parents in all hubs to book a conference time with their child's literacy teacher. The teacher you received this email from is the teacher you book a conference with. All teachers will be able to discuss your child's learning in all areas of the curriculum, even if they don't necessarily teach them for all learning areas. In the case of Year 3-6 students your child will be doing quite a lot of the talking about their own learning, and the teacher will be there to guide where necessary and answer any questions the parents or student may have. 

• Who attends the conferences - We ask that students attend the conferences as well as parents, wherever possible, although we appreciate that with our youngest students the conference time may be too late for them. All students will be involved in the conference to an age-appropriate degree. Year 3-6 students will lead their conference, using a presentation they have created. Year 1 and 2 students will have aspects of their learning they would like to share in the conference. 

• Multiple bookings/timing - if you are booking conferences with more than one teacher we do not recommend you make back-to-back bookings. The conferences tend to be tight on time, as there is a lot to get through in 20 minutes! The schedule needs to be closely followed in order to ensure that all students get their requisite period of time with their teacher. If you are late or coming from another conference this will reduce the amount of time you have for the conference; teachers will still need to end each conference at the scheduled time, as other people will be disadvantaged if we go over time.

If you have any further questions regarding student conferences please don't hesitate to contact your child's literacy teacher.

Warm regards,

The Amesbury team