Parent Teacher Student Conferences

Information for Families

The Semester 2 conferences will run to the same structure as the Semester 1 conferences held earlier in the year.  We received positive feedback on this structure regarding the choice and flexibility it provided to families. 

Day 1: Week 8, Thursday 31 August: 10.30am - 7.30pm – via Webex video 

Day 2: Week 9, Friday 8 September: 9.00am - 3.30pm – face-to-face onsite at NHS

How the conferences will work on the online WEBEX day – Thursday 31 August

• Please see the infographic below for assistance accessing conferences via WEBEX
• Staff WEBEX links can be found through the booking portal. Please use this to access the online room for your meeting. Teachers will leave you in the virtual waiting room until your appointment time.  

How the conferences will work on the face-to-face onsite day – Friday 8 September

• Staff will be allocated a classroom during the meeting times.
• The day before the interviews there will be a Compass Newsfeed with a list of all staff classrooms and a school map. Please use these to plan your route around the school. 
• TIP: we strongly encourage you not to book back to back appointments for this day so that you have the time to move from one appointment to the next. 

Supporting keeping to time

As appointments run back-to-back, it is important that the conversations keep to time. To help this, each conversation will last 7 minutes. Teachers will let you know that they are setting an audible alarm at the start of the conversation. When it goes off, this is the signal that the allotted time is up. The teacher will then need to finish the conference so that they can move to their next appointment. 

Please be understanding of this and support our teachers in keeping appointments running smoothly.  If a longer conversation is necessary following the appointment, please ask the teacher if you can arrange another time outside of PTSC to speak.

Other important information:

• Regular classes will not run on PTSC days. Students should continue with existing tasks and are encouraged to participate in the Conversations.
• Teachers will not be available to answer emails/other communications on those days, as they will be occupied with the PTSC.
• The day before PTSC there will be a Compass newsfeed listing any staff who are away and cannot make their PTSC.  This will be updated on the day with any late changes. 

Bookings 

Families will be able to book via Compass (see instructions below): 

• Booking portal opens: 9am Monday 21 August
• Booking portal closes: 4pm Monday 28 August 

How to book

1. Log in to Compass. On the welcome page click the 'Book Parent Teacher Interviews' button available next to the student photo or click the Dashboard Alert at the top of the Newsfeed.

2. You will see “Semester 1 PTSC Thursday 31 August” and “Semester 1 PTSC Friday 8 August”. Click on your preferred day for PTSC.

3. A panel will come up, as shown.

4. To book by timeslot, click the timeslot and then select the teacher from the right who you would like to book with for this specific time. The teachers who are available during this timeslot will be shown in white.

5. To book by teacher, click the teacher's name in the list at the far right. The schedule to the left will display only the timeslots that the teacher is still available to be booked with. All timeslots that the teacher is already booked out for will be greyed out. Just click an available timeslot on the left to make a booking.

6. You will receive a confirmation popup to confirm the details

of the booking. 

Click the OK button. (If you don’t click the confirmation button it won’t save your bookings).

Tips

• It’s a good idea to print or copy down your bookings! We do not keep a copy for you at school.
• The booking portal will close on Monday 28 August at 4pm

Who to see

Student-Parent-Teacher Conversations are always well supported at Northcote High School. However, if you are new to the process, here is some advice: 

• Select teachers to see based on need. For example, if you are concerned about how your child is going in a particular subject, contact with that staff-member should be a priority. If you miss out on seeing a teacher but need to see them, please contact them for another appointment via Compass.
• Appointments book out quickly for some staff. Please don’t delay making your appointments.
• Part time staff may have limited availability on both days. Look for availability when you log on to Compass. If the teacher’s name does not come up as an option when you look on Compass, it means they don’t work that day. Please contact these teachers by Compass if required.
• There may be other reasons that teachers are not available for one or both of the student-parent-teacher conversation dates. They will be blocked out on their schedules.
• Please check Compass on the day for any unexpected absence announcements.

WEBEX conferences: Thursday 31 August bookings only

The infographic below outlines how to connect with teachers via their online WEBEX rooms .