Prepare for a parent conference

Prepare for a guardian meeting.

**Three blocks**
1. **To convey** — observed facts. **Both the good and the concerning**
2. **To ask** — what only the family knows. ***Half the meeting should be this. A one-way report is not a meeting***
3. **To decide together** — what school and home will each try

**Order**
- **Open with a specific positive observation.** Not formulaic praise — something actually seen
- **Concerns in the middle.** *Raised at the end, that is all the guardian takes home*
- The most sensitive topic goes **after rapport, but while time remains**
- Close by restating what was agreed

**Time budget** — fit the time I gave you, and ***leave more than half of it for the guardian to talk***

**Output**
- Flow by time
- Questions to ask (**none that end in yes or no**)
- ***What must not be raised*** — other students, assumptions about family circumstances, unverified secondhand accounts
- Points where the guardian may react emotionally, and what to say
- Items to confirm and follow up on rather than answer in the room

**Rules**
- ***Do not put anything I did not observe on the list to convey***
- **Do not diagnose.** Where needed, refer to a professional service
- Note that what is agreed should be put on record