Parent–Teacher Meetings at LFCG: Reflections and Commitment of the CIPL

Parent–teacher meetings at the secondary level are a key moment in the school year, offering families and teachers the opportunity to exchange directly about students’ schooling, progress, and needs. At the Lycée Charles de Gaulle in London, these meetings have traditionally taken place once a year, on the second Friday and Saturday morning in December. While the format and teachers’ availability are appreciated, the organization of the appointments has long been a source of frustration for many families..

A process that has become unnecessarily complex

For many years, parents have had to navigate a patchwork of systems to book appointments. Some meetings are allocated on paper, others via links published on Pronote or sent by email, and still others through Google tools. For parents with more than one child — often across different year groups — this quickly becomes a logistical headache, increasing the risk of missed or overlapping appointments and adding stress to what should be a constructive experience.

This feedback has been shared informally for some time, and improving the process is a recurring concern among families.

Timing and legitimacy: looking ahead to 2026

The CIPL (as a new parents’ association created in June) was only elected in October. As such, it was not realistic or legitimate to raise this topic in time to impact the organisation of the 2025 parent–teacher meetings. However, the CIPL believes this is an important issue to address and would like to begin working as early as possible on a solution for 2026, in close collaboration with the school, which seems to support this initiative. Google Calendar was indeed tested last year. Following positive feedback from the volunteer teachers, this tool was prioritized this year. In response to the question raised by the CIPL during the School Council, the administration confirmed its intention to move away from paper sheets in favor of a single digital tool that ensures a more efficient process for everyone involved. The School committed to finding a solution for 2026, and CIPL will offer its support to ensure this commitment is effectively implemented.

Reviewing possible tools

An initial review of available tools has already begun:

• Pronote
  Pronote is an obvious candidate, as it is already widely used by families and staff. However, in its current configuration, it does not allow meetings to be scheduled outside regular school hours. This limitation makes it difficult to maintain the Saturday morning option, which is important for many working parents.
• Skolengo
  Skolengo does allow appointment booking, but it lacks several functionalities that parents and teachers rely on, such as intuitive multi-child management, flexible scheduling, and clear visibility across all appointments.
• Google Calendar / Google Forms
  Google-based solutions appear promising. They are familiar to most users and allow parents to include key information such as their child’s name and class when booking. This is particularly helpful for families with multiple children. These tools also offer flexibility around timing and availability, in addition to providing the meeting link right away, in the same agenda item as the appointment.
• Calendly and similar tools
  Tools like Calendly provide a smooth booking experience and clear time-slot management. However, they also come with drawbacks: limited integration with school systems, potential data protection concerns, licensing costs for large numbers of teachers, and the risk of adding yet another platform for families to manage.

At this stage, no solution is being promoted as final. The goal is to identify a tool that is simple, inclusive, compliant with data requirements, and workable for both teachers and families.

Working with teachers to remove blockers

To support this transition, the CIPL is keen to meet with teacher representatives to better understand the practical constraints they face and the reasons why moving to a single platform may be challenging. Any successful change will require teacher buy-in and appropriate technical support. The intention is not to add to teachers’ workload, but to streamline a process that currently creates friction on all sides.

Beyond the choice of tool, the CIPL would also discuss with teachers if a clearer framework around the purpose of these meetings would be helpful, and in particular, if it could be helpful if teachers indicated in advance — and ahead of the publication of the bulletins individuels — whether a meeting with parents is Highly recommended, Desirable or only Optional.
This would help families prioritise appointments, reduce unnecessary bookings, and ensure that time is focused where it is most valuable for students.

Looking forward

Improving the organisation of parent–teacher meetings is a shared objective that requires time, dialogue, and collaboration. While changes were not be possible for 2025, the CIPL hopes to work proactively with the school and teacher representatives to design a clearer, fairer, and more user-friendly process for December 2026 and beyond..

Parents will be kept informed as discussions progress, and feedback and suggestions are actively sought as part of this work.