Introduction - Setting up Parents Evenings (Guardian Consultations)

This article is an introduction to our series of guides to help you with Setting up Guardian Consultations (Parents' Evenings) in Arbor. This guide covers the permissions required to set up and manage a Guardian Consultation (also known as a Parents' Evening) in Arbor, as well as key considerations before initiating your setup.

The guides in this series are:

1. Introduction - Setting up Parents Evenings (Guardian Consultations)
2. Creating a Consultation - Setting up Parents Evenings (Guardian Consultations)
3. Adding Meetings - Setting up Parents Evenings (Guardian Consultations)
4. Availability and Breaks - Setting up Parents Evenings (Guardian Consultations)
5. Meeting Management - Setting up Parents Evenings (Guardian Consultations)
6. Specific Setups and FAQs - Setting up Parents Evenings (Guardian Consultations)

Looking for help with the Guardian Consultation you've already set up? Take a look at our FAQ and troubleshooting tips.

Permissions

The Guardian Consultations: Administer permission is needed to set up and manage guardian consultations.

If you don't have this permission, you can ask your school admin to assign it to you using these instructions.

What are Guardian Consultations?

In Arbor, Guardian Consultations refer to parents' evenings. Accessible through Students > Parents & Guardians > Guardian Consultations > All Guardian Consultations, this section enables you to schedule and manage meetings between parents and teachers, which parents can book via the Parent Portal or App.

Things to consider before setting up

Separate meetings

You need to decide if guardians and staff can book separate meetings for each guardian linked to a child before you finalise your choices when scheduling your meetings.

This choice cannot be changed after you plan meetings. If you make a mistake, you'll need to delete and recreate the meetings or schedule custom meetings for students who need extra meetings.

Additionally, you may find our guidance on more specific consultation setups useful to read before you begin. For example, consider checking out Managing separated parents or split families.

The time of year

Suppose you need to schedule meetings that will take place during the next academic year. In that case, you won't be able to use Guardian Consultations to let parents make bookings via the Parent Portal or App before the start of the next academic year. 

Parents can only book meetings themselves for consultations taking place in the current academic year. Instead, you would need to book meetings for parents manually via the consultation, or you can set up meetings as an event to manage your bookings.

Staff calendars

To book a meeting with a staff member, the following conditions must be met:

• The staff member must have a defined availability period.
• The staff member must not have conflicting events scheduled.
• All meeting participants must also meet the first two conditions.

Therefore, ensure staff calendars are clear of other events during desired meeting times, and consider removing staff from overlapping events and deleting any placeholder events you might have added to staff calendars (as the placeholder will stop bookings from being possible).

This concludes the first guide in our Setting up Parents Evenings (Guardian Consultations) series. The next guide in our series is Creating a Consultation - Setting up Parents Evenings (Guardian Consultations)