Starting as we mean to go on, we hold an open evening for parents of each new intake.

Last term the headteacher, deputy head, class teacher, classroom assistant, chair of the parent teacher association and myself, as chair of governors, outnumbered the parents two to one.

As part of our drive to raise standards, our hard-working maths co-ordinator has attended courses and worked with education authority advisers and staff to revise and refine our teaching methods. In a small school like ours, subject responsibilities are strictly honorary - no extra pay, no non-contact time and hours of extra work.

Getting parents sufficiently up to speed on homework means her giving up yet another evening with her own children. Parents are wary of maths - it has changed so much since their school days. But surely that should be a reason for them to attend a workshop on the subject rather than boycott it.

With only five families signed up, we cancelled the evening. We have scheduled a parents’ meeting to discuss our Office for Standards in Education report. Will they come, even if we clash with EastEnders or a cup match? Who can say?