A Parent's Review of Their Child's Class

A review about someone else's child

A dance studio receives a one-star review from a parent. Her daughter was kept in the beginner class while her friends moved up, and the parent writes that the teacher has stopped paying attention to her.

The owner's first draft of a reply explains why: the girl misses classes, struggles with the routines and needs another term at her level. Every line may be accurate.

Every line also describes a child, in public, under her mother's name, where classmates, their parents and one day the girl herself can read it.

The parent is the customer, the child is the subject

The parent paid, chose the studio and wrote the review. The person being discussed, though, is a child who agreed to none of it.

A reply stays attached to the review for years and turns up whenever anyone looks the business up. A description of a child's ability or behaviour stays with it.

Even without a name, a small community can usually tell who is meant, especially when the parent's own name sits right above the reply.

What the reply must leave out

However tempting it is to set the record straight, a public reply should never include:

• The child's name, even if the parent used it.
• Their level or progress, including why they were placed where they were.
• Their behaviour or attendance in class.
• Comparisons with other students or the rest of the class.
• Anything from the student's records, such as teachers' notes or assessments.
• Details of the family's account, including fees, refunds and payments.

Each of these might explain everything. None of it belongs in public, and readers judge the business by what it chose to say about a child.

What the reply can say

Thank the parent for raising it and say you are sorry the term has been disappointing. That acknowledges the feeling without conceding facts you have not yet discussed.

Explain how placement works for every student, in general terms: assessed each term against the same criteria, with parents told the result and the reason privately.

Then invite a call with a named person, such as the studio director, and give the number. Keep the reply to a few sentences; length reads as defensiveness.

Move the conversation to a call

On the phone, the director can explain the placement fully, with the teacher's observations, to the one person entitled to hear them.

Tone survives a call far better than a written exchange, and a parent who feels heard often softens, whatever the outcome.

Never make an edit to the review a condition of anything, and never offer a refund in exchange for one. If the parent updates it on their own, that is their choice.

Policies parents can read first

Many of these reviews come from surprise. A parent learns how levels work only when their child is held back, or how refunds work only when asking for one.

Put the policies on the website before registration: how students are placed and moved up, when assessments happen, the refund and missed class rules, and how to raise a concern.

A reply can then point to that page, which shows the process applies to everyone, without saying a word about any one child.

Send the same policies with each registration confirmation, so parents have them in writing before the first class rather than after the first disappointment.

A worked example

An acting school in Kelowna runs after-school and weekend classes for children and teenagers, with a showcase performance at the end of each term.

A parent posted a two-star review saying her son had a small part in the showcase while newer students had leads, and that the school plays favourites.

The owner's draft reply mentioned missed rehearsals and lines not learned. It was never posted. Nowhere on the site did the school explain how showcase parts were cast.

The posted reply thanked the parent, said parts are cast by the same process every term and rotate between showcases, and invited her to call the artistic director, named, at the school's number.

The call happened that week. The website now has a page on how classes are levelled, how parts are cast and rotated, the refund and missed class policy, and who to contact with a concern.

Nothing about the boy was said in public, and the next parent who wonders about casting can read how it works before the showcase rather than after it.

When the review names the child

If the parent's review names the child, the reply should not repeat the name. On the call, it is fair to ask whether they would consider removing it, for the child's sake.

Review sites also let a business report reviews that break their guidelines. Keep that for reviews that genuinely do, never as a way to remove criticism.

When other parents join in

Loyal families may rush to defend the school under the review, sometimes with details of their own about the child. Each reply keeps the thread alive and adds to the exposure.

Thank them privately and ask them to leave it. One calm reply from the business is enough.

If a defender's reply mentions the child, ask that parent privately to edit it. Say nothing about it in public, where a correction only draws more attention to the detail.

The counter-case

Some reviews from parents are about the business, not the child: parking, the schedule, the billing, a website that would not take a registration. Those can be answered specifically and in public.

Adult students reviewing their own class are also different. They are discussing their own progress, and a reply can engage with it, carefully.

But whenever the subject of a review is a child's placement or treatment, the reply stays general, however unfair the review feels.

Before you reply

1. Read the review twice and wait a day if you are angry.
2. Remove from the draft anything about the child.
3. Thank the parent and acknowledge the disappointment.
4. Describe the process that applies to every student.
5. Name a person and give the number for a call.
6. Keep the details for the call itself.
7. Publish your policies on levels and refunds.

Step two is the hardest. The details that feel like a defence are exactly what exposes the child, and leaving them out costs the business nothing in front of other parents.

When loyal families pile in to defend you under a review, regular customers who argue with your critics explains how to ask them to step back.

Frequently asked questions

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