Is it me or is this a bit of a silly idea?

[Hoppinggreen]

Dd is in Y10 at a small Private school. We really like it but since a new Head has taken over there is a definite shift towards more marketing and promotion of the school. I know it’s a business and results are still excellent and the school is full for the first time ever but they’ve come up with a new idea that I think is a bit crazy and unworkable. I would especially welcome the opinion on teachers. My Dd starts Y7 in September so it would affect him
In mid November one Tuesday afternoon at 2 all Y7 pupils are asked to invite their favourite teacher from their previous school to their new school for afternoon tea and to share their Y7 progress so far.
About 50% of Y7 will come from the prep school but the rest will come from pretty ordinary and mixed state Primaries. Would a teacher really want or be able to have an afternoon off to visit another school for afternoon tea with an ex pupil? I can imagine the response if I asked one of the teachers from DS primary (3 form entry), although I’m pretty friendly with The Head so I might be able to talk her into it
It seems like a nice idea in theory but totally impractical and will just consist of teachers from The Prep school while the rest of Y7 feel a bit left out?

[crosser62]

Oh dear lord!
You should maybe suggests that an open invitation should be to all the unicorns of the British isles to come for afternoon tea too...
This may be a way to recruit staff too though, but yes, I agree, no one can just take an afternoon off for afternoon tea, no one!

[SalrycLuxx]

The feeder prep schools will send someone. The state teachers will not.

[Hoppinggreen]

There are no feeder preps!
There is the one AT the school but that’s it, the rest are from State schools (Yorkshire so not loads of Private schools here).
I’m glad it’s not just me, also, the State Primaries here are really suffering in terms of funding, staffing etc and it seems a bit like “come and have our well resourced school rubbed in your faces”
Hopefully it will be so awful this year they will scrap it by the time DS is there!

[CarrieBlue]

My DS’s yr6 teacher came to his state secondary for afternoon tea when he was yr7, as part of the transition programme. Both schools are part of the same MAT but there were teachers from other primaries too

[Bluewavescrashing]

Is the private school going to pay for supply cover for the state schools? Doubt it. Heads of state schools won't let teachers go on courses as they won't pay for supply so it's highly unlikely they won't be released for marketing purposes for this private school.

The whole idea is just cringe!

[Hoppinggreen]

Yes but this is almost 3 months in and it’s most likely to be State and Private ( and probably not incredibly close geographically).

[Aventurine]

Hopefully they'll ditch it before your ds joins, once they see that only the prep teachers turn up.

[Aventurine]

Also, it must be a bit awkward for the prep teachers if some get picked as several kids' favourites and some never get picked.

[Topseyt]

Sounds crazy to me. I can't imagine it working. It could come across as pushy and hard-sell marketing too. Nobody really likes that, nobody I know of anyway.

I've never been able to use the private sector though, so might not be the best guide.

[Aventurine]

Hopefully in a couple of years he'll be cringing at his hare brained idea

[egontoste]

Silly.

[Hoppinggreen]

Unfortunately this Head has had all his cringing abilities removed!
He has mostly worked in The Far East and some of his ideas haven’t really translated to Yorkshire, he makes us all laugh on a regular basis (unintentionally) BUT the school is excellent, with great results and Dd is happy there so we just smile, nod and avoid him. It’s amusing to watch all the parents scatter when he approaches