How important is first impression from Registrar/Admissions?

[RainbowLoom]

Wondering what other people's impressions are. This week I've spoken to many schools re 11+ Sep 2016.

One extremely high achieving academic girls' day school was super up itself on the phone. They're just 'too inundated to offer tours and wait for autumn open day.' Other equally over-subscribed day and boarding schools were so friendly and welcoming on the phone, even though they too have amazing academic reputations.

So, do I even bother with the rude school? Anecdotally people talk of girls never feeling good enough there, as only excellence is expected. But also know some lovely girls there.

Why do some schools still think they need to be austere on the phone?

Certainly an eye opening experience with some of the very 'old traditional' day schools chatting away like we're old family friends.

Just mulling it over really I suppose... any thoughts?

[admission]

I think you are answering your own question in reality. You are right to question why you should put up with just plain bad manners and a superior attitude and wonder what it means for the future.

[Ladymuck]

It is tricky. On one hand first impressions are very important. On the other, the registrar will have no impact on your dd's experience of the school over the next 5/7 years.

We had a very poor experience with the registrar at ds2's school, who lost paperwork, was late sending out instructions, and misregistered pupils into the wrong agegroups etc. They didn't last the term, but replacing a registrar mid admissions season wasn't great either. It was exceedingly annoying and very offputting at the time, but of course is irrelevant a year later.

I'd phone back and say that you would want to see the school on a working day.

[RainbowLoom]

Thanks, yes certainly has me thinking!!!

[PollyMorfic]

We've done several rounds of secondary transfer, looking at both state and private schools. For initial screening I've found it's well worth phoning the school and asking a slightly ditsy question about open days or admissions procedures, to see what kind of reaction you get.

Surprisingly, it doesn't always divide exactly as you might expect - I've had massively-oversubscribed selective schools be delightful and helpful, right down to giving me advice about parking, and much less sought-after schools give me the, 'Oh god, not another stupid parent wasting my valuable time' treatment.

In general I would the attitude of the office staff is channelling something of the school's overall ethos. My benchmark was to think about how they treat you when you are a potential customer, and then translate that into the reaction you might get three years down the line when your unlovely 13yo has done something daft that you need the school's help to sort out.

It's surprisingly revealing, adn fwiw has held good in hindsight too - nothing I've heard off the grapevine over the past 10 years has made me regret not going further with schools that gave me snotty attitude when we were making initial inquiries.

[AnotherNewt]

You need to separate out availability of tours from overall manner.

I can think of quite a few schools who only have prospective parents in for Open Days (usually running a few a year, some weekend, some normal school day) and it seems to be those which attract the highest numbers of applicants which do it that way (if you have 750+ sitting the exams, and 3-5x times that number wanting to look around, you can see why the logistics can become insurmountable unless you can afford to employ a big admissions team to arrange and conduct the tours - you generally don't get pupils pulled out of lessons at secondary to conduct tours, other than on the open days).

The telephone manner of one member of the admissions staff might be indicative of the school's whole ethos towards parents, or it might be someone having an off day.

In your shoes, I'd go to the open day and see what you make of how the school likes to present itself then.

[Needmoresleep]

Not a very posh lady in West London? We had a similar experience when considering sixth form options. I explained that DD was towards the top academically at her slightly less selective school and was onsidering somewhere that might stretch her more, and was told firmly that this was unlikely to translate to being at the bottom of her very academic school. DD did not apply. We were also put off by the fact that, unlike other sixth forms, you had to pay to register before doing a tour. It is healthy for girls to consider staying on at their current school for sixth form as an active choice, and many will look round the alternatives.

Perhaps there is a policy to discourage applications from any but the most committed. Or perhaps they are bored of people telling them how bright their DD is.

In general though Registrars were very impressive. Some would have been receiving 1000s of enquiries. The Registrar at DDs school also seemed to track progress through the school. She always said hello when she saw me and knew how my daughter was doing.

[roguedad]

Personally, I would not read anything into this at all. You might have caught the reg at a bad moment; it might be a simple statement of fact etc. I also do not see much correlation between the quality of the reg and the school. Sometimes a weak school will have outstanding front of house ops in terms of people and web sites and it's more a matter of not being fooled the other way round!

[gazzalw]

I disagree roguedad. I think it speaks volumes about a school - not necessarily in terms of academic results etc...but its attitude to parents and pupils and underlying core values.

Such a scenario is very often the first point of contact twixt a parent and a school - if they can't give excellent 'customer care' on the 'frontline' then there's something wrong which will manifest itself in other ways throughout the school.

In any line of work people vastly undervalue the staff who are often the first contact point with members of the public (in whatever capacity) - good and bad customer care will be remembered!

As parents we ruled out our closest primary school for DC1 for this very reason - off-hand behaviour from the office staff.

Trust your instincts!

[Bonsoir]

We have been going through admissions this cycle (for secondary entrance in 2015) and, although I try my best to be a "good applicant", I am beginning to lose patience with a couple of schools which I liked but are being very difficult in finalizing admissions. If schools cannot even be polite and helpful when you have passed their entrance exam, I fear for the attitude they will adopt the day we have a problem!

[Poisonwoodlife]

I don't think the Registrar necessarily absorbs the values of the school, it is as much their own personality and attitudes. Of course you might wonder why a school would employ one that was less than a good advert for the school and communicated it's values but it might be that they are just not aware that effective marketing goes beyond employing someone to do a website and prospectus. The Registrar does after all have also to manage a mammoth administrative process, for which battleaxe controlling tendencies might be an assett.

We had a nightmare with one when returning from overseas, who did everything in her power to imply that an education anywhere other than a London Prep, and specifically Kensington Prep "such delightful girls", meant my DD had little chance. She also manifested some deep ignorance prejudice about the country we lived in "such a difficult language, why would anyone learn it" "I love Wimbledon fortnight, the best of British. Do they play tennis there?" Then she managed to send out the wrong exam paper and tried to blame it on the overseas school who had had absolutely no hand in the arrangements apart from receiving the post. She had been there a while, was an old girl and when I did finally go over her head to the Head the frustration was implicit. It put my DD off and she rejected a place but I know that the school is inclusive, lots of pupils from other cultures, and warm and supportive. I guess they were just waiting for her to go, though not so long ago I rang to see if they had an occasional place for my younger DD and had the joy of hearing her dulcet tones at the end of the phone still. We have an odd surname and it was a curfuffle at the time but she clearly didn't remember me, and my DD being at a suitably selective school on a par with hers I got the charm offensive

On the other hand another very selective school's registrar was charm itself, led us by the hand through it all and it was only when my DD met the staff she realised she was not representative of the ethos

[Poisonwoodlife]

But Bonsoir are they not French?

[Bonsoir]

A mixture! (International/bilingual schools)