When to visit state secondaries?

We visited a couple in Sept last year for our Y5 DS but we discovered that 4 schools we might want to visit had their open day on the same day so we thought we'd better get 2 of them out of the way.

We didn't really need to bother because we were in a superb feeder. Like others we started the year before so we had plenty of time. Seems very late to be starting now? Have you just moved?

All the schools by me only allowed y6 to tour this year because of covid so you probably wouldn't have been able to go anyway!

If you look on the websites now they may have the online tours from this year (the last couple of years open evenings have been virtual or a mixture of virtual/in person... weve not actually set foot in a Secondary school yet and DD starts this year.)
Theres statistics online, but they haven't been produced since 2019 so maybe wait until this summers are released.
Journey planning you can do anytime.
Admissions criteria you can find online... check for fixed Priority areas feeder schools, church requirements etc.

I had already started research by now but start looking. Ofsted and bus routes are easy to look in to. My high school takes 300 new kids each year but around 900 plus parents turn up for open evenings so impossible to do individual tours. If you do your research now you will have time to make decision in time after the visits. Schools have so much to do with students already in school especially this year plus primary visits for this years year 6 you carnt expect them to prioritise kids who are in year 5. My child in year 9 is still waiting for his awards evening from year 7 due to COVID, plus many more events, these take priority.

We had access to a few schools, so I started 1 year before admission form due. Went to open days from July - September on my own. We had some new academies, so went to watch children leave at the end of the school day to observe behaviours. Quite eye opening. Removed a couple of schools off the list. Visited them with child in year admission form due and let them choose their preferred schools. I had whittled out the schools that least matched my child's personality or schools we had no realistic chance of gaining entry after viewing admission criteria. Then spent a good few months biting nails awaiting offer day.

Is there a typo on your initial OP? You’ve said admission for 2024 which means your child must now be in year 4?
So you have plenty of time to have a look this autumn and then again next Autumn before applying October 2023.

Y5. Then you've got time to ask questions, think up questions, join Facebook groups, look at bus routes, alternative options etc.

Yes, with my eldest, I also went and looked round when dc was in Yr5, to try and narrow down the choice for when we took him in Yr6, but also covering ourselves if we couldn't get to any of them / were ill etc.

Yes, keenos round here do the visits at the start of Y5, not Y6! Altho we also have a group of state schools which are semi selective, so that makes it even more complicated…

By the time we visited school in the Sept/Oct, we already had a pretty good idea of our rough preferences, from reputation/Ofsted reports/feasibility of the travel/the school prospectus and website/the school performance etc etc. To be honest lots of them seemed similar in terms of the actual visit - science labs with Bunsen burners, a dining hall, classrooms with posters on the walls etc etc!

I looked first in autumn of year 5. Again in year 6.

There isn't enough time otherwise and locally many schools hold their open evenings on the same days unhelpfully but no one's fault.

Look on your council website for the admissions section, then you should be able to find previous years’ admissions stats, including furthest distance admitted. Unless the school is an academy, in which case the school’s own website should have that info under “year 7 admissions”.

We have probably 8 schools within 2 miles, it’s not that unusual if you live in a built up area.

Also look at the school league tables to give a sense of overall attainment (google school performance tables England, assuming you are inEngland).

Open days for secondary schools happen at the beginning of October round here.

You can do research on them now, in terms of bus routes and OFSTED reports if they are going to influence your decision, it will narrow down the number you go and see.
Also look at how far away the pupil lived who got the last place over the last few years - you might find you don't have as many chances as you initially think.
As others have said, there is usually a two week period in September when they all have their open evenings.

Do the ofsted/bus routes etc work now, might reduce the number of open evenings you have to do in the autumn. Realistically how many do you have a chance of getting in to?

If you're in a feeder school you'll get notified of open days. If not, call and ask them when they are.