Open Mornings and Evenings. What to look for?

@KendrickLamaze
The LA info should tell you numbers in each category of admission. 60 extra places sounds more hopeful though. They might get lots of siblings some years. Or SEN with the school named. Plenty of DC get into schools other than on distance.

I got the best info from the students showing us round. I asked them who their favourite teacher was and who the worst one was and their favourite subjects and where they went for break times etc, also what happened if there was any bullying or fights. They're on their best behaviour obvs but not quite able to keep their reserve up. I was completely put off a school by a student who stopped showing our group around to stand giggling and engage in horseplay with a group of boys we came across, her focus was completely gone - it cemented my decision to send dd to an all girls school!

@TizerorFizz agreed but I would never have assumed the radius would be so small. Essentially there is a fire station and a big Tesco in that radius with no houses so unsure how it works. They have 60 more places this year so fingers crossed.

open day*

Anyone going to the Mount House even fay on 24th September?

I just signed my year 8 up to volunteer there from 9am-11am. Not sure what impression she will make to prospective parents 🙈but she does love the school 😂

@twistyizzy thank you - great questions and much appreciated 😀

@Zoozoo101 I asked:

• their GCSE results for 2022 as the official ones haven't been released yet by DfE. Not just the maths/English but the overall % for 9-7 and 9-4 for all subjects
• how many girls every year go on to do A Levels in STEM subjects
• what their homework policy is and frequency
• how they stretch able children in every lesson
• what extra curricular clubs are on offer
• which subjects do they set for and at what stage
• how are parents informed about, and engaged with, behavioral issues and poor performance
• how do they ensure middle of the road kids are kept engaged and pushed to higher achievement

@twistyizzy would you mind providing info on the kind of questions you emailed the schools about please?
this thread is v useful as also looking at schools but not sure what to look for/ask etc

I have contacted the 3 we are going to Open Evenings for, with questions ahead of the event. 2 of those schools have responded with replies from either the Head or Deputy Head. 1 has failed to reply so in my mind that is automatically a black mark against transparency/parent interaction. 1 of the schools (the one where the Head resonded) has then sent me a follow up email to check I understood the answers and to contact them again if I had any further queries. Seemed very approachable and actually concerned that I was satisfied, funnily enough it was the school that was top of my list anyway and has consistently the best results.

@KendrickLamaze
Your LA should publish data regarding distance from home to school for most distant successful applicant. It can change year on year. However if it is 0.6 miles, it’s unlikely to go up to 3 miles! Parents probably need to look for this info before visiting.

In all the open days/mornings/evenings I've been to you all assemble for an introductory talk then get divided up and are led around by a student. They are the only ones you can really ask anything as the teachers are mobbed. I've only once been able to talk to a teacher and they only spoke about their specific subject.
It's good to get the general vibe, hear about the school ethos and take a look at other prospective students and check out the facilities, but not really for specific info.

Yes, my daughter's school doesn't hand-pick kids, just asks for volunteers. The open day is on a Saturday and I remember being so impressed that the school was full of pupils willing to give up their Saturday when we attended the open day.

Look at how many current kids they've got turning up to represent at the open evening. This is what impressed me about DS's school - loads of teenagers were willing to give up their evening to 'show off' their school. It was pretty heartwarming!! Our school don't particularly handpick kids to do open eve either, if you volunteer you can do it. Definitely speak to the current students and see what they think about what's good and not so good.

Also agree re getting to/from school - I love that DS is a 5 minute bike ride from school. It makes life very easy.

Ultimately though it is a bit about gut feel.

Just got back from our first one. The tour was good and there was a lot to show but the science department was a little showy. All the rest seemed an accurate representation of daily life. The speech was good and the head seemed outstanding. After all this they said catchment area is essentially 0.6 miles away from the school so probably wasted...

I didn’t particularly want a school to impress. I like to see a school actually working. I don’t want a sales pitch that then isn’t delivered. We wondered how DC could move around easily! We couldn’t! Yes, there were staff but around 10 parents jostling for position to speak to them. Simply impossible. However I’m sure some parents ask the 20 questions they’ve prepared and the others lose out!

We went to look at one school and asked about clubs. DC asked if it would be possible for him to start up a club if it wasn't already on offer? Lots of sucking of teeth and then SLT agreed no, that wouldn't be possible. They were at least honest I suppose.

Definitely. Also famous private schools. I thought the open day at Habs Girls was very stiff and the staff quite stand-off-ish, but there were so many parents there that they didn't have to do much to impress

I wonder whether with grammars the need to 'sell' themselves is less?
At the open evenings for my DDs' ex school you could always find SLT & pastoral & learning support staff in the hall, and then subject teachers in the subject classrooms.

@TeenDivided
At one school we went to, over 800 parents were there. It was heaving. You cannot find staff for detailed questions. However we only looked at grammars and lots of the detailed questions were pointless. Far better to ask privately. Also schools say lots and don’t always deliver!! Be very wary of a sales pitch!

It depends on your child and what is important to you. A different chuld to my own would need different questions but the ones I asked were:

Finding out about how the yeargroup splits between a "full sciences" curriculum vs a lesser combined sciences at gcse level, and what proportion of the cohort usually go on to sciences at A-level - whilst GCSE and Alevel are a long way off when your child is y6, the way these questions are answered tells you a lot about how inspirational and engaging the science teaching is. At one school I visited, the full sciences curriculum was only offered as a twilight extension to a handful of pupils who were keen enough to do extra school for it. Didn't apply there.

I asked the sports teachers to tell us about what the experience of a child who really didn't enjoy team sports and hated being wet and muddy would be like.

If we were given a tour by a current pupil and I had the opportunity I would aak something like "there's no such thing as a school with no bullying so can you tell me about a time when there was bullying and how it was dealt with.

I also asked about what extracurricular clubs and activities were available, especially looking out for clubs that weren't sports based.

I fail to see how touring round with hundreds of other parents actually tells you much.

You have to know what you want to know and make sure you as about it. At open evenings there will be someone somewhere who knows, you just have to find them.

Also student guides can be quite informative provided you don't get a very shy one, so make the most of chatting to any students in uniform.

If you don't care about performing arts, don't bother going to the drama/music area.
If you want to know about level of homework, ask teachers & students to get a feel for range.
If you want to know about pastoral care, ask students but also seek out a pastoral teacher. Ask students about bullying, behaviour in lessons etc.
If you want to know about stretching able students, ask them what happens if someone gets all their work done quickly in maths or whatever.
If you want to know about learning support ask the teachers, but also ask students what happns if someone struggles. They won't all know, but some will.

I fail to see how touring round with hundreds of other parents actually tells you much. I clearly wouldn’t advocate talking to random parents but you can often find sensible informed ones! Ditto friends and neighbours. I also agree that web sites are sources of vital info.

Anyone even thinking about sixth form might find big changes before DC get anywhere near sixth form. Ditto gcse choices. You have to roll with it to some extent. A free school opened in my old home town and they have already closed the sixth form. Beware of promises that don’t mean much.

The info from the government is often good but it’s out of date due to COVID. However consistency in P8 and other measures are still worth looking at. Great teaching is what you need and enough enthusiastic DC in the school. These are difficult to judge from an open evening without other info. Your DC can certainly think about if they feel comfortable with the school but expecting detailed info might be an impossible quest.

For me senco was important. I spoke to head of English about how my ds would be supported.

I asked the pupil favourite and worst thing about the school.if they felt bullying was dealt with.

After school clubs

How behaviour is dealt with.

I considered 2 main schools one was a very much do what i say but a smaller school , the second more relaxed nuturing but bigger. The second felt right for my ds.

To be honest, you get very little useful information. They're all going to say the same things about pastoral care, supporting those struggling academically etc. You're not going to see kids vaping by the bins.
There are two secondary schools in our town and things I have learned since DD started at one and her best friend at another:

• what subjects do they do and what choice do they get. Our school seemed bizarrely fixated on one creative subject in Yr7 (perhaps because they had surplus teachers?) whereas the other school had a more balanced rota
• what languages do they do, what choice do they get etc
• when do they pick GCSEs and what choices do they tend to get. At DD's school they pick 4 and the blocks tend to be quite rigid so you can only done one of art, drama, music, PE etc. That's fine for DD but wouldn't be for a more creative child (although with those subjects there is always the argument that you can do them through after school activities etc)
• how does the day work? DD has a very late lunch break but gets an hour so can do clubs at lunchtime. Her friend gets 2x 30 mins so no clubs at lunchtime
• is there a timetable of after school clubs? Do they lean heavily one way (eg towards sport or music)? How many are run by teachers rather than students? What is the actual uptake like? It's all very well saying you offer X for girls in Yrs 7 - 9 but not if no one does it and they haven't bothered working out why
• most importantly, how will your child actually get to the school and back. Easy if you live within walking distance. Otherwise, make sure your plan is solid. We'd thought DD would get the public bus until we learned no one from our village can actually get on it in the mornings as it's already full!

Great thread! Thank you.

I already have 1 in secondary but looking again for my youngest. For us as well as all the excellent tips here, it also boiled down to a “feel” for the school. Interestingly, the two that I thought we’d love, we didn’t. The one I just went to see to rule out ended up being our first choice………