Y5 girls not allowed at 11+ Open Days - is this new?

Summer of year 5 there are open days, school visits., etc.
Sept in Year 6, open days etc.
Each school seems to have a different route and preferences.

Don't think this matter at all. Lots of mums (esp for London) already made up their minds at least 4-5 schools they must apply before Y5. It is irrelevant when they have the chance to visit the school open days.

Still a lot of London private schools offer open day not just for Y6. Only few place hard restriction and I doubt those schools actually black mark their future customers, they want paid students who rank high in the exams.

@KittyWithStripes A few schools had this rule last year (eg G&L) and I know some Y5 parents went and weren't challenged but I didn't dare risk it as I thought we'd get an immediate black mark against our name for flouting the rules.

I do think the Y6 rule is more widespread this year though as I've noticed that some schools we're planning on revisiting in Y6 that we saw in Y5 now have a Y6-only rule.

In an ideal world, parents would get to see schools in Y5, then create a shortlist, and revisit the favourite ones again with more perspective in Y6, not least because you want to know which exams your child will be targeting / what exam boards they'll be sitting / what prep to do (with more than a month to go...)

From what I’ve seen locally, the most competitive school is the most restrictive - the September open days are only for y6 and then there is one day this term that isn’t restricted. The other schools seem to be more relaxed.

I’ve got a little while but would like to look over a couple of years to spread out annual leave I need to take etc and get a better feel for the schools. I do think a restrictive approach to open days favours those coming from prep schools who have access to more knowledge/info about schools. I feel like I need more time moving from state to work out what I’m doing.

It's not a post Covid thing.

We've looked at those London schools (incl SHHS) post Covid and it was fine to bring a YR5 - in fact it was encouraged by our prep head as the children can picture what the 11+ is actually for.

I assume the schools are trying to be more efficient as from their perspective it makes sense to only invite YR6 students.

We visited schools in year 5 (comprehensive schools and not in London). Like you I didn't want to leave it till year 6 when there is only a month left to decide. I emailed both catchment schools to ask if it was OK, one said yes and the other didn't reply so we went anyway. I know a few other families who did the same.

And yes @letmesailletmesail most private schools do an open day in June/July.

Maybe a covid backlog?

Is there something later in the academic year for those in Yr5 who are looking at a Sept '25 start? Where we live (outside London), there seemed to be one or two after Feb HT and then a flurry in the summer term which were open to anyone regardless of the age of their child.

It has always been the case. DD grammar runs one in spring for year 5 but one in autumn for those who have passed.

local schools run open mornings fir year 6 to make final decisiob

Maybe people do for selective schools, but DC goes to a comprehensive and we only visited in Year 6.

I’m just outside London. A lot of the state schools (including grammars) are strict open days only for y6.

Independents tend not to have such restrictions, save some have specific “Y6” taster days/evenings, but this is in addition to more general open days.

It is not so bad if you do not get to look around until year 6. We ended up going for 11+ last minute, so only got to look at one school end of year 5. And then year 6 we decided to wait to see if we had any offers before looking at the other schools....as it is time consuming to look at the school and did not want to fall in love with a school, as not guaranteed you would get a spot. I will probably just do the same second time around with my DS.

We looked at those selective London schools for my DD last year, plus others. They also had that rule then. I believe it's due to capacity- prioritising those girls who were actively making decisions rather than those who were early planners. Frustrating (as I like to plan!), but understandable.

I guess spring term of Y5 is fine. By then you will have hopefully had a chat with your prep head and have an idea of what sort of schools they're suggesting you apply to. Prior to that the prep will be concentrating on getting the Y6s through 11+.

All schools we visited in Y5 only opened up to Y5 children from spring term (London and Surrey). Sept/ Oct open days are to accommodate second visits before final decisions are made. You will also have better idea where your child sits academically after summer, so that you go for the right mix of schools.

I suspect it will all depend on how over subscribed they are. I work in a small undersubscribed prep. Any time any prospective parent wants to come visit - whether an open day or private tour - we make it happen, regardless of how far in advance we are looking. However an ex colleague now works at a huge indie senior which has hundreds of applications for about 80 places. Strictly limited to 2 visits per family, offered only at set times to set year groups, booked up months in advance. They don’t need to bother being more inclusive as they’ll still fill their places anyway. I suspect this is the case at the places you’re looking at. You may find they offer things for y5 (taster days etc) later this academic year (spring/summer term) once year 6s admissions round is done.

I really don't think most people make decisions on their secondary choices a month before the deadline to apply. It's a bizarre rule. Most open days we went to in London, bar the state school ones, were filled with Y5s.

Not London but our local Private school does its open day for Yr5s in the summer... the autumn one is the current Yr6.

Weird. Our local high school had a big open day specifically for year 5 girls.

@KittyWithStripes I bet lots will ignore - how are they going to police this? I would just go if I was you.

We missed out on visiting my dd secondary school because we did not go in year 5. Then an accident happen which meant we could not go in year 6 and then COVID happened - I did not get to go in to the school myself until she was in year 8! Now she is about to go into year 10.