Year 6 secondary school visits clashing with the school run

[Schooldayzzz]

Just a random really because its been that way for years and its not going to change.

Year 6 secondary visits start at 9.15 I have another child to take to school and I wont make it in time for 9.15 I don't drive. Its often hard to get ubers in the mornings. I don't have anyone to take the other child.

I guess it has to be at that time to fit into the school day better.

Not.looking for a solution. Theres not one. just a morning moan.

Can younger one go for sleepover at mates and their parents take him into school?

Breakfast club or ask your oldest to help out as a one off?

Same issue here. I put my others in breakfast club/after school club as necessary. But I know not all allow adhoc bookings.
I was shocked that the open evenings "sold out". Seems madness to me given that all our local schools are undersubscribed now...

Younger dc must have school friends could you ask a mum to younger dc to give you time to get to the other school. If not does your school have a childminder you could ask?

I’m not in London and have never heard of an open day during school hours. How are working parents meant to navigate that? Especially when you need to go to several? It must be very disruptive to the whole school day too.

Just take the younger one to school early or drop them at a friend who lives nearer the school, giving you time to get back. That kind of thing happens in our primary all the time. Parents help each other out

Gives you a flavour of the school in action if you go in school hours. Our local college does a day one and an evening one.

All 4 schools round us (primary and secondary) have a day one and an evening one. Day is very useful for seeing the school in action, not just a set up evening one.

@Schooldayzzz take your younger child with you too if needs be.
But there will presumably 29 other children in your younger childs class - surely one of the 29+ other parents can take your child in for you.

For those questioning the open days being during school hours....I live in London so looked at a bucket load of schools.
All in school hours and the tours were all given by a team of Year 8 and 9 students.

I honestly don't get these replies. I have just been through this all recently as my youngest is in y7

• these are visits to see if you want to go to the school
• yes there are evening ones, but also morning ones to see the school working and not with the best face on (which happens in evening visits)
• no safeguarding issues? how come? parents and children are guided and shown the school and departments
• the primaries allow for this and it's expected
• local schools even coordinate so people can do more than one visit (none on the same day)

to the @Schooldayzzz OP, is there a parent of a friend for the younger child you can ask to take them to school as a special favour?

or i guess you can bring them with you to the secondary, if there really is no one else.

Put the younger child in breakfast club or older child can make their own way there, they’ll need to get used to it for year 7 anyway.

@Sartre OP wants to go on school tour too

All of the state secondary schools in our London borough do Open Mornings usually starting at 9am. It's the same for other nearby boroughs too. It allows parents to view the school during the normal opening times and see how teachers interact with pupils, and behaviour first hand.

OP it's hard when you have a younger child to get to primary school as well. In our case I've had DH take our youngest and he either comes along later, or he skips it depending on how likely it was we'd choose it. Or we went to an open evening, but it sounds like that's not an option. I'd try to ask another parent to help take your your youngest in, or pre-book a cab rather than relying on Uber.

www.camden.gov.uk/documents/d/guest/secondary-schools-open-events-2026-poster

I got an uber in the end. 18.00 🙄 I made it with 5 min to spare . It was a lovely school 😊

I’m in London and there is an open evening for schools, sometimes these have to be pre booked. Apart from one school, all schools were keen to invite you to see it during the day so you could see it in action. All oversubscribed schools.

Not helpful but learn to drive!! It’ll cha ge your life xxx

Why do people say that?
It costs £1000s for lessons, actually buying a car, insurance.....
Irrelevant to this thread but it really pissed me off that it's the Mumsnet solution to everything.

I faild my driving test 6 + times. I'm not meant to be on the roads for mine and other people's safety 💀

Sorry OP, for some reason the words "school visits" combined with the exact start time computed in my head to transfer days, when students already know where they are going. We've done open days in school time but never ones with such a precise start time, so I just didn't compute, but at this time of year of course it's too early for transfer days.

I'm glad you made it and liked the school.

Neither, actually, if managed properly. As others have said, it’s standard for schools here in London to hold open mornings in September/early October (and usually an open evening as well, but that’s more a selective showcase of all the fun stuff than a glimpse of reality!) It’s a great way to see the day to day working of the school, how behaviour in lessons is managed, changeover times etc. Parents, carers and prospective students are taken around in groups by a member of staff, usually SLT - no visitor is left alone to wander around, minimising safeguarding risk. There is of course some element of disruption because it’s outside of the norm, but at our school it’s an hour and a half, four mornings in the early autumn term, so limited in terms of impact, and lessons are expected to carry on, more or less as usual, even with visitors in the classroom. The students are very used to it. I wouldn’t trust a school that didn’t offer open mornings - what don’t they want you to see?

And it wouldn’t be appropriate for a Y6 student to go on their own - what on earth would they get from it? It’s much more for parents and carers.

I said it because it’s such a huge life skill and would fix situations like this for you. I also failed my test many times before passing. Having children and not being able to drive seems mad to me.

Ok i will be honest i actually failed 9 times. Also when I last tried to drive with instructor I almost sped over a zebra crossing and he had to use his break. I am not safe on the roads. Theres no way i would ever try again.

She fixed it fine herself, it just cost £18. For me that's less than a quarter of a tank of petrol. You don't need to justify yourself OP.

Breakfast club? Or could dad swap shifts, if there's a reason your older child can't go alone?