School tours

[MerryWoman]

Not sure whether its an AIBU or not, but went on an ad-hoc tour of the new school, and was wondering if others have been on a tour during the school day (as opposed to the usual open evenings) and been taken around the whole school?

I'm not quite sure what your AIBU is, but I've been a person who works at a school that is rated quite highly by OFSTED and in the catchment of a highly regarded secondary, and touring parents are quite a pain [and I'm delegated to show them round]. They're a bit all about "what special provision might you make" and "what's your homework policy" and "how will you make my child special" and I'm a bit with them all.

Because I think "send your child here, and then I'll talk to you, but I'm not gong to spend time on ifs and buts and hypotheticals, because we're all busy enough concentrating on getting things right for the children who actually attend the school".

Caveat in your favour... my HT didn't know I was dealing with it this way.

But I'm not going to negotiate with you about how your child can get special homework until your child ACTUALLY comes to this school....

but reading your OP again, the visiting parents are always taken round the whole site.

Sorry, what exactly is your AIBU?

Yes, I was taken around the whole school (except parts being used for exams.). Ds has SEN & was having to move schools in difficult circumstances so it was important to get answers to our questions about how the school dealt with certain things & their policies.

Depends on the reason for wanting a tour.

Secondary schools arrange open evenings for new intake parents, as do primary schools. If you requested an adhoc tour I'd expect you to be told to attend on the relevant evening. 120 potential parents dropping in through the days would be very disruptive to a primary school. Secondaries would be much worse with 8 form intake at my old secondary.

When we moved areas and had to change our children's primary school we asked to pop into the local primary just so we got a feel for the place. It was already a given the children would go there for our first choice as it's a 2 minute walk. They could not have been more welcoming. We had a full tour including being shown classrooms full of pupils learning, even the year groups our children weren't in. The head spoke to us, reassured us about the sen provision and answered any questions we had. I feel we continue to have a good relationship with them.

Children are taken all around our school. Shown the highlights and definitely meet teachers from their potentially new Year Group. If the teacher can't spare two minutes at that second then we wait outside until they can.

It's an independent school and the admissions department have someone with the sole role of giving tours and liaising with prospective parents.

Yes, I was taken around the whole school (except parts being used for exams.). Ds has SEN & was having to move schools in difficult circumstances so it was important to get answers to our questions about how the school dealt with certain things & their policies.

I would definitely want to see the school during the school day! Open Evenings are very much 'top show'. I would be looking at how the pupils behave around school and their attitude towards each other, teachers and you as a visitor. I would be looking at whether classes seem settled and on task and I would be asking any questions I wanted to. Any school worth their salt should be happy to show round potential students and parents.
I know they would find it difficult to do with every potential pupil but, in the real world, this doesn't happen anyway.
I would be wary of any school who weren't happy to accommodate a visit.
Just be aware of busy times like exam season though.
I speak as a parent of secondary age children and as a staff member who many have been tasked with showing people around.

Most if not all schools round here do that, and even advise you do it.
So did mine in a totally different area back in the 80s.

In the school I work in they will take parents mostly into year 7 lessons and few older lessons. Certain bad classes/kids with be avoided

Ginger, I still think you can get a better impression, for example, if classes are changing over, how do the kids move around school? Is it a free for all or is it organised? If they say they have a strict uniform policy, how is it enforced? You can tell by the way the pupils are presented. Are there lots of pupils wondering around in between lessons? There can be lots of little red flashes to look for that a school would find it hard to hide during a typical school day.

I requested a look around the junior school my son was going to, and the person who answered the phone spoke to me as if I was utterly mad and that request had never been made before outside of the usual open evenings....they kind of said they would pass on the request. I never heard anything. As my son was having his transition days by then and we'd been to an open evening I gave up.
And to be honest their response was a warning sign about the school - it was rubbish, my son became increasingly miserable and left before the end of year 6!!!!

When we were shown round we went into one classroom & it became obvious that a young lad (possibly SEN) was having a bit of a moment. The way the teacher & other students were dealing with it immediately made me know I wanted my son to go to that school. Oh couldn’t possibly have staged it better!

A the schools we have toured (private prep) give tours one on one during the school day and show you the entire school in addition to the usual open days and year level soecial open days.