To not be ok with choosing a school for dd sight unseen?

[newwnamme]

Dd 3 is due to start school sept 21. There are a few local possibilities. We know noone who attends any of them and have no knowledge beyond what's on their websites. I called today to ask what is happening with the admissions process this year. Apparently a decision has been made today that no visits will take place. Instead, a 'virtual tour' will be available on the school website.

Am I being unreasonable to think there is no way I would enrol my child in a school which I have never stepped foot inside, never met a member of the staff, had a chance to observe the atmosphere there or anything else? I do get that this is an unusual year. But that does nothing to make me feel better about what is on offer.

I am strongly considering homeschooling, at least as an interim measure. What would you do in this situation?

We relocated across the country this summer. I had to find a space and chose a school very close to the end of the school year, without being able to visit, in order to ensure he had a place for sept. I just went off ofsted reports, the look of the school, it’s surroundings and their website. I also looked at their pupil premium strategies. Finally got to look around his school 2 weeks into new term when checking how he was settling in with teacher. The first two weeks were awful just queuing up at a distance to drop him at the gate and hoping for the best. Thankfully he’s settled, the teacher has been really supportive and I liked what I saw when I looked round.
I’d go ahead and make choices based on your personal judgement and research - you can always change or defer nearer the time.

Many newly qualified teachers this year were appointed into schools they had never visited in person.
It ertainly isn't ideal by any means, but it is difficult to see what else the school can do. You can't have prospective parents walking around the school when teachers on the staff aren't crossing between bubbles, and the infection rate is rocketing as it is right now.
And before someone says their school is doing an in-person open day, I'm sure there will be schools whose layout and geography make that possible and even schools that take more risks than others, but generally schools are on a knife edge waiting for the notification of a positive test that bursts a bubble. They can't add extra people into that, however much they would wish to.

I think a few weeks ago not unreasonable, but I'm the next month? A virtual tour is a reasonable substitute. I can't understand why home schooling wouldn't be your plan B if your choice turns out to be wrong, rather than your response to not being able to visit? Have you looked at the progress 8 scores?

We are in the same boat with DC1, however we have family kids at 2 of our possible schools, and then I've spoken to families on our road (kids go to all 3 schools we are in catchment for) to get their take on them. It's the best we can do right now. Yes it's frustrating but as PP's have said, not the end of the world. Under the circumstances, I'd try my best to talk to as many people as you can. I believe people sometimes have a walk around the vicinity of the schools around drop off and pick up time. So maybe that's something you can try.

In normal times, I always suggest going to the school at drop off and pick up and listening to parents and, particularly, the children as they come out. You can get a real feel for a place ie are the kids chatting about their day etc.

I actually asked parents what they liked about the school and what they didn't, most were very happy to chat (although that maybe different now)

Actually, Facebook is a good suggestion op. Because people may give a review on the schools pinpointing things and values that may be important to you.
It still adds to the picture on top of the tours.
It sucks, but it is what it is.

Ask your childminder for their opinion.

Also keep in mind that on school tours you'll see only what the schools want you to see.

I don't see why you would home school unless you were thinking of it anyway. Why not try your best to get a feel of the schools, make your choice as best you can and then move school at a later date if you come to feel it's necessary? If you're lucky you'll make the right choice now, and you won't need to move. If you do decide to move later, you won't be any worse off moving school than you would be if you were applying for the first time after homeschooling, and at least your child won't have missed out on Reception year.

FWIW this is not a state vs private thing. We're looking at both for secondary at the moment, and the majority in both sectors are only doing virtual tours. One state secondary is doing some individual tours but tbh I think that's worse than doing none, as it's practically impossible to book a space, so ends up feeling more unfair. The better regarded independents are only doing virtual tours - it's only the less well thought-of ones that are offering tours, which carries a whiff of desperation. As the primary head PP said upthread, a good school will be doing what it can to help prospective parents, but cannot compromise safety at the moment.

To put this in perspective for you OP. My child is in high school,;even I'm not allowed in the school. The children are limited to one area of the school, they sit in the same classroom all day and have no access to computer suites, science labs, music facilities or PE equipment. They cannot mix with other year groups. While the teachers are doing their best to educate it's very difficult under these limited circumstances and students are missing vital parts of your education. The evenings are spent cleaning the school to ensure its safe for the next day. They are doing an amazing job putting together online tours. Just be greatfull your child isn't having their education affected in this way and stop whinging.

Agree that it's rubbish but unavoidable. A teacher friend had previously advised me to do the official open day but also book a private visit to see the school in action. Now we can't do either.
Deciding between our 2 nearest schools and I know several people who go to one of them but absolutely nothing about the other.
Will just have to take the info available and try my best to get a feel for it.

The experience described by @marzipan12 is perhaps another reason for us to consider homeschooling. This isn't what I want for my child.

I work in a school and we are doing school tours. Only offering when children aren’t on site, so before or after school. I’m not surprised you aren’t happy with this, I feel for you.

My DC are at a private school and it’s virtual tours as well if that helps.

Look you'll get an idea. There are 3 schools in my catchment all the same Ofsted of Good. Two are highly religious cooking with Jesus project display. One has prayer 3 times a day. One has a tiny outdoor space and is on a busy road. One has a massive outdoor area. One has 4 reception classes, one has 2, one has 1.

List your pros and cons, but you will get a feel from a virtual tour, and ultimately it's mainly luck of what teacher you get.

In the same boat with a secondary application. We have the choice between 2 (one catchment and one faith) and it’s making it much harder for DC to make an informed choice. So I do sympathise.

But I also work in a primary school, when we are not allowed to let parents of current pupils across the threshold, I can’t really organise a tour for you and other prospective parents. It’s concerning for us too, funding depends on pupil numbers - we need bums on seats! How do we sell our school and attract families whilst also not overloading already stretched staff and keeping everyone safe?

I share your views. I’m not sending my daughter anywhere I’ve not stepped inside. I have been to many schools with my job and for me it’s definitely about “the feel” of the place aswell as information and reports.

I’m not considering schools which aren’t allowing visits, but some are. We actually may send our daughter to private school on the basis that we have been able to look round!

I don’t give a shit that everyone is in the same boat, I’m still making choices for my child.

Search their progress 8 scores. I had a proper tour last week it was set up really well 5 events al together and it has a 5th form and 2k students. It can be done !!

Also, to be clear, I 100% understand why the normal arrangements cannot go ahead. The safety of the school communities should rightly be prioritised. I'm not expecting anyone to come up with some idea no-one has thought of to get around that!

I was just interested to know whether others will / would accept those terms, as my initial reaction was to look for alternatives, which do exist if you look for them, obviously circumstances permitting.

Join the Facebook pages as well and ask for parents reviews x

We have also been given golden tickets to view the school any time. Rather than 6 lessons per day they are doing 3 2 hour lessons to reduce footfall

The heads speech often gives a good insight. Also could you speak to the nursery staff and see if they have any opinions?

Putting another spin on this. Surely you would want your child to go to a school which is prioritising the health and safety of current pupils over visits. I would be seriously questioning a school which was allowing visits in the current circumstances and ask myself is the pupils welfare really their top priority or not?

Your alternative option of homeschooling isnt open to many on here, same for going private.

So the only option we've got is to do our own research, be it FB, via friends or general understanding of a schools ethos and a virtual tour.

What else can we do?

Am accepting current circumstances, not planning to go private (not fair for 1/4 DC and not others) or homeschool (we both work full time outside the home and don’t want to/can’t afford to think about stopping)

Thank you @incrediblytired I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels this way. I would wager some of the people saying it's ok because it's the same for everyone wouldn't feel the same if they were in the everyone.