School refuses to do a tour

[Pointlessuser]

Am currently looking at primary schools, we have 2 local primaries that we are looking to send DS.

The closest one is a primary school which seems nice but had a bit of a bad ofsted report although it’s been a few years since they had a full inspection.

The other school is a separate infant and junior school but they are next door to each other. We had an open evening at the infant school and really fell in love with it, however when we asked the junior school next door if they also had an open evening or if we could book a tour to look around, they told us that as the children automatically go from infants to the junior school they had no reason to have an open evening and also wouldn’t offer us a tour.

DS is my first child so never had to pick a school before but it doesn’t seem right that we can’t see the school that our child is going to be at for 4 years, I understand that it won’t be for a couple of years but if we don’t like that school when it comes to it, we either have to take him out and away from his friends (which I don’t think is fair) or just have to stick with it.

Am I being unreasonable to push for a tour? I feel like it’s a big decision to make with what feels like only half the information but maybe this is normal and it’s a case of DS being my PFB.

This is just raising a few red flags for me and I’m starting to think that although a lot more inconvenient I may have to look further afield for schools.

OP, I do NOT think you are overthiking this at all, and I'm really surprised at the replies. Lots of parents look way ahead, including considering the secondary school the primary feeds into, to make the best decision regarding schools. We did - we relocated last year, and looked into infants, junior and secondary as well as the private options, in order to decide what catchment to buy in. Please don't let anyone make you feel like you're being ridiculous for being organised and thinking ahead (very sensible in my opinion!!). My nursery WhatsApp group is full of parental discussion about school choices at the moment, and people are looking at infant's, junior and secondary schools to make their decision. I'm a teacher and I am of the opinion that the more information the better. Yes schools CAN change, but 4 years isn't actually that long, and if a school does get worse, it is more likely to he a slow decline rather than an abrupt drop anyway, unless the Head leaves. I would absolutely want to know as much as possible about the junior school linked to my choice of infant's school and I would think it pretty bonkers not to factor that in!

I don’t think YABU. I know of a infant/junior set up locally. Run completely differently, different ethos, team, company. Speaking to parents and staff who are parents, their biggest regret was not checking out the junior school. The offer was totally different and it was notoriously the poor choice for ks2 which had loads of vacancies. The respected primaries with good reputations were full from those who had joined in EYFS/KS1. Everyone had to go to the juniors, they were guaranteed pupils but it is a very poor school.

I don't think you're overthinking either. If other local schools are through primaries then you really don't have options for Y3.

However when you have a 3 year old it's very hard to judge a junior school. Having a 7 year old is just too far off. Go with the school that you think is right for your child now. For a 4 year old, the years from YR-Y2 are an unimaginably long time so you need to choose the school that's best for that stage for them. Deal with Y3+ down the line.

yanbu. All the school tours I went on showed you from reception to year 6. Why wouldn't you want to see the 'whole' school as it would be expected your child went there for ks2.

There was only one school locally that is split and when I went on that tour they took all us parents across the road to the junior school.

I also can't see why they couldn't give you and individual tour if you requested if they didn't want to take the whole group, even if it was at a different time. They do it countless times for school visitors and in year applications. It does seem rather mean

If you like the infant school and they are run by the same team I'm not sure what you expect to gain from seeing the junior school.

The junior school we feed to is an entirely separate school. Different head, different management, different staff, different governors. It has a separate application too, done in year 2.

We share a site, the playgrounds are adjoining and we share a name. But that's it. Everything else is totally separated.

Why wouldn't you want to see the 'whole' school as it would be expected your child went there for ks2.

In our case it's because it's isn't one whole school. It is two entirely separate schools, just sitting next door to one another.
We can't take the parents over to the juniors as it isn't our school.
It would have to be down to the juniors what they decided to do.

Even when it's year 2 we (infant school) don't take the parents into the juniors. It's all organised by the junior school. We do some transition activities with the children where the infant staff and the junior staff work together. But nothing with parents.

YANBU. I was literally told on another thread not to make any decisions until I'd seen the schools (one of which won't do a tour, I wonder if it's the same one as we're in an area with a random mix of infant/junior schools and schools that go up to Y6). I'm just not putting that one down as the junior school seems a bit silly and I don't want my child committed to it sight unseen.

No school is going to give you a tour for kid that may go.there in 4 years.

A lot can change in 4 years- focus on what’s right for now.

Also, given the current staffing crisis, they might not actually have anyone available to give you tour- many headteachers are covering classes at the moment.