Reception New Starter Visits - Going Round In Circles.

[RoundInACircle]

I wasn't sure the best way to word this but hopefully it makes sense.

DS will start school next September so I know around now I should be looking into visiting the schools we are considering applying for and that they will hopefully be hosting open days of some kind but apparently I live in some sort of Bermuda triangle area where not one of the schools are actually advertising when these days/evenings are, nothing on their websites or social media platforms etc.

So two weeks ago I emailed all the schools a generic email asking for more information...none of them replied.

This morning I've called 3 of the schools, the ones I want to look around most to ask if they have anything planned and all 3 have said they're not sure so took my name and number and said they will call me back.

I don't want to come across as over the top and I know term only started back a month ago but schools around have 2 weeks off in October and if I don't know the dates soon then I can't guarantee I can get the time off to actually visit.

Just wondering when your schools had these visits I'm guessing it will be before Christmas? Also how did you find out about them, I feel like I'm missing some secret insider knowledge.

I remember feeling like this with my DS. I was so keen to go and look around, and started hunting for dates and emailing the schools in September. Turns out they don't do it til later in the term and I quickly learned that things have a tendency to be quite last minute where primary school is concerned (so the date isn't organised months in advance).

I've never known open days where I have lived, children go to the nearest school 90% of the time anyway so no point. School shopping is mostly a London thing I think

We did 4 school visits last year, and I can see looking back they all took place in November and early December.

Some schools advertised on their website (not always easy to find!), and I emailed some directly and called the office when it was not clear. I definitely did this not long after the September term started. Some were proper mornings with talks from the head, others more informal in smaller groups.

Hopefully it will all come together - they each do their own thing so it was a bit off a faff, but worth it in the end.

Nowhere near London here. It's quite normal and not really school shopping. 2 of our choices are roughly the same distance from us in opposite directions and we have 3 schools in a 10 minute walking distance from our front door. So makes sense to go and look at all of them.

Ours are in January usually. Schools ate still getting into the swing after summer at the moment

I’m in London - all the primaries around us did open days starting late October through to early January. A lot of them had banners on the fence outside advertising their dates, and it was usually a case of calling or emailing to arrange. I remember it being a bit mystifying though - there was zero information for ages, and then it suddenly all appeared at once! It’s often pretty hidden on their websites… I found searching via Google was often more successful than trying to navigate the school’s own site.

One or two of the schools took a bit of persistent chasing before we got an answer from them about whether we could visit.

Our school has an open evening for any parents who want to turn up, new or existing, and about 4-5 tours arranged over the next 2 months. We're lucky to be in a town where demand outstrips supply though so they have to advertise!

Gosh January is leaving it late isn't it?

It depends where you live - our county all have a two week half term in October.

Same here I wonder if we live in the same county, although it definitely seems to be becoming more common elsewhere.

South East here, ours are starting from first week of October round here. My youngest starts next year so I'm going to a few, they tend to have dates listed on their websites/facebook with a "call/email to book in"

DD has just started reception so we were doing this last year. We did all our visits in the first 2 weeks of November, so just after half term.

I think it was around early October that info started appearing on the schools websites about open days and for the odd one that didn't, that was about when I started emailing.

I think they just need to get settled into the new school year before starting visits etc. They need to make sure the reception kids are settled before next years parents start wandering through their classrooms!

We had a mix of open day/sessions where a group of parents went round and just individual appointments. I think we looked round 4 schools in the end.

They sound way more organised that all the ones local to me 🤣.

Small town in the NE here, we didn't have any open days thanks to Covid so just picked the 3 nearest and were given one.

I know that this years for the 3 schools within walking distance of our house will all be late November (ds2 due to start) Even having them in Jan really isn't that late, you spend 20 mins wandering around the school. Then write 3 on the application and click submit right up to the 31st Jan - getting it in earlier etc doesn't put you at the top of the list, they don't look at any until March.

It's not the 31st of January is it? It says it's the 15th according to our council website??

Given some of the local schools here don't break up for Christmas until just before the 25th and go back late in January it really does seem very last minute if they are only having an open day in January.

The school I work in has theirs next week. My sister is viewing preschools within school settings and went to 2 last week, with 2 more in the next 2 weeks. This is definitely the time of year for open days/open evenings.

I visited all of the schools between end of October and December, these were just advertised on the school website.

My local schools don't have open days, for many reasons, but one being that it was not ideal for the children in reception, who have only been settling in for a month or 2.

You should check the dates of the Christmas Fairs, open days or not, they will give you an interesting feel of the school, parents and children.

Our local ones tend to be late Oct / early November.

We are only a few weeks into the school new year so give them time.

DDs primary school do an open morning in October Half Term but will do tours at anytime if you contact them.

We went to the open morning but then wanted to see the school with actual children in it so booked a private tour. We loved it and thats where she went.

This very much depends where you live though. My whole area is undersubscribed so you could go to any school within about a 30 mile radius and they'd be delighted to have you.

The trouble is late October and early November are when the school is closed for half term hence wondering if they have have the open days before then.

Visiting for the Christmas fair idea is a good plan I will have a look to see if any of them have Christmas fairs.

Schools in my area don’t do visits, so I booked to look round (the only school in our catchment!) on my own. The head was very happy to give me a little tour. The school I work in doesn’t either, but again would be happy to do a private visit.

Check over subscription info too. It could be, that realistically, children are given what’s available and if open days were promoted, parents would simply end up touring and applying for schools that they have absolutely no chance of getting a place in.

I'm a bit jealous of you having 3 schools within a 10 minute walk. We live 45 minutes walk from our nearest primary school.

My eldest started primary in 2010 so my experience is probably out of date but I just rang our nearest school up and they booked me in with the head teacher for a short tour. I had a quick look at the reception class, the hall and the library, asked a couple of questions and talked briefly to the senco. To be honest unless it was awful then ds would be going there as the next nearest schools were miles away, over subscribed about of catchment so very unlikely ds would get in. The secondary school near us has an open evening and I always go when I have a child in year 6 because it's nice to see the school and there is always free food. However there isn't a choice and the next nearest school is miles away. College is better, you get a choice of 5 but the closest is 6 miles away so the school run is complicated and takes ages.

that sounds like bliss, ours are so subscribed, a couple of new builds are enough to move the boundary of the catchment. When you want a really good school, you need to pay a fortune for a property and be REALLY close.