Secondary school open evenings back to normal

[noblegiraffe]

Lots of secondary schools are gearing up to having sixth form and prospective Y7 open evenings over the next few weeks, entirely back to normal - this means adults and children crammed into classrooms and corridors and lots of mixing.

Teachers are obviously used packed classrooms, but I'm not sure what parents will be thinking about it? Particularly ones who may be working from home or in workplaces that still have covid measures in place.

I'm finding your approach to us over the last month since you joined very odd

They’re not a serious poster, herecomes.

@Starlightstarbright1

We didnt have parents evening last 2 years- last year was 10 minutes with tutor

It isn't parents evening . It is open evening, for kids that haven't yet joined the school

We went to our first last week and while I was glad DD got a chance to see inside a secondary school - she's been anxious about it and it did help - I was really, really shocked at how busy it was and how few people were wearing masks. A large portion of the teachers, all the student helpers, me and maybe... 1 in 20 others?

They did, however, limit the numbers in the hall for the head teachers talk, limit numbers of people in classrooms and also made it clear the talk would be available online. So I felt they were trying their best. I wish more parents had worn masks.

@herecomesthsun

If you don't like my comments, don't respond. That goes for you too @noblegiraffe. I feel like I'm being targeted by you both on this thread, I was joining in the conversation and it has turned into this bizarre smear campaign. Im not sure I fully understand your motives.

no motives, just, you know, a parent writing about parents' evenings

"14herecomesthsun

no motives, just, you know, a parent writing about parents' evenings smile"

You have no idea if I'm a parent or not, how strange.

The y6 open evenings are mixed around here. Some are open, some are open but limited by appointment. Some seem to think we can make an informed choice by watching some heavily edited piece of video.

DS has SENs including sensory issues. Videos are less useful than chocolate teapots when it's important to get the feel of things like the acoustics of the coridors in order to reduced the sensory load through the day.

Fortunately the schools highest up our list are doing open evenings.
One that was a possible but was lower for location reasons has slumped down the list because of its over-zealous approach to Covid measures, including their excessive attitude to face coverings last year which are particularly detrimental to children with communication and social difficulties.

I don't mind some things like the short, after-school curriculum meeting going online so much. I will mind if proper interactions such as parents evening stay online as it is far harder to converse and retain information over a flat screen. Human interactions are important to building a relationship, and 18m of communications being reduced to text or video messages significantly undermines the home-school relationship, especially when your child is not very communicative about school life.

Yes and thank goodness. Online is not the same. Year 11 trying to choose sixth form - much nicer to view in person.
If you're scared - don't go.

@MrsBlondie

Well I can’t just not go; as I work there and will be having hundreds of extra walking through my classroom whilst I’m teaching, many of which wanting to chat. So no: I can’t just not go because I am scared.

Our schools have been rammed with 11+ candidates sitting tests. Hundreds of kids, full staff required and student volunteers.

There are already numerous cases, so it seems batshit to sardine everyone together like this.

From a personal point of view, they aren’t really adding to my risk level which is already sky high given the number of cases in school. I’m quite glad the parents who come in are prepared to take the same risks as teachers but they will be seeing the school experience so shouldn’t be given special mitigations just because they are parents. If it was my choice, I wouldn’t but if they want to take the risk, let them join in!

Parents’ evenings I don’t mind either way. I’d prefer it not to be a hybrid model, as that will just increase work load and make it an even longer process whilst we find online appointments for some and sit in the hall talking to others.

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@MrsBlondie

Well I can’t just not go; as I work there and will be having hundreds of extra walking through my classroom whilst I’m teaching, many of which wanting to chat. So no: I can’t just not go because I am scared."

The parents need to physically see the school and speak to teachers to get a feel of things. I'm so pleased they are open.

Parents’ evenings I don’t mind either way. I’d prefer it not to be a hybrid model

It would have to be '4-5 in the hall, 5:15-7 online' they couldn't have you running around the building between appointments!

I don't know how many parents are unable to access schoolcloud, there were plenty doing it on phones so it seems quite accessible. We'll have to do a survey I guess. The ones who can access it seem very keen on keeping them online for logistical reasons.

What I think is interesting is how a new layer seems - from the evidence of this thread - to be being built into school selection, with 'schools whose approach to Covid mitigation ON A SINGLE EVENING most closely matches my own' becoming a significant element.

This may in fact be based on a false premise, as schools who have a particular approach to open evenings may have a very different one day to day (and indeed, with the official guidance being 'everything open as usual, open the windows and wipe the light switches if you have too many cases', mitigations are rare almost everywhere).

It can also lead to misunderstandings / misinterpretations - a school with an online open evening could be interpreted as cold and uncaring in their attitude to prospective pupils, whereas in fact it could be based on their extremely caring and inclusive ethos, which means they are paying close attention to the needs of the vulnerable within their current student and staff body.

Full steam ahead for our face to face open evening next week in a big secondary school in a Covid hotspot with a Covid rate of 3 x the national average and with over 15% of the school population off with Covid.

I have been to two year 6 secondary open evenings this week and we were really pleased they were open in person as we could never have decided on line only. However the second one was absolutely jam packed with a 15 minute queue of people going in, a huge packed assembly hall and then a crowded look round the school where you could barely move. At that point we made for the nearest exit and got out. Consequently he hated this school.

@Querty123456

Full steam ahead for our face to face open evening next week in a big secondary school in a Covid hotspot with a Covid rate of 3 x the national average and with over 15% of the school population off with Covid.

Regard yourself as 'doing your bit' for the Government's strategy of mass, early infection of all of those too young to yet be vaccinated, in order to get closer to herd immunity before the main winter 'flu season strikes the hospitals.

At that point we made for the nearest exit and got out

That’s really interesting. Others on this thread would insist that everyone would be fine with those conditions.

cant is right about it affecting people’s views of schools too - in both directions.

@Peteycat

I get that, the open evenings could be in the evening! Without another 1200 kids there at the same time!

I was in a smallish meeting with parents and teachers. Some of the teachers were so very delighted that we could now speak face to face that it seemed churlish to put a mask on. Especially as the teachers are clearly managing risk daily.

Whenn we got out of the (very interesting but rather long) meeting, one of the other parents quickly commented, as we walked out of the school, how very uncomfortable they had felt in the meeting from a covid perspective.

@noblegiraffe "That’s really interesting. Others on this thread would insist that everyone would be fine with those conditions." To be honest, our getting out was not COVID related. It was a cramped situation where you lose sight of each other and get swept with the crowd that I would always have hated.

That’s fair enough, open evening is a bit of a scrum. (Worse than parents evening I think).

I'm a bit miffed that local schools are only offering one day each. Four of the schools we may consider are on the same day! Having found this out we decided (we were wavering) to go to two of them even though DS is only in Y5, as they are the most promising (he has SEN).
I would feel much more comfortable with a tour, not a full open evening, and more choice of times/days, with a small group. I don't think loads of demonstrations are necessary in these times. I do want to see the building and get a feel for the place as my DS is noise/week environment sensitive.

Phone the school and ask for a tour, but they might only be offering them to current Y6.