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.

We are doing online everything through to October half term when my Head will review, he has been cautious throughout though, we are still wearing masks in corridors and anywhere crowded and pupils and staff can continue to wear them in class if they wish to do so, along with enhanced cleaning, ventilation, hand sanitising etc.

DDs school don't appear to have confirmed what they are doing although we have had in person year group meets. This was a one way system into the main large hall, seats were set apart and masks were requested unless exempt. I looked around and I didn't see one person without one. The evening would have been the first time many of those parents had been in the school and met the Head and other staff in person so I'm pleased this has gone ahead.

I'm a bit on the fence with the parents evening, I think most schools will keep these online however, we felt the time was a little short and it was more the teacher talking and there wasn't really any time to ask questions before you were cut off, as DD was then Y11 I had questions that went unanswered although I could email the teacher it defeats the point a little so I would just like a slightly longer slot.

We've just attended one.

The usual headteacher talk which usually takes place in a packed hall was viewed and emailed a few days beforehand to watch at home.

Small groups of no more than 2 households had set time slots and the tours took a set route so that everyone was heading the same way and spaced out.

Most people wore masks but not everyone - annoyingly the other household we were paired with did not which I wasn't particularly happy about.

It was as Covid safe as a busy school open evening could be really although there was a bit of congestion in some classrooms at times.

Normally we'd have viewed at least 2 or 3 schools to let DD see a range of possibilities. However, we've decided to just do the one that will be our first choice and that her older sibling goes to, to reduce our contacts.

It was nice to be back in the school for a while and to talk to some teachers. My older child started there in 2019 and other than one parents' evening just before Covid we've not been anywhere near it since. (Although I did recognise quite a few teachers from seeing them do Zooms over lockdown).

I’ve just attended one too. Very busy and “normal”. Windows were open, no changes other than that that we could see. Headteacher talk in quite a packed room, we were standing at the back because all the chairs were full.
I did see one or two parents in masks, so I guess like 1-2% of attendees.

Perhaps there are people that aren’t comfortable but honestly, the amount of people there would suggest a lot of people are happy to be there.

@noblegiraffe

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

We may do this if we don't get on one of them; we are still without a school for the rest of primary so we wanted to have a chat about whether our current options will mean he can cope with mainstream secondary/RP too.

On parents evenings - I’m expecting that our school will be in person parents evenings only as they are 100% back to normal and parents are on site a lot for coffee mornings and talks etc already. Personally I’d find online easier because of younger DC so we’ll see. I’ve spoken to a few people about it and whilst no one has expressed health concerns with being back in the school, a few like me wouldn’t really mind virtual parents evenings for convenience so I guess we’ll find out if the school has canvassed opinion on it or not.
I guess it’s fair enough if doing both in person and virtual is extra work that they have to pick one only but for me I am kind of hoping for virtual ..