Applying for a place at a school for Sept 2008 - do we wait for open day?

[twinsetandpearls]

We are applying for a place for dd at a private school, we know the school and are certain ( sort of but that is a whole different thread that I don't want to raise again) that we want dd to go there.

After much deliberattion at home when I finally phoned the school to make an appointment with the headteacher they had closed for the summer and his secretary said to phone back in September.

We have now had an invite to open day so do I still phone to make an appointment to discuss a place with the head or do I wait until October?

Contact before the Open Day - you may well find it is already full or has only a few spaces left but if you left it you would then potentially be competing with others who only show interest then.

That is what I thought. thanks

Yes, if you are sure contact before the open day. I went to an open day for the nursery and loads were filling in their forms on the spot for reception class. They ended up with a waiting list.

Also going to visit on a normal school day is much better. When dd went in for her settling in visit at nursery the head asked me if I'd like to look around the rest of the school. I got a much better picture of a normal school day.

yes as a teacher myself I am aware that open days can be a work of fiction which is why I wanted a separate tour of the school at the start of term.