Bit 'meh' after visiting our first open day

[LoisLittsLover]

Dh, dd (4) and I visted our local village primary today and i'm just a bit disheartened.

The morning was advertised on the wdbsite as 9:30 - 11:30, turned up at 9:40 to see that we had missed the main meeting. Tours were underway, led by year 6 pupils who were very confident and articulate but not able to answer some questions about reception homework etc. Reception classroom was in full flow of a usual day so no chance to speak with those teachers, and head had a huge queue of perspective parents so didn't like to bother her. The school is small (1 form entry) but hugley popular so over 150 families trying to look round, so spent ages queueing.

The classroom was lovely etc and sure dd would do okay but if (and i know it is an if) will future poor organisation at events drive me mad? I work closley with schools and understand the pressures etc but both dh and i could see really easy ways that the morning could run smoother

Open days? School tours? It's another world.
I just enrolled my DS (9) in the local village school, job done.

As for the comment about "entitled" regarding asking to look around when the school is running - we were specifically told we were more than welcome to do so, just get in touch with the office and we'll sort it out for you during the evening meeting that we went to.

If you're wanting to get a feel for expectations in terms of homework and stuff - see if the newsletters are available on the school website. I've found that gives much more of an actual feel for how the school interacts with parents than any open evening or open day or whatever - and you can usually get a view of what the actual homework expectations are from what's written in them.

The organisation of most events in school is going to drive you barmy anyway though - that's just one of those things that happens! We had Easter-Bonnet-Gate last year where people were quite seriously pissed off that no one had explained to the new reception parents the etiquette for the school Easter bonnet parade so then all the shops were out of the stuff to make an easy "give the kids the stuff to clag on" type affair and we had to actually put an effort in unlike the rest of the parents. The head was getting blooming mobbed on the playground by people fretting about some pompom chicks and bunny rabbits!

I didn’t think open days in primary were a thing tbh! Ours doesn’t do it but tbh you tend to just get what you’re given with regard to catchment anyway. Our primary do an open day for the parents of children who are starting before the summer holidays but that’s it.

I wouldn't expect an 11 year old to remember what homework they were expected to do in reception!! It's 6 years ago and they were 4/5!!!

If the 11 year olds are confident and happy, the school is doing something right!!

9:30 to 11:30 means turn up at 9:30 and leave at 11:30. The school day is from 8:30 to 3:20. Do you think that men’s you can drop your child off at 11:20? Of course not. YABU here.

9:30 to 11:30 means turn up at 9:30 and leave at 11:30.

It's a one form entry primary school during the school day with lessons in progress.
There is no way a 10 minutes head's talk and a school tour will fill 2 hours. (I didn't spend that long on secondary school tours)

Isitme13 I'm with you on this. I had a fairly similar experience as the OP with one oversubscribed outstanding school. I wasn't late though but the way this was organised there was little opportunity to ask questions and it was way too overcrowded. I understand it is difficult for schools to organise these things, but I value the efforts some schools put into these. It just shows when a school cares. My son's smaller school put in a lot of effort into the open day and that told me that they are the kind of place to put a lot of effort into other things too. We went for that even though it was "just" a good school (rather than the outstanding one on our doorstep). Never looked back. That's why these visits are so important as you can see and feel things for yourself, things that are very personal to each parent.

Depends on parental involvement doesn't it?

If you want a quick look around and to grab a prospectus then no.

If you want to observe lessons, and ask questions (which obviously means waiting turn etc) then it takes alot longer.

Well Red, all I can say is “yes way”. I’ve been on many tours that take 2 hours.

A tour that takes 2 hours when you can't actually get into classrooms because lessons are in progress?
In a school that has (at most) 10 rooms.

DC's junior school tour (actually it wasn't a tour, it was free wandering) took us getting on for 2 hours, but that was because it was an evening event and they'd set up displays and things for the DC to do in every single room (and it was a much bigger school).
An open day during the day is more of a "see us in action" type event. I guess if you want to stand and view every lesson it's possible, but unlikely (particularly with a pre-schooler in tow).

You can just go for a look round, just phone up and make an appointment. Usually you get shown round by the head, so lots of chances for questions.

I would say though that I wouldn't let the lack of clarity put you off entirely. My DC's school is not great with communication but they are a lovely, nuturing wonderful school who will always make time to listen to concerns from parents and work together with you. Even though they don't need to recruit parents as they're full each year they were happy to make time for prospective parents and answer your questions without making you feel like a pain. When I looked round it was clear the children were happy, the staff (and this includes admin, caretaker etc) were treated well and were happy and it just had a nice atmosphere. For me being a bit hazy about when the no uniform day is and what the theme is is a minor issue compared to all of the good things.

I’m not sure what’s hard to comprehend, Red but if you don’t want to believe other people’s experiences... that’s up to you. Doesn’t mean it’s not the norm in my town and every single primary. The only private tours we got were by appointment at private schools and those were about 30-45 minutes and they’re not “open days,” just appointments you make with the head.

This makes me so thankful that here we just tend to send our kids to the local school.

Valasca I'd be very interested to hear your experiences of 2 hour tours in a small school with 150 visitors, during the school day with pre-school children in tow.

I genuinely can't work out how that volume of people would do for that time (or what the Year 6 pupils would say).

I totally accept that other schools in other situations might have longer tours, and as I said I've been on them myself.

Our head is frequently showing prospective parents round DS2's primary school. And tours (some group) were available for all the secondaries when we were researching options for DS1.

I went to an open day this morning. It was advertised as 9.30-11.30. I turned up at 10.55 as I had a morning meeting. The head teacher and chair of governors were waiting in reception to greet visitors, and then showed me round. It was a small village school, the tour took about 20 minutes, I asked questions, and then I left. There is no way in hell you could make a tour of a one form entry school last 2 hours, unless you were going to pitch in and start helping with the lessons. The OP was not late. The issue is that they had too many visitors for a single open day, and therefore not enough opportunity to ask questions of the available staff. They also should have made it clear that there was a talk by the head at 9.30.

Red, well first of all, preschool children are highly discouraged from attending as they are quite disruptive. Let’s see... the large one that I can recall was held in a hall. It took a while for people to settle in because like OP, some strolled in late. So the initial presentation took about 30 minutes instead of the 15 it should have. Then they organised us into groups of 10 or maybe it was 8 and we were lead around by older children. They planned it well so that different groups started in different places... so some would start with a year 6 class, others in reception, others in year 3, etc. We’d bump into another group in the hallway but we always were one group observing a class per class. In this particular school, there were 2 classes per year, so 14 classes total. Plus the common areas. We would ask questions in hallway or common areas and it took a bit of shuffling around to get the group together and then enter a classroom, etc. We didn’t get through all the classes as we ran out of time. Last 30 minutes were back in hallway where you could get a coffee and ask more questions. PTA members were also really helpfully fielding lots of queries. In the smaller school, there was one intake class per year and only about 4 of us had a tour with the head. We got to spend more time quietly observing the classes, we were able to chat with some of the TAs in reception classes and got s chance to observe them leaning through playing in the outdoor learning space. Then the head answered more of our specific queries at the end, which took about 30-40 minutes. A couple of parents left early due to work commitments.

I’m frankly baffled how parents can get a feel for any school if they’re rushed around in 20 minutes

Some people on MN are so entitled.
Do you not think that HTs might have other things to do (especially in a small village Primary when they are likely to have a teaching timetable too), than show 150 families around the school separately ? As for the thousands that might be looking round a secondary school .....

We don't have open days at my school. the head meets parents (individually not in groups) and speaks to them in her office and then shows them around the school herself, obviously answering questions as they go. She takes them into each class and talks about what that year group have been learning about, as well as talking about all that goes on in the school, the ethos etc. Presumably she also speaks to them more specifically about entering reception, but as I work in year 6 I don't hear that.
Sometimes the parents have the child with them, or sometimes younger siblings, sometimes they are on their own. The head allows an hour in her diary for them.
She manages to do this whilst running a school with around 630 pupils in it, which also happens to be rated outstanding.

From my experience - the more popular primary schools tend to make less effort to attract pupils - the least popular tend to go to greater lengths with better quality handouts, drinks and snacks.

I base this on the 6 I went to several years ago.

This is not aimed at OP but in response to other posts.
Just want to point out how disruptive it is for the pupils and teachers to have numerous parents walking round. That's why schools hold open mornings - to try and get it done all in one go, with less disruption to the children. Best to go to the open morning - think about the other children (and staff) not just your own.

I think you’re all being harsh (I’ve only read the first page of comments). If an open day is advertised as 9.30 to 11.30 that usually means you can turn up at any point during that time but expect to leave by 11.30, ie it would be a bit rubbish to turn up at 11.25. The OP wasn’t late! They should have stated that you need to arrive at 9.30 for an address by the Headteacher if that’s what they wanted people to do. Gut instinct is strong with schools, as it is with buying houses - so I’d say this isn’t the right school for you. But you could ask to go back again for another visit if you’re unsure.

Hmm. I've worked in many primary schools. I'm going to speak honestly now. The schools that put on the best 'show' for open days etc. will not be the best schools. The best schools have teachers who care more about their class than putting on a show for parents. I'm fed up of saying this. It's not a bloody art exhibition or teacher interrogation!