Primary school open days

[WhiteHorse92]

Hi,

My son will be starting reception in September 2025 so will be applying for schools towards the end of this year so starting to think about open days and stuff. Planning on putting the catchment school as first choice as it's just down the road from our house but obviously I'll go to an open day and also visit other local schools. There's quite a few schools in our town and all of them have an Ofsted rating of Good. I don't know anyone locally with school aged children to ask about their experiences. What sorts of things should I be looking out for and asking at open days? What do you consider important in a primary school? Is there anything you would consider a red flag? A few of my colleagues are ex primary school teachers and have told me I'll get a gut instinct when I go to look round but just wondering if there's anything specifically I should be looking out for.

Thanks in advance for any advice 🙂

Does the school feel calm? Is behaviour good? Are the children happy, engaged and interested in their learning?
Watch a playtime if you can. Do the children play well together and are they kind to each other? Is everyone included?
Do the staff appear happy and interested in the children. Do relationships seem hood?

All been said really but depending on your child: Do the children who need support get support? Enough TAs? Do the children who need stretch and challenge get it? Ratios of students: staff?

Ahh thanks for the advice. Yes I think the quality of SEN support and number of TA's is quite important as it seems a lack of these is when things start to fall apart. The catchment school is in a bit of a rough area which I was a bit apprehensive about, but thinking about it so was the primary school I went to as a kid and actually it really wasn't that bad, most of the teachers were brilliant and we had quite a few fantastic TA's and the few kids that were really disruptive had 1:1 with a TA so it was never that much of an issue. The catchment school is actually a separate infant/junior school but from what I gather about the infant school it seems they have quite a lot of TA's and a SLT which seems like a good sign.

but thinking about it so was the primary school I went to as a kid and actually it really wasn't that bad, most of the teachers were brilliant and we had quite a few fantastic TA's and the few kids that were really disruptive had 1:1 with a TA so it was never that much of an issue.

I mean this kindly, but your experience of a school as a child and the support they offered isn't going to be the same as the current school situation.

In terms of what to look for I would also ask about the wrap around provision. Do they offer a breakfast club / after school club. If so do they accept children in reception and is there a waiting list? A lot of parents have been used to longer hours in nursery and the school day is much shorter than you think.

The catchment school is actually a separate infant/junior school

With this is mind, remember you will need to apply for a place at the junior school when your child is in year 2.

In terms of what to look for I would also ask about the wrap around provision. Do they offer a breakfast club / after school club. If so do they accept children in reception and is there a waiting list? A lot of parents have been used to longer hours in nursery and the school day is much shorter than you think.

As a family where both of us work this was the single most important question for us looking for at potential schools. Everything else whilst lovely to know e.g Ofsted ratings, TAs, clubs, how they teach phonics, trips, if they have a forest school etc was all insignificant compared to their wrap around offerings.

Of the three schools we toured, there wasn't much to choose between them. We chose the one we did because the school tours were led by year six pupils, without teachers. They trusted their pupils enough to give clear and honest answers to parents' questions. Some of the answers were funny, but it's by talking to the children that you get a good view of how the school runs, how it feels to be in the school, and what the children don't like about the school.

At the two other schools, the tours were led by teachers.

PP have given you some really useful things to think about. In my experience, the more schools you see, the more you start to realise what you really do and don’t like. Seeing them a year in advance (as you are) is great as you can go back and look at the local one again next year if there are more questions you want to ask.

It's definitely something that a lot of parents overlook when considering schools. Even if you don't think you need it, it's worth asking. Different schools will offer very different wrap around provisions, and many schools offer nothing at all.

Thanks all, really good advice, the catchment school does have wrap around which would work for us, I think there is a waiting list though so that's something I may need to be proactive about. @KnickerlessParsons I really like the idea of letting the children do the tours and getting the oppprtunity to ask them questions, seems like a good way to get honest opinions about the school and gauge how happy the children are.

If the tour guides aren't current pupils that rings alarm bells. I always say to my pupil tour guide something like "I know there's no such thing as a school where there's no bullying, but what's important is that when it happens it's dealt with properly - without naming anyone, can you tell me about a time when someone was being bullied and what happened next?"

I am forever grateful to the y6 tour guide in one school who managed to managed to very tactfully communicate to me that their new-ish headteacher was all charm&glitter but with terrible actual leadership and not a patch on the previous head.

Am a parent who has just gone through this this year (and thankfully got my first choice!). There is definitely a lot to be said about gut feeling.

What would have been our first choice originally was knocked out of contention after the tour. Everything looked a bit sad and tired, the children were unruly and the head looked exhausted and was saying that they had no money as she took us round.

We ended up putting our catchment school (originally not on our list, as, historically it hadn't been great...until a new head came.on board 7 years ago and really made a huge difference) after going to see it just in case. It was like night and day- the head was clearly very proud and inspirational, the walls were full of kids work, the kids were super happy. We were allowed to wander the school and ask questions of anyone (it was one of two open days where the head gave a spiel at the start, and then said that they had nothing to hide, so we should explore). The year 6s, governors and teachers on hand to help were genuinely enthusiastic about the school and both my husband and I left feeling like it would fit DD perfectly.

Both schools were rated 'good' by OFSTED, but the energy was totally different once you looked beneath the surface.i know that my heart would have sunk if we'd opened the email to find the first school; instead, we opened a bottle of fizz when we got the second!

I guess what I am saying is to look at a wide variety of schools, as things vary hugely and you don't always know what you need until you see it. (Also consult local Facebook groups- our local one was the reason we went to see school 2, as there was so much positive feedback).

Your LA should publish last admitted distances, which is helpful to see where you are likely to get a space. You can always take a chance on a school further away and you might get lucky, but I think it's good to have an idea before you visit. You don't want to have your heart set on a school and then realise you are very unlikely to get a place. At least if you view thinking it is a long shot, you may be a bit less emotionally wedded to it!