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Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

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Original poster

Half day closure for Open Evening?

26 replies

AChickenCalledKorma · 04/10/2011 15:56

So tonight I'm taking DD1 to have a look round our nearest secondary school. And all afternoon I've been passing teenagers in mufti, wandering round the town. I deduce that they've all been sent home early, so the school can get ready for Open Evening.

Do all schools do this? Do they really need an afternoon to get ready (starting at 6:30pm?) Or should I be looking behind closed doors and under tables to see what's been tucked away out of sight?

Yes, I have a suspicious mind ! (The other school we are considering has an "every day is open day" policy, so there is quite a contrast in approach so far!)

OP posts:

PandaG · 04/10/2011 15:59

DS's school shuts early for open evening - at 2pm for a 6,30 start. Is fairly common I think.

TalkinPeace2 · 04/10/2011 16:18

They all do it
no suspicions - mine are both at the school and helped with the open evening
the only thing swept under the carpet is the half arsed pupils who never turn up to help at anything !
the teachers and pupils and atmosphere were as per a normal afternoon

MrsDmitriTippensKrushnic · 04/10/2011 16:23

Ours does it too, I'd imagine it's so the Teachers not only get a chance to set up, but so they get a decent break between teaching and schmoozing prospective parents

It also does open mornings whilst school is in session, so I don't think they have much chance to hide things there!

cat64 · 04/10/2011 16:24

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

bigTillyMint · 04/10/2011 16:28

They don't all do it.

Some just do a couple of evenings / Saturdays with no kids in.
Some have just one day with no kids in.
Some have a couple of afternoon sesions with no kids in.
Some have several mornings with all the kids in - a normal day.
Some do several sessions with all the kids in - normal day, plus parents can visit whenever if they make an appointment.
Some do a mixture of the above.

IME

TalkinPeace2 · 04/10/2011 16:30

Sorry, I meant the BIG comps round here for the evening bash
for the day visits nearer application day there are all the variations under the sun
but as MrsD says, 200 staff need time to clear their heads of manky year 10's before talking to the parents of cute little year 6's

bigTillyMint · 04/10/2011 16:36

Do they?

I'm sure it depends on the school / teachers - the comps round here are BIG

MaureenMLove · 04/10/2011 16:45

We closed early on Friday, to prepare for our open day on Saturday.

Everyone needed to do classroom 'housekeeping', prepare signage for visitors, possibly move furniture to make it easier for parents and students to move around the classrooms, set out some example books and schemes of work, set up bangs and smells experiments in the science labs.

Back room staff needed to open up the two small halls into one big one and set out 400 chairs, move some of the upstairs classrooms, onto the ground floor, for ease of acess for everyone, arrange a refreshments area for staff and visitors for Saturday.

All this preferably, needed to be done by a reasonable time on a Friday night!

Today, however was open morning. Take us as you find us, on a working day.

Original poster

AChickenCalledKorma · 04/10/2011 17:28

OK. Will put my suspicious mind away .

OP posts:

noblegiraffe · 04/10/2011 17:52

We need that time to clean all the penis graffiti off the desks.

summer111 · 04/10/2011 18:20

DC's school closes 45 mins early for same purpose.

pointydog · 04/10/2011 18:32

No schools shut around my way.

I think it's a good idea though. It takes a bit of time to set up for visitors.

LynetteScavo · 04/10/2011 18:37

A couple of schools near me close for the afternoon - DS1's school doesn't, but that was the only school I was invited to look around while the pupils were learning. It's what sold it to me. I could see the kids were friendly, happy, and laid back. (I do realise not everybody wants laid back, but it suits us )

kat2504 · 04/10/2011 18:39

When I worked in a school that did this, they used half a teacher training day. So the kids technically weren't missing any school by going home early. However, putting up displays and getting ready for open day is not really my idea of quality professional development.

Uglymush · 04/10/2011 18:51

We don't shut nor, to my knowledge, do any of the other schools in the area. seems a little backward if you ask me - 'we want to show you how well we will educate your children, but next year we will send them home early so we can show the new intake the same' Do they get sent home early for parents evenings too? Sounds like an excuse for an easy afternoon if you ask me

stressheaderic · 04/10/2011 18:59

The school where I teach closes to pupils for the entire day. We only have Year 6s in in the morning for taster lessons, then a break for setting up, then parent tours in the evening.
The idea being that the Year 6s, off the momentum of a great and exciting day of doing fun things (that they'll never actually get the chance to do for real), bring their parents back to look round later.
It doesn't work.

bruffin · 04/10/2011 19:21

DC.s close half day and they get to go in an hour late the next day.

cricketballs · 04/10/2011 19:56

my old school did and it did make life a lot easier in terms of setting out displays etc and then we could have a bit of time for something to eat!

my new school doesn't as the vast majority of kids rely on school buses. It makes it extremely hard going to get everything looking good, work out on display etc and then 'be on display' yourself, not getting in until after 9.30 in the evening to have something to eat and plan for the next day.

It is also hard going for the students helping on the night as they have a full day in school, help out for about 3 hours, not get in until late and then have another full day tomorrow..

twinklytroll · 04/10/2011 20:03

We don't close early for our INSET day although it does not start until 6pm. We do need the few hours between the end of the school day and the start of open evening to set up activities, displays will already be up - and to eat.

The kids also go home and eat and then come back in.

IShallWearMidnight · 04/10/2011 20:06

DDs school has a half day before Open Evening, followed by an INSET day the next day. Not sure exactly how much training gets done the enxt day mind!

RattusNorvegicus · 04/10/2011 20:11

We had a twilight session between school ending and 6pm when the open evening started.

Original poster

AChickenCalledKorma · 04/10/2011 22:04

Well, having just come back from said Open Evening, I must admit that I think it was fair enough that they took the afternoon to prepare. There had obviously been a huge amount of organisation of displays etc. And I'm totally exhausted, having just walked around the place, so I can't imagine how shattered the tearchers must be. But they were all in very good humour. So I'll let them off the afternoon's teaching!

OP posts:

annh · 04/10/2011 22:12

DS1's secondary school doesn't close to prepare. The open evening is from 6.30 onwards and the Head speaks at 8. I imagine it is hell to get it ready in time. It is usually manic and all the rooms are filled with displays, music demonstrations, food samples, choir in the hall, basketball in the gym, quizzes in the language rooms etc. I think it's a tough evening for everyone tbh! DS1 has to be back at 6 tomorrow evening to play piano, DH and I will get off the train at 6.20, rush home, collect DS2 who is in Yr 6, take him to the open evening, probably not finish until about 8.45 when the Head finishes speaking, then everyone comes home tired and in the case of DH and I, hungry!

EvilTwins · 04/10/2011 22:20

I did open evening today. No early finish for us, so had to sort it all out between close of play and 6 when the parents started coming round. on work from 8am- 8.30pm. Exhausted now!

MillyR · 05/10/2011 00:16

I think it is fine to close early. The pupils are still receiving an educational experience by acting as demonstrators, guides and presenters at the open evening.

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