visiting secondary schools

[golb7]

Is there a best/worst month to visit schools? Really out of touch with how secondary schools work, but I was thinking about things like - if you go in july are all the yr11s gone because they've done their exams or is september not a good month cos the new intake haven't settled in and you don't get a realistic idea of how the school normally runs?
Or does it really make no difference?
And do popular schools let you visit more than once? ie. is it ok for parents to go round once and then bring their DC another day (to an oversubscribed school)?
How do you get to ask questions - friend went to an open evening and said there wasn't a questions session after the talk. Is that normal?

Any tips on the things to ask/look for that may not be in the literature/website/tour?

Don't panic!

Wasn't aware that any of the Year 11 cohort were missing at any summer open evenings we attended. Usually the summer ones are for the selective schools and you wouldn't expect many of those pupils to be leaving at Year 11 end! Also, although you might think the Year 7s won't have settled in by the time the September/October open days/evenings happen, I think you would be very surprised not only at how quickly they seem to have adapted, but also as to how confident and knowledgeable about their school they are! We were shown round by Year 7s at more than one school we visited so that tells you how well they've settled in methinks.

Yes, I don't think any of the schools put a limit on how many times you can visit although it does get extraordinarily mentally draining doing all of those visits so bear that in mind! some of the selectives only have one open evening though so that's worth considering. The comprehensives on the other hand seem to have open days and evenings although you might have to book places by phone (more likely if you are visiting during the day)

I think some of the schools will also let you do another visit if your child has passed the exams and you are still considering it as a CAF option. We certainly did that for one of the grammar schools.

Yes, have noticed that more often than not the Heads are shying away from open Q&A sessions. But there are usually other sources of information available to 'tap' for answers and these are usually flagged up on any accompanying school literature you may be handed at the open days/evenings. Certainly a lot of the schools seem to have the Admissions Team on site to answer queries. And if all else fails you can email them....

I just think you need to be open and flexible and absorb the vibes you are getting from the pupils/teachers etc..... you won't really know what you are getting a feeling for at the first school, but by the time you have visited a few you will be able to tell virtually immediately. And your DC's opinion is very valid - if they and you can't imagine them fitting in well then don't even consider the school.

Good luck - we've just been through it and it was virtually a year of hard slog but as our DS now has the school he wants (and we wanted) we feel it's been worth it!

i would consider a good school to be one where they encouraged parents & children to visit as often as they needed too in order to make an informed choice. Best go when the children are working as that gioves you a more realistic view.

In our authority, all the secondary schools have open evenings (and times during the day) during September. A lot of parents go in Yr5, to get a 'feel' for things before taking their children along in Yr6.
The 'talk' in the hall is usually jam packed, and would probably be a little overwhelming for many parents to ask questions, and others might take up an age with questions that aren't important for you. Often there are at least 2 talks to be fitted in. therefore, you ask the staff as you move around the school - if it's about something like whether they set of not, then ask in the Science, maths and English Departments, if it's about being able to take 2 MFLs, then ask in the MFL dept., if it's about catering for additional needs, then ask in the SEN dept. Senior Management are always avaialbe in main areas to ask if it's something you need to ask them.
Usually you are shown round by pupils, which is fantastic, as they are not as guarded as staff so you get a real 'feel' for the school.
I disagree about the going when lessons are going on, as you can't then talk to the pupils and talk to the staff as you can on an open evening. (Although I suppose you could go to both if you had some doubts).

My DCs school runs tours weekly. I would say to get the best feel of the real school, avoid the Autumn crowds (I went back then with my kids having already visited myself). May and June are probably worse than the very beginning of July, as mass exams are happening. Year 11 being missing is not a real issue, it's only one year group, but fun stuff does happen in July, so be careful.

At DCs school 2/3 stay for sixth form, but they are absent from school except for exams for the end of May. (Apart from the one day induction at the end of June.)

If you want to see near normal I would try for the end of April or early May, then after half term in the autumn term onwards is good.

See, I wouldn't be impressed with a school that can release staff (pupils?) every week to be showing people around. If my child(ren) went there, I'd like to think staff were actually teaching, not acting as tourguides week after week after week.

Some very useful information here, thank you so much!

I think I'll aim for a summer term session as parents where I can ask any negative questions and then let DC do a tour too in autumn. I think for DC it might be more useful for them to see pupils in situ so they can visualise themselves there - or not! Rather than attending a talk/evening tour?

Good luck - yes the pupils (doing the tours) tend to give you a very different feel for the school to the teachers.

And if at all possible, do do some of the visits during the day - you are allowed to take the DCs out of school for those visits. As I said it's a very tiring business and the DCs particularly get rather overwhelmed by it if they are having to do clusters of evening visits when they've done hard graft at their own schools during the day (and it's even worse if they are also having to do practice papers for secondary school exams too!).

And if you have concerns/queries about particular schools you can always ask away on Mumsnet!

But one of the most important things is to check to see whether your DC stands a realistic chance of getting in according to admissions criteria. We were lucky that DS did mainly selective school exams and had passed two by the time we submitted our CAF form. So we didn't need to put down any schools that were wildcard options. But for some people it's almost impossible with six choices not to have to resort to random choice for maybe the fifth/sixth options.

DCs school uses Deputy Heads, it is a huge teaching school, and very very over subscribed. It probably also has extra staff as it also trains teachers, and TAs etc. you don't get to meet many pupils, apart from the two helping on reception (each year 8 does this once) or the odd sixth former with a free.
Open evenings are very much about putting on a show, and I've worked on a couple. You can ask questions but there is a lot of positive spin.

Actually the tours in the autumn are more amazing, there are four time slots, with something like 20 members of staff taking groups of 15+ each on tour around a normally operating school (with some sixth formers). It is chaotic, and I don't know how they free up all the staff.

In our area all the secondary schools do open sessions in the autumn term. A selection of schoolday, evening and saturday sessions. We went on Saturdays in Yr 5, and then went back to the ones we were interested in during the school day in Yr 6. Our primary school allows, encourages even, time off to visit secondary schools. It was good to do the school day visits, we saw teachers in action, puils at work etc.

Y ou will generally be shown round in small groups by an older student. They are good at answering lots of questions. In each faculty you get a chance to ask specific questions of the teachers.

This is the 4th thread you've cut and pasted your campaign thing onto in 11 minutes!!