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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

Did you attend secondary open evenings in year 5?

27 replies

nikki1978 · 21/08/2014 14:52

Several people have told me they did this then went again with their child in year 6. Is that normal? And how many schools did you visit?

OP posts:

MrsDavidBowie · 21/08/2014 14:55

We went yr 5 and again yr 6.
Only one choice for dd so only visited one.

tiggytape · 21/08/2014 14:55

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster

nikki1978 · 21/08/2014 15:03

Looks like I will be lining up some babysitters as they are all in the same week!

What were your criteria on what schools to visit or did you visit anything within a certain distance?

OP posts:

flossieflower · 21/08/2014 15:05

Take the year 5 with you, don't get a babysitter- they need to look around too!

Original poster

nikki1978 · 21/08/2014 15:10

Agreed but I thought they could look in year 6 plus I have another younger child who I would prefer not to bring :)

OP posts:

Takver · 21/08/2014 15:30

Yes, we went in year 5. Here most if not all dc seem to have made their choice by the end of yr 5, even though we didn't have to fill in the application form till around Christmas time.

The pattern seemed to be visit in year 5 to get a feel for the schools, then there are transition visits through year 5, then a final visit in October of year 6 but by then most were pretty decided. Only two schools to choose from here though!

AtiaoftheJulii · 21/08/2014 17:33

If you wait until y6 you don't have an awful lot of time before the application deadline. Also, they're often really busy and it can be really overwhelming for the child (and adults!), so doing a shorter visit - maybe not sitting through the HT talk - in y5 and then going back in y6 gives you all a bit more time to absorb, process, think of things you'd like to know, etc. So I would take your 9/10 year old.

BackforGood · 21/08/2014 17:37

Yes, but we had 5 schools to realistically look at.
If you only have a realistic choice of 2, then it's not so crucial, but when you have a few dc, and are at work, etc., then it's a risky strategy to leave it all to the last minute to be making important decisions when there is every chance you won't be able to see them all. By doing the tour in Yr5, it gives you breathing space.
I suppose if you are making decisions about whether to enter for a grammar exam then you'd want to know in advance too.

As to how many, it totally depends on where you are. From my dcs' Primary school, pupils commonly go to 8 or 9 different schools, so we genuinely do have a choice, but a lot of people don't, due to location.

MirandaWest · 21/08/2014 17:44

I went to see a school in year 5 but not to the open day as wanted to see the school on a normal day rather than at open day. Haven't decided whether to visit again in year 6 although am pretty much decided.

mychildrenarebarmy · 21/08/2014 17:58

We also went to look at some in year 5 then returned in year 6 to the ones we were most keen on. It gave us plenty of time to mull it over, ask around about the schools we liked, look into ofsted/newspaper reports etc.

mychildrenarebarmy · 21/08/2014 17:59

The one that was our absolute favourite we went to look at again around March time between the two open evening times. It meant we got a personal tour and could ask lots of questions.

sunnyrosegarden · 21/08/2014 18:04

Yes. We have entrance exams to deal with, and I wanted to work out whether there was that much difference between the three closest schools. Also, it gave me a chance to introduce the idea of secondary schools to a nervous ds!

We didn't bother with the HT talks though.

crazymum53 · 21/08/2014 19:39

No we didn't visit in Y5.
But we only visited 5 schools in Y6 - Open Days and Evenings were spread out over 2-3 weeks and we only have 3 preferences. We already had a good idea which schools we would apply for and would meet the admissions criteria for though as we had lived in the area for several years and already knew parents with children at various secondary schools.

MeMyselfAnd1 · 21/08/2014 20:14

I missed the open days when DS was in Year 5 but I think that it may be helpful to visit in Y5 AND Y6 to make your mind about where the schools are heading. I did a bit if reasearch to find out how did they compare in the present year with the previous ones and found out that some great favourites were actually not as succesful while a rather bad one was heading rapidly in the direction of becoming an excellent school. (Three of them had new head teachers) TBH schools can change a lot from one year to another.

It is not only about results. I would strongly recommend to visit the school during the open day as this would give you a glimpse on how the students relate to each other, how enthusiastic they are about their learning, and their level of confidence. I missed an opening evening of one and had to visit it during the school day and to be honest, it was a waste of time. Long tour around the corridors with an enthusiastic headteacher, some smiley faces on the few ocassions he went into the classroom but no opportunity to see the students in action (apart of listening that is).

Also note that some schools a in afluent areas may appear better than they are. Extremely good results may also be indicative of a good proportion of highly educated parents who have been very active in promoting their children's learning rather than teaching excellency. Also check how many children stay in the school for a-levels, some schools make their low achievers so unconfortable that there is a huge exodus on yr 11 (with the under achievers gone the grade averages peak up).

IMO the best school is the one whose aproach is right for your child. We visited a couple of schools that were higher in the leagues than the one we selected but were not as well equipped to provide the structure and support my remarkably academic (but incredibly distracted) DS needs.

mychildrenarebarmy · 22/08/2014 08:40

sunny's post reminds me that there was one school we didn't visit in y5 which we wished we had. If we had done so we would have known that they allocate about 20 places each year for the very best performers in an entrance test based on the specialism of the school. We would have put DD in for that if we'd known.

chinamoon · 22/08/2014 16:47

We did, but we had a lot of schools to look at. By year six it was narrowed down to three.

We went to get a feel for the schools and to look at the work on display, facilities, extra curricular and see how the children behaved. We loved one school but its music facilities were poor and music staff very unfriendly. A no for DS1 as it is his passion. Another school had v poor art so that was a non-starter for DS2.

If your DC has strong interests or seems stronger in one area than another (science over humanities, art over sport etc0 have a good look at what is on offer as schools end up with slight biases in one direction.

One school that was excellent on paper just didn't feel right for DS and another with great Ofsted was awful every time we looked at it.

ElephantsNeverForgive · 22/08/2014 16:53

Yes, our local Secondaries have form for choosing the day and the same evening.

ErrolTheDragon · 22/08/2014 16:53

Yes, we did most of the open days in Yr5 - if any have 11+ or entrance exams you really need to do it then.

Also, ideally you should try to visit your shortlist in school time rather than just doing the open days (which can be zoo-like and misleading) so it's best to get a feel earlier rather than later.

Whyjustwhyagain · 22/08/2014 20:53

Our local schools (3 in the same town) all offer open days in the summer term for year 5s. Then you put in your firm early in year 6.
I guess it helps that there are realistically only 3/4 choices, but the system is the same for all.

Leeds2 · 22/08/2014 22:54

I went to look, on my own, at schools within the state and private sectors in Years 4 and 5. I took DD to look at what I thought were possibilities in Year 6. We did have a lot of potential schools available to us though, and the grammar school exam then was in January (?) rather than September.

SoonToBeSix · 22/08/2014 22:57

Don't leave your year five at home op, they are supposed to go. The evenings are from them as much as you.

CatherineofMumbles · 23/08/2014 16:50

Definitely recommend visiting in Y5, because then you can shortlist ( assuming several possibles) and then get visits on non-open days for the preferred one(s).
Also, after you have compared them, questions will arise that you had not thought of before the open days.
Do not be swayed by percentages! important to contextualise, and if you have visited a few, you will see how they spin their results.
A local school which is boasting 74% English GCSE and 95* A-C is masking the fact that they did diabolically in Maths this year (2014) and is appalling for value-added in maths. Also they quote 66% A-C in French, because they had 3 entered, two of who got a grade C...
Obviously GCSE results are not the only consideration, but a school which tries to fudge the stats might make you think twice - if you have time to think - which you do if you visit in Y5...

CatherineofMumbles · 23/08/2014 16:52

We also visited (without DC) the local indies who offered bursaries so we could take a view without the DC setting their heart on one they might no be able to go to..

Picturesinthefirelight · 23/08/2014 16:59

Dd did a taster day during the summer term if year 5.

Ds will go to an open day in the autumn of year 6 (next term eek)

moldingsunbeams · 23/08/2014 23:35

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

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