Presentation at primary school by secondary school HT

[dulcefarniente]

HT from local secondary school (the only one listed on our admissions form) is coming to talk to Y6 parents in a few weeks. What sort of questions should we be asking?

After offers day, when do we expect to hear directly from the school?
How do you do transitions?
What do children find hardest about the first weeks of secondary?
What do you recommend for preparing for secondary?

ps. You will definitely, definitely get a place at this school, won't you?

Why is HT coming after applications have closed, rather than before? Surely it would have been better marketing to have made the effort during September/October while applications were still open?

Teen it is the only practical option other than private school locally

Elvira l guess because there's no other option they don't need to win our vote IYSWIM

Ah, I see. What was its last Ofsted report like, and how long has this HT been in post?

Good Ofsted, brand new HT

Are you guaranteed a place and do you have a back up plan if you don't get the place? You leave your school choice to a computer by not listing any other schools if you don't get a place at your chosen school.

Ok, I'd probably ask what things s/he thinks s/he can improve upon, and how you as parents can help with that.

Do you know why the previous HT left - was it a simple case of retirement, for example, or was there something else? If something else, then challenge this new HT on that - there's always going to be a period of slight unsettlement after one head leaves and another joins, and obviously you'd want this new HT to remain in post long enough not to cause too much turbulence for your child.

Also ask things about the new GCSEs - how does s/he intend to prepare this new cohort of students for the new, tougher GCSEs. Has what they've done so far worked, or does some improvement need to be evidenced?

And finally, the one thing that every parent wants to know - how does the school deal with bullying? (And beware the HT that says there isn't any!).

Good luck. We have similar in our area, except school is 'Requires Improvement'. So our questions are basically going to be 'How do you intent to improve?!'.