When to visit state secondaries?

[BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz]

Form needs completing by October for Sep2024 admissions - when do I view schools? Do I call and ask for individual visits? Or are there typical days when they open for potential new parents/students to look around?

Ours had open days around the beginning of oct . Some had tours in small groups so worth checking websites / emailing in Sept .

Sounds mad that visits happen what sounds like days/weeks before rhe forms need to go in - no real time to research ofstead, bus routes, etc.

They have open days. You can’t just go round individually - too much work for the schools as there are hundreds and hundreds of potential new students.

The schools usually have open days in September/October. This will give you a chance to get a tour by one of the students and the headteacher will give a talk about the school ethos etc. Details of the open evenings can be found on individual school website or local council websites in early September.

Yeah that would be a logistically nightmare I imagine.

If you're in a feeder school you'll get notified of open days. If not, call and ask them when they are.

Do the ofsted/bus routes etc work now, might reduce the number of open evenings you have to do in the autumn. Realistically how many do you have a chance of getting in to?

We have masses of secondary schools around us. Not sure on how subscribed they are, but off the top off my head, the options are

• academy which you apply separate too (isn't allowed as a choice)
• teeeeeeny new school which only takes 2 classes per year
• 3 standard comps
• 2 Catholic comps (not baptised but they only take a small number of actual catholics)

So I need to narrow them down to 3 choices (plus the academy).

And these are just the ones within 2 miles of us.

There's probs more!

You can do research on them now, in terms of bus routes and OFSTED reports if they are going to influence your decision, it will narrow down the number you go and see.
Also look at how far away the pupil lived who got the last place over the last few years - you might find you don't have as many chances as you initially think.
As others have said, there is usually a two week period in September when they all have their open evenings.

Where do I find that info out on furthest away student admitted?

Open days for secondary schools happen at the beginning of October round here.

Look on your council website for the admissions section, then you should be able to find previous years’ admissions stats, including furthest distance admitted. Unless the school is an academy, in which case the school’s own website should have that info under “year 7 admissions”.

We have probably 8 schools within 2 miles, it’s not that unusual if you live in a built up area.

Also look at the school league tables to give a sense of overall attainment (google school performance tables England, assuming you are inEngland).

I looked first in autumn of year 5. Again in year 6.

There isn't enough time otherwise and locally many schools hold their open evenings on the same days unhelpfully but no one's fault.

By the time we visited school in the Sept/Oct, we already had a pretty good idea of our rough preferences, from reputation/Ofsted reports/feasibility of the travel/the school prospectus and website/the school performance etc etc. To be honest lots of them seemed similar in terms of the actual visit - science labs with Bunsen burners, a dining hall, classrooms with posters on the walls etc etc!

Yes, keenos round here do the visits at the start of Y5, not Y6! Altho we also have a group of state schools which are semi selective, so that makes it even more complicated…

Yes, with my eldest, I also went and looked round when dc was in Yr5, to try and narrow down the choice for when we took him in Yr6, but also covering ourselves if we couldn't get to any of them / were ill etc.

Y5. Then you've got time to ask questions, think up questions, join Facebook groups, look at bus routes, alternative options etc.

Well it's too late for the Sep/Oct y5 visits so I'll have to bank on fitting them in this coming Autumn. Unless any do offer individual visits.

Is there a typo on your initial OP? You’ve said admission for 2024 which means your child must now be in year 4?
So you have plenty of time to have a look this autumn and then again next Autumn before applying October 2023.

Ih yes I meant 2023.

We had access to a few schools, so I started 1 year before admission form due. Went to open days from July - September on my own. We had some new academies, so went to watch children leave at the end of the school day to observe behaviours. Quite eye opening. Removed a couple of schools off the list. Visited them with child in year admission form due and let them choose their preferred schools. I had whittled out the schools that least matched my child's personality or schools we had no realistic chance of gaining entry after viewing admission criteria. Then spent a good few months biting nails awaiting offer day.

I had already started research by now but start looking. Ofsted and bus routes are easy to look in to. My high school takes 300 new kids each year but around 900 plus parents turn up for open evenings so impossible to do individual tours. If you do your research now you will have time to make decision in time after the visits. Schools have so much to do with students already in school especially this year plus primary visits for this years year 6 you carnt expect them to prioritise kids who are in year 5. My child in year 9 is still waiting for his awards evening from year 7 due to COVID, plus many more events, these take priority.

If you look on the websites now they may have the online tours from this year (the last couple of years open evenings have been virtual or a mixture of virtual/in person... weve not actually set foot in a Secondary school yet and DD starts this year.)
Theres statistics online, but they haven't been produced since 2019 so maybe wait until this summers are released.
Journey planning you can do anytime.
Admissions criteria you can find online... check for fixed Priority areas feeder schools, church requirements etc.

All the schools by me only allowed y6 to tour this year because of covid so you probably wouldn't have been able to go anyway!