Open evening times? Drop in or attend full event?

[Awcw1234]

This may be a really silly question but I’ve got two secondary school open evenings to attend. One 5pm-8pm, the other 6pm-8pm. Do we need to attend the whole thing or can we just drop in? Reason I ask is because there might be a headteacher’s talk?

I would find out from the school. Info must surely be on the website or Twitter.

Often there are two talks, say at 6pm and 7pm. You might find you or your dc want to spend a couple of hours there - usually a lot to see eg sports facilities, science labs etc.

You won't need to be there from 5pm till 8pm tho, no. It's not like a stage performance.

At our local one, its actually 3x1hr sessions, not one 3hr session.

Our secondary school's Open Evening is 630 - 830

It's definitely not drop-in - it starts at 630, then there are various talks & rotations between rooms for the students. It may not go on until 830 but you can't just arrive at any time.

So do check.

Check as all are different

We've been to a few! So far the tours usually take 1hr and the talk 30 mins. You can definitely spend longer and DS would love to (he treats it like a fun day out) but we have a lot to get through so I steer him on as quickly as possible.

Some schools are very guided and others let you wander.

I've been to many (3 dc x 5 or 6 real possibilities). Plus, separately, 6th form ones.

All have been get there when you get there, and leave when you are ready.
Most of the ones that have a HT's talk, repeat it - so you can go to the first one at 5.15 or the repeat at 6.45 say, or, indeed, not go at all.

You can fill the time - lots of rooms will have things the dc can have a go at - in an attempt for them to be drawn in to wanting to go there. But, if you have to move on, then you can go round quicker.

Presumably if this is 2 realistic, local options then there will be lots of families visiting both?

There are usually displays and activities in every department, which is overkill - if your kid gets sucked into trying everything in the science labs you'll never get round everything else. Some schools try to send you round with student guides, which is even worse. We gave ours the slip after 10 minutes in science, and made sure we got to the departments where we wanted to ask questions.

I think the student guides are helpful to get a feel of the school, they're often more honest than the marketing style bumf in the head's talk. I don't think the head's talk did much for me in any of the schools we went to, although it is interesting to see what they're addressing. For example one mixed school was really aiming their talk at trying to encourage girls, which left all the parents of boys a bit non-plussed, another didn't say one word about academic results.

You can definitely dip in and out, although it is annoying when they're scheduled on the same evening.

I agree with @Stokey
The information you got from the student guides was FAR more honest and therefore helpful than going to the Heads' talks.

*As long as they don't fob you off with a Yr7....... you need a pupil who has been there longer than 3 weeks.

They vary in format but the headteachers talk is always boring and exactly what you would expect them to say.