Tips for looking around secondary schools

[Reluctantadult]

Please give me your tips for secondary school open days! How do I work out things like behaviour, teacher retention, dyslexia support. What do I ask!

I'm not actually asking about the schools but if people do want to venture an opinion or it helps, this is the choice -

School one is in our home town, 1700 pupils with the a sixth form. Had it's share of problems but has gone from RI to good Ofsted recently. It's part of a big MAT with schools far away, relatively new head. Loads of teachers left and some recruitment issues. In the upper years lots of pupils left eg yr10 is down to 6 classes not 8, some key A-levels unable to run due to low uptake. It feels like the school might be going the right way now but parental opinion is slower to swing.

School two is a 30 min bus ride away on country lanes. 500 pupils, no sixth form. Had a good reputation for being more nurturing that led to high influx pupils with sen. I've heard they are pushing back against these allocations now. The deputy head just became the head this year. In a small MAT with one of the best state schools in the country. Geographically these connections are taking us the wrong direction from home so after 5 years would need to go to school 1 or a college rather than the MAT partner school.

If you have specific questions ask an adult at the Open Day and they will point you in the right direction. You will need the SENCO for the dyslexia questions.

Are you genuinely likely to get into both the schools you've described? If so, you can go with an idea of "features" that are important to you and see if the school meets them. General atmosphere is important too.

In terms of the schools you've listed, I wouldn't worry about sixth form (many children change schools at this point). 500 sounds small for a secondary school though - will it be able to offer as much as the other school?

SEN support
Ethos and behaviour management
Level of homework
Flexibility of GCSE options
Extra curricular of interest to you
Results

Have a look round on open day to get a feel for the schools but then request a tour on a normal day to get a truer picture.

I used to ask the teachers if they did or would send tbeir own kids to the school. I used to ask the kids what the head was like. I'd ask both about behaviour and bullying. Behaviour is the number one issue in a secondary - if it's not under control, nothing else will be running properly. With behaviour in mind, it is a good idea to hang around outside the school at hometime. If the behaviour is good, that is a good sign .

DC1 is extremely academic (got 4Astars for A level and a 1st from a top uni in a STEM subject). So I used to ask about what they provided for the most able and also about post A Level outcomes.

Would you meet the admission criteria for the school that’s a 30 minute bus ride away?

I know from experience, that if a school has a good reputation for effective SEND and pastoral care, it can mean that the intake gets skewed.

I endorse asking to look round on a normal day, as well as the open evenings. Speak to the SENCo if appropriate, ask the pupils about the school, behaviour, clubs, homework, flexibility of sets.

Id look at the prospectus of the schools beforehand and look at the key policies.

Last year we would not have got into the 30 min school, but every year before we would have. Dds year is lower birth rate so we think there will be a chance. But it's not a given.

Ask the students what’s the best thing and the one thing they would change. The students are normally very reliable and you can read into their answers.