When open days on the same day…

[Rubenas]

…and schools saying will only do on those days, but I want to see both to make a decision.

Ask if they will do a small tour on a different date - not a full open day but a staff member or sometimes older pupil showing you round on a normal school day.

How are the timings? Can you be first in the queue for school one, then get to school 2 for the last half hour?

But, as a parent that had to apply during the Covid no look around years... I finally saw around the school when DD1 was in Yr8. O don't actually feel like I missed anything. We saw classrooms. Teachers tried to impress us. The head teacher made a presentation of information that was available on the website (the websites were very informative and gave a good idea of the school ethos).

I agree with the suggestions already given.

Also a Covid parent... I squeezed every last drop of info from the school websites:

• The school day timetables year by year will tell you whether they have staggered break/lunchtimes, and how long they get for lunch (which will give you an idea of their discipline system)
• Do they have clubs at lunchtime or after school?
• Read all the policies in detail. What do they do about lateness? What's their discipline policy, their homework policy?
• You should be able to work out from the curriculum pages what subjects they do. List them and compare them. Do they insist on taking a MFL for GCSE? Can you take two MFL? Do they do drama/music/dance? Food & nutrition? Economics/business? Any BTECs or just GCSEs?
• Look at the SEN information and pastoral care.
• Facilities - they will show off their best facilities on their website. Sporting facilities, drama studio etc.
• Does their form tutor follow them up the school? Is their form group also a teaching group in Y7 or do forms contain a range of years?
• Do they do setting/streaming? For which subjects, and from when?

I would also advise doing the commute to each school, ideally with your DC. How safe/reliable/quick is it? If you'll be driving, what's the parking like?

Also go and look through the school gates (my DD hated 'spying'!) - what do the grounds look like? Is it noisy or quiet? Watch at arrival and departure time - is it chaotic? Are the students polite?

Perhaps most usefully of all, I had a phone call with a parent of a current student at each school (arranged through friends) which really helped!

Once you have done the above, if there is an important question that you've not been able to answer, you can call the school.

Thanks. That’s a good point re: lockdown. I don’t know anyone at school 2 to ask. School 2 is open a little bit later, but is about half an hour away, with last entrance 11/2 hours before it ends - I can’t make them both. What is MFL?

MFL is languages (usually one or more if French, German and Spanish).

Is the school 30mins away and actual realistic option?

Thanks. Other school has a coach service really near us which we’d use if she got in there.

Some questions I think you can only get from other parents such as teacher turnover, how many subjects taught by staff covering things out of their subject areas (one near me has great results, but it’s because of tutors and some subjects have subject teachers shared across classes and supply staff covering gaps), how do they tackle bullying in practice, what is ethos of school like - overly draconian / overly lax / sensible rules without stifling living daylights out of children. Many say similar things, but it’s how it works in practice. Are attendance policies sensible or would they rather half class is unwell and not learning but attendance figures look better? My child is bright, pretty well behaved - will she be challenged or bored (I know it evens out as they get older). Lots of schools seem to have got rid of streaming, which I’m assuming there’s a good basis for somewhere, but I can’t personally see how too much disparity in ability in a class works better. We can’t afford extensive tutoring. There’s another school near us that does regular knife checks - it’s very different to when I went to school. It all feels quite scary to me!

Do either of them have open mornings? I found these useful anyway as they gave a better idea of the school without all the glitz of an open evening (I'm sure they did cherry pick which classes they showed, but there's a limit to how much they can dress up a normal day).
I'm guessing your child is already year 6. Fortunately another parent warned me about this being a possibility so I saw one in year 5 and one in year 6 when we had this issue. You'd really think schools in the same borough would co-ordinate.

Can your partner or a trusted relative/friend visit the other school, armed with your list of questions?

Can you find someone in your networks that knows someone with a child in school 2 that might be willing to chat with you? I spoke to two strangers on the phone who kindly gave some of their time to talk to me. There is probably someone deep in your networks that can help you out!

I feel like I really took my eye off the ball with this. I made a lot of (clearly baseless) assumptions - that there would be open days in summer and autumn, that there would be opportunity to view in school hours (zero), that there would be more than one open day (like primary)…

I’d still want daughter to see it. I’ve tried the personal networks but will keep digging.