What are the Killer Questions to ask at Open Evenings to break through the guff?

[VulpusinaWilfsuit]

For example, if I asked 'what was the last example of bullying you had to deal with, and how?' would the Head be likely to give details or just fob me off?

And how to ask questions that unpick the publicly available scores and tables etc?

Because I know they will have a spiel. And I'd like to know what really goes on but have no idea how to find out. Thanks.

[DancingHippoOnAcid]

Find a pupil to take you round!

We borrowed next door neighbour (also good friend of DD) to take us round personally at open evening recently. She loved showing us her school and we were very impressed.

Not always possibel, i know, but if you do have friends with DCs at the school, worth thinking about.

[indiewitch]

How many teenage pregnancies were there last year?

[mnistooaddictive]

The thread that never disappears!

[Maximiseurkids]

Talking about Open Evenings, if anyone has a child doing 11+ entrance exams for grammar and independent schools,


I found this useful website

www.11plusmocktests.com.

Check it out.

[cansu]

I agree with kembletwins - the open evening isn't really the right moment to ask the kind of questions you are considering here. Get a feel for the school at the open evening, talk to the children and the teachers about how subjects are taught etc and then make an appointment to ask your detailed questions.

[lemonsherbet123]

As a Deputy Head in a Yorkshire Independent School I would say never be afraid to ask tough, difficult questions of teachers and management at schools you are considering.

Whether you are going to be paying directly by going to an independent school, or indirectly through your taxes at a state school, you have the right to know what sort of school your child will be attending. However, be prepared for a response asking you to come in for a one-to-one discussion if you really pull out the 'big guns' in a very public forum.

Any school that evades your questions should be crossed off the list. Education is a partnership between home and school. Deceit, dishonesty and lack of trust do not build a strong partnership.

I would also ask for the name of the head of the PTA (or equivalent) and find out what current parents think.

However, the pupils will usually give you an unvarnished, unprepared answer to any question you ask of them.

[bruffin]

But when it's the relevant time there will be lots of new threads. What is the point of raising a thread that is completely irrelevant at the moment!
People will waste time giving advice to people who really are long gone.
Once saw a thread of someone who had a miscarriage a year before and other started sending their commiserations etc not realising, and other times rows that have been dead and buried. Its just a bug bear of mine

[mnistooaddictive]

why does it matter to you bruffin?
When people post questions about choosing schools they are often told to search old threads rather than 'waste'peoples time asking the same boring questions.

[bruffin]

This thread iss 6 months old and they would have all got their schools by now. The next lot of open evenings are not due to September.

Why do people have to keep dragging up old threads?

[mnistooaddictive]

If you asked me about the last incident of bullying I dealt with, I wouldn't answer due to pupil confidentiality. So be careful what you ask as you may be fobbed off for other reasons than you think!

[msmum007]

Good questions to ask(being an ex-teacher)could be;
What is their exclusion policy? How many students have they excluded in the last year and why?
Also how many times do they send reports home to parents in an academic year?
How does the school reward good behaviour/progress?
How strict is their uniform policy?
Do they have many after school clubs?
Owwww...I could go on
Also watch the teachers carefully - do they seem to 'care' for their job? ie are they organised? passionate about their subject?

[GrapefruitMoon]

Ask them what percentage of pupils actually sit the GCSE - I only recently discovered that schools don't put all pupils forward, I assume it is a way of massaging the league table figures. They apparently have ways of effectively getting rid of less able/troublesome pupils whilst still keeping them on the school records but the pupils don't receive a proper education as a result.

[ShrinkingViolet]

Look at how the staff interact with existing pupils - do they know their names, how do they talk to them? I was hugely impressed with our school where the 6th formers who were helping out in different departments on Open Evening were laughing and joking with the staff.
Ask to see the toilets, or at least ask your student guides what they're like.

[luckyblackcat]

Only 2 open evenings? Vulpus, you lightweight I've got about 7 to go to! 5 Grammars and 2 Indy.

I live in the back end of the world, out of catchment (by less .5 mile either way) for 5 grammar schools (we live at the point where 3 bourough councils meet) and the local comp scares me (remembers why the grammar school system doesn't always work) and will terrify my rather wimpy mild mannered DD.

I am petrified about open evenings and worry that swanky art departments will sway me DD and we will overlook the Important Stuff.

Given recent experience we will def be asking re most recent bullying issues.

At DD's old school the parents of Yr 5s all got together and went/asked/had lunch and discussed relative merits - not at new school though.

[VulpusinaWilfsuit]

I will be hounded out. Actually both schools going up but what does that actually tell me?

And do I ignore or make a note of the flyblown 25 year old kids' artwork on the walls in one school vs swanky new displays in the other? So hard to know which bits ACTUALLY matter

[Quattrocento]

"Can you explain the steady slide down the league tables?" Goes down well with headmistresses, I've found.

[VulpusinaWilfsuit]

Thanks for all the answers so far. I'm still sweating over it all though. And we're only looking at two schools.

[liliputlady]

Ask to see school policies on things that particularly interest/concern you - then you at least have it in writing.

[ravenAK]

Then they should know about the 6th form colleges to which they 'feed'.

Honestly, you should be able to get some sensible answers if you say 'He is gifted in Maths', especially if you have some idea of his current levels.

Going in saying 'oh my dc is terribly gifted you know' may roll a few teacher eyeballs unless you are able to be a tad more specific!

Talk to the Maths staff. Most teachers do actually like gifted students, you know...they raise everyone's game & are generally very nice to have onboard.

If you're a subject graduate, as secondary teachers generally are, it's lovely to have students who actually challenge your own knowledge, as opposed to merely challenging your ability to communicate a KS3/GCSE level version of it.

[ThixotropicOobleck]

Big local colleges, which include 6th form centres. Small A level turnover, big vocational etc output. Some go off to independent/grammar school 6th forms.

Good suggestions. It's terrifying to have to think so far ahead. i only realised I had to think at all in the last few weeks...

[cherryblossoms]

Tricky!

Where do they go for 6th form then?

(Only half joking here but, could you find out where the majority of the dc go from each school and then go and ask the staff there which school they'd send their dc to? Actually, that really is going the extra mile, isn't it! )

[ThixotropicOobleck]

No sixth forms in local comps... not sure they'll know will they?

[cherryblossoms]

Vulpus - in that case you should ask about higher education destinations (as others have said). If a good proportion go to "good" universities, doing "good" subjects, you know that the school is able to support dc like your ds and that he will have a cohort to hang out with. (ie, no "boffin syndrome" - that was you, wasn't it?)

It also indicates a pretty organised school.