subject: Open Day Season - Things To Remember! [print this page] Open Day season is the time of the year when schools will be throwing open their doors, giving you a chance to see what they have to offer. Most of the applications for entry next September will be made before Christmas, so it's imperative that you make the most of the opportunities abounding at this time of year, if you're considering independent education. There are lots of important things to remember when you see a school for the first time, lots of important questions to ask, and lots of things to see. Here are a few things you should make sure you know before you leave, and who to ask.
The first person you will probably want to meet is the head. He or she is the school's primary representative, and has ultimate responsibility (along with the Board of Governors) for much of the work of the school. Any of the overarching questions you have about the school, they should be able to answer; questions about the ethos or aims of the school, its policies, its history or plans for the future should all be answered authoritatively. Equally, there are a few more practical questions you might want to ask: How much contact do parents have with teachers? Does the school have a chaplain? Which senior schools or universities do pupils commonly go on to?
Meeting some of your child's prospective teachers is probably the next step. They will be the people with whom your child spends the most school time over the coming years, so it is hugely important that you get a feel for what they are like. If your daughter is particularly keen to take physics, for example, try to meet someone from the physics department. Here is an opportunity for you to ask some in depth questions that the headmaster or headmistress wouldn't necessarily have been expected to know the answers to. What does the physics curriculum look like for your daughter's age? What support is available if she falls behind? How many of the students go on to A-level? If you are looking at a pre prep or prep school, you might want to ask what will be expected of pupils in the Early Years Foundation Stage, or how closely the school follows the National Curriculum at Key State One.
Finally, possibly the most important people to meet are the pupils themselves. Often, pupils will be your guides around the school's grounds, and they are perhaps the best evidence available of what type of person your child might be after going to that school. Try to ask them some questions; they can't be expected to know the school inside out, A-level classics students may not know too much about the chemistry syllabus! but they will answer honestly, and how they approach the question can be even more important than the answer. How do they get on with their teachers or the head? The atmosphere shouldn't be cold or overly formal, but certainly respectful. Even the simple fact that most of the pupils are smiling as they go about their day can tell a parent more about a school than a crude league-table comparison.
Many schools are keen for parents to see both their pedagogy and staff at work, and you will quite possibly get the opportunity to look in on a lesson in progress at some point. While not always feasible, do take the chance if you can, as there is nothing like first-hand experience of how the teachers get the subject matter across, and how pupils respond to it. If looking in on a lesson is not possible, you should nevertheless have the opportunity to see classrooms themselves; how well looked-after are they? Are they making use of new technology? Do the pupils have a hand in making displays or other things for them?
There is a lot to do during an open day, and often it can seem like there simply isn't enough time to do it. You might not get to ask all of these questions, you might not feel the need to ask all of them but if you do, you should come away from a school with a genuine and honest picture, and you can have informed confidence in deciding whether or not to apply.
