Grade 1 shortlist all look the same online. What do I ask on the tours?

cobalt_violin_7192

Son is 5, starting grade 1 next June. Three schools on the list. Websites are interchangeable. Each tour showed off something different: one the labs, one the sports ground, one the smart boards. Doesn't tell me anything about a normal Tuesday for a 6 year old. What questions got you real answers?

3 comments

  • mint_compass_2102

    Ask how long the kids sit at a desk in a day. And what happens at lunch, who sits with the little ones. Looking back that's what mattered to us, not the labs.

  • violet_rain_286

    We're doing the same for our 4 year old! I asked to see the toilets and where the water bottles are kept. Sounds funny but it tells you a lot about how the little ones are managed 🙂 Chinna pillalu also need someone checking they ate, so ask who does that.

    • breezy_fern_1867

      I would sharpen the lunch question a little. When our younger son started grade 1, the answer on the tour was "teachers supervise". I'd ask how many adults are actually in the room at lunch, not whether someone is.

  • breezy_gecko_8505

    I do user research for work, so this is borrowed from there. Don't ask what they offer, ask them to describe the last ordinary day: "Walk me through what grade 1 did yesterday, from the bus to dismissal." Specific stories are harder to polish than feature lists. If you can, ask a current parent the same question at the gate.

    • cobalt_violin_7192

      Tried the walk-me-through-yesterday question on the phone with the second school's admissions office today. The answer was far less polished than their tour. Useful.

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