What to Look for on a School Open Day

Open days are useful for a first impression but carefully choreographed to show the school at its best. The most valuable open-day skill is knowing what to observe — pupil behaviour, teacher-pupil interaction, the tone of the marketing script — rather than what the school wants you to notice. Ideally, follow the open day with a smaller private visit on an ordinary school day, when the school is running as it actually runs.

This is a supporting article within our pillar guide to how to choose the right private school.

Why open days are only a starting point

Open days are marketing events. They are designed to present the school at its best: confident head, articulate pupil ambassadors, polished tours, immaculate facilities, well-briefed staff. This is not dishonest — every school does it — but it is not the school as it runs on an ordinary Tuesday. Use the open day for what it is best at (first impressions, big-picture questions), and use follow-up visits for the deeper reading.

Before you go: preparation

1. Read the prospectus, but only lightly — you want to arrive with impressions, not answers.
2. Write down the three or four things that matter most to your child. Bring the list.
3. Prepare three or four specific questions that will reveal something the school does not volunteer.
4. Talk to your child before the visit about what they should notice — pupils, atmosphere, feel.
5. Aim to attend as a family, so your child forms their own impression rather than being told.

What to observe: the pupils

The single most useful signal on an open day is not the head's speech or the head of marketing's tour — it is the pupils. Look for:

• Confidence — do pupils look comfortable in their own space?
• Warmth — do they greet each other and staff naturally?
• Diversity of type — is there a range of personalities, or a single 'type' of pupil?
• Behaviour towards each other — kind, respectful, engaged?
• Your child's response to them — do they look like children your child would befriend?

If your child cannot imagine themselves among these pupils, no amount of impressive facilities will change that.

What to observe: teacher-pupil interaction

Watch teachers with pupils in unscripted moments:

• Do teachers know pupils' names, and use them naturally?
• Do pupils speak to teachers as trusted adults, or as authority figures to perform for?
• Are corrections handled with warmth or with sharpness?
• Do staff seem genuinely interested in the pupils showing you around?

What to observe: the pupil ambassadors

Pupil ambassadors are chosen and briefed carefully. But they are still teenagers, and small signals leak through:

• What do they get animated about when talking about the school?
• What do they mention as things they wish the school did better?
• How do they describe teachers — with warmth, or with distance?
• How do they describe the school when they think no adult is listening?

Ask pupils direct questions when you can:

• "What is a bad day at this school like?"
• "What is one thing you'd change if you could?"
• "What surprised you when you started here?"
• "Would you send a younger sibling here?"

What to observe: the facilities in use

It is easy to be impressed by facilities on their own — a theatre, a swimming pool, a chapel, an art block. The more useful question is whether they are being used well:

• Are the sports fields freshly marked and clearly used, or purely decorative?
• Are the science labs equipped to run current experiments, or largely museum pieces?
• Is the art department full of pupil work, or empty?
• Are the music practice rooms in active use, with instruments visible and cared for?

A school that invests in facilities but does not use them intensely is not the school its brochure claims.

What to listen for: the marketing script

Every school uses a script on open days. Listen for what is in the script — and what is left out:

• Which strengths are mentioned repeatedly, and which are barely referenced?
• Which results are cited — headline averages, or the top of the year?
• How honest is the head about the range of pupils and outcomes at the school?
• Is there any acknowledgement of what the school is not?

Schools that are genuinely confident tend to be more willing to acknowledge weaknesses and what kind of child does not thrive with them. Schools that oversell are often the ones with the most to hide.

Questions to ask on the open day

The best questions cannot be answered by the marketing team. Try:

• "What kind of child does not thrive here — and how do you help those families identify that early?"
• "What did parents of last year's Year 7 intake most wish they had known before starting?"
• "How does the school genuinely differ from the two or three schools most families compare you with?"
• "What is the school working on improving this year?"

Red flags on an open day

• The head cannot name a specific weakness or improvement priority.
• Pupil ambassadors sound rehearsed to the point of scripted.
• Answers are always general, never specific.
• Your child feels uncomfortable and cannot articulate why.
• Facilities are prominent in the tour but children are not visibly using them.
• The tone is competitive or superior about other schools.

After the open day: the private visit

The private follow-up visit is often more revealing than the open day itself. Ask for a visit on an ordinary school day. Ask to see:

• A normal lesson in a subject your child cares about.
• A lunch service, sitting with pupils where possible.
• A meeting with the head of learning support, if SEND is relevant.
• An unstructured time — break, prep, tutor time.

You will see the school as it actually runs, not as it presents itself.

Making the decision

After each visit, capture three notes on the same day, while impressions are fresh:

1. What did I see that impressed me?
2. What did I see that concerned me?
3. How did my child respond — genuinely, not on prompt?

Compared across schools, these notes are usually far more useful than any brochure or league table.

Final thought

Open days are essential but limited. Treat them as the beginning of the conversation, not the end of it. Follow them with private visits, honest questions and careful observation. The right school reveals itself in small, unstaged moments — a teacher's smile, a pupil's honesty, a child's comfort. Trust those signals more than any polished presentation.

My Top Schools helps parents find the right school for their child — with clear profiles, honest information, and search filters built around what really matters. Start your search.

Related reading

• How to choose the right private school — The full pillar guide.
• What questions to ask when choosing a private school — The wider question framework.
• What makes a school the right fit — How fit signals show up on visits.
• When to start looking for a private school — How open-day timing fits into the wider search.