Secondary School Open House 2022: Dates, Links, and How to Ask Great Questions!
Submitted by KiasuEditor
Haven’t shortlisted secondary schools for your P6 child? The Primary School Leaving Examination results will be released at end-November, and you’ll have about a week to submit your child’s school choices.
So it’s best to start exploring secondary school options already!
If your child is in Primary 5 this year, it’s not too early to check out the secondary school open house events either. This way, you’ll have more time to discuss school choices with your child, and get a sense of the schools that your child might thrive in.
For 2022, it appears that many schools are holding physical or hybrid open house events, although we strongly advise you to check directly with your schools of interest for the most accurate and updated information.
Ask Better Questions at the School Open House
What we’ve noticed is that many parents tend to stick to procedural questions at open house events, such as questions like, “What average score must my O-Level stream child get, in order to transfer to the IP stream in Secondary 3?”
While such questions are informative, they don’t help you to assess if a school has a good learning environment.
On the other hand, some parents are very well-read on the subject of education, or they may be former educators themselves. However, their questions might be laced with jargon, or they might be phrased in a way that is difficult to address, especially in a situation with time constraints.
So, how should you ask better questions at open house events? Follow our simple questioning tips, and you should be able to get some interesting answers!
#1 Ask for examples
Let’s say you’ve received a promotional brochure from a school, which reads, “We provide many leadership opportunities for our students in Secondary 1 and 2, so that they can acquire 21st century skills.”
However, you may notice that there is no elaboration on:
- What these opportunities are
- If the opportunities are open to the entire cohort or just a select few, based on criteria such as grades and behaviour
- What specific skills are being taught
- How these skills will be imparted
Based on these information gaps, you can already formulate several questions! Many school webinars will provide opportunities for parents to send in their questions. Some schools will ask for question submissions prior to an event as well.
If you have a particular area of concern — for example, your child has special learning needs — you can also contact the school via email. In which case, you might want to list some likely scenarios where your child might need support, and ask if the school is equipped to handle this.
In the above situations, the “Give me an example…” question can be very useful. For instance, you could ask, “Could you give me an example of a leadership opportunity for Secondary 1 students?” or “Could you give me an example of a leadership skill that students will learn in Secondary 1, and how they will learn this?”
Similarly, for special needs, you could say, “My child tends to get highly anxious when… If this situation arises, could you give me an example of how the school would support my child?”
#2 Ask for clarifications
When listening to school talks, you and your child can take two types of notes:
- Information that is new to you
- Information that you need to clarify
Here are some ways to ask clarifying questions:
- “You mentioned X earlier. Does this mean that…”
- “You used the term ‘X’ earlier. Could you help me to better understand what that means?”
All questions are valid, and few of us are experts on the local school system. So please don’t worry about asking “silly” questions! In fact, you’ll be setting a good example for your child by stepping up to clarify doubts.
#3 Ask questions to draw out stories from students
Typically, one might ask a teen, “Do you like school?” And the answer might be a shrug, or a teen might say, “Yes, I like school, because of my friends.”
This doesn’t give you much to work with, so why not try a different approach at open house events?
If you’re chatting with students manning activity booths, you can get a sense of the school’s learning environment by asking this question: “What challenge have you faced this year, and how did you overcome it?” If this feels too ‘heavy,’ you can use a simpler form of this question, such as, “What was the hardest part of school for you this year? What did you do to cope with it? How did the teachers support you?”
Depending on how adept you are at social interactions, you can also think of other interesting questions to engage students and get them to open up to you and your child.
Some examples include:
- What’s the most fun/interesting conversation you’ve had in class this year?
- What surprised you most about this school?
- Do you have best friends from this school, and how did you choose them?
- If you could decide all over again, would you still pick this school? Why or why not?
- What’s the best thing that you’ve learned this year?
- What’s the best part of this CCA?
Through light conversations with the students, you can actually get a sense of the peer environment in the school, as well as the attitudes towards learning and growth. It’s important to spend time talking to the students, because they are the ones who will give you honest and unfiltered opinions, unlike the adults.
2022 Secondary School Open House Dates
Ready to shortlist and research secondary schools?
Below, we’ve provided a list of secondary schools in Singapore, along with links to their websites and PSLE cut-off scores. Based on Schoolbag.edu.sg’s updates, we’ve also provided open house information for some schools.
To avoid making a wasted trip to your schools of interest, please confirm dates and timings with the schools before heading down. If the school that you’re interested in does not have an open house event listed, please visit the school’s website or contact them for more information.
We wish you all the best in selecting a suitable secondary school for your child!
