It's Open Day and Open Evening season at the moment and sometimes it can be challenging to come up with new or unique ideas to engage interest from parents/guardians and students.
We've put together some ideas that might be helpful in making this year's events the best yet at your school.
The Classics
There are some approaches that we've all used for a long time and for good reasons: they work.
It's always a great idea to showcase exercise books that give parents a chance to see the quality of learning in lessons, the types of feedback offered and the engaging worksheets and activities students get involved in during lesson time.
Interactive whiteboards are pretty much omnipresent nowadays, so make use of them and provide detailed information about your department's curriculum, assessments, clubs on offer, homework and so on. I've been to schools where there's just a simple slide that says 'Welcome to the English Department', but that doesn't give parents or students anything useful - they know where they are!
Something a little braver is to have members of staff dress up as famous literary characters. It'll highlight the passion you have for the subject and that you're willing to have fun and convey your enthusiasm for English with those visiting the school.
Alternatively, get hold of a Jenga set and write language devices/techniques on each block. Prospective students can play this with existing ones and your students can show off the knowledge they've picked up from your lessons.
Something Different
Black out poetry: Get together some old pages from books (have a read of them first!) and some black markers. Visiting students and parents can use them to create their own poems. Have some student examples on display for inspiration.
Post-in wall: Have a whiteboard or display with some sticky notes ready. You could get students to write down their favourite words, what they love about English and reading or language devices they are familiar with.
Quizzes: Use software like Kahoot and have laptops set up for guests to take part in a group English quiz. Winners of each round could receive a department-related prize.
Immersive experience: Set up a corner of one of the classrooms to create an experience where visiting students can dress up in period costumes. If possible, have photos or displays from when existing students used a similar set up in classroom lessons or workshops to show how your department can take learning away from the traditional exercise books approach.
What have you been reading? Ask students what their favourite books are and why. This will give you an insight into the titles that are popular with Y6 students and also give some indication about reading levels.
Student leadership roles: Put students in charge of demonstrations or activities. This gives parents and students the opportunity to talk to existing students about their time at school, what they love about it and also show off their learning.
