Family guide
School visits and tours
A tour is designed to impress. With a little structure it can also tell you what a school is like on an ordinary Tuesday, which is what you are really buying.
Prepared by InternationalSchools.orgPublished July 2026Last reviewed July 2026
In short
- A term-time visit during lessons is worth more than an open day.
- Watch how students and staff behave in the corridors, not the facilities.
- Prepare three questions in advance and ask the same three at every school.
- A well-run virtual tour is genuinely useful when you cannot travel. Ask for a live one, not a recording.
The formats schools offer
Open day
Personal tour
Virtual or live tour
Running a useful visit
Five steps, most of which happen before you arrive.
Ask for a term-time visit during lessons
Open days show the school at its best and tell you least. A weekday visit while classes are running is the single highest-value thing you can arrange.
Ask who you will meet
Ideally admissions plus someone from the section your child would join, and the support lead if that is relevant to you.
A student guide often gives you more honest detail about daily life than any adult on the tour.
See the spaces your child would actually use
The classroom, the corridors between lessons, the dining hall at lunch, the outdoor space, the toilets. Not only the auditorium and the new sports hall.
Ask two or three hard questions
Staff turnover, class sizes in your child's year, how the school handled a recent difficulty. You are judging the quality of the answer as much as the answer.
Write your notes the same day
After three schools the impressions blur. A short structured note per school is what makes a later comparison possible.
What to watch for
Encouraging signs
- Students speaking to staff easily, and to each other across nationalities
- Ordinary classrooms in use, with work on the walls that students clearly made
- Staff who name difficulties without defensiveness
- Willingness to let you see the year group your child would join
Worth probing
- A route that avoids classrooms entirely
- Only marketing staff, with no teacher or section head available
- Vague answers on class sizes or staff turnover
- Pressure to register or pay a deposit the same day
Bring the questions you have already prepared. Our questions checklist is organised by stage and gives you a version you can read from on site.
Visiting from abroad
Worked example
Three schools in two days
A family flying in for a short trip books three weekday appointments rather than four, leaves ninety minutes between them, and travels at school-run times deliberately to feel the commute.
They ask the same three questions everywhere: how many students left this year group last year, who teaches it, and what happens when a new arrival struggles in the first term. Two schools answer plainly. One does not. That contrast is the finding of the trip.
If you cannot travel, a live video tour plus a call with a section head covers most of it. Ask to be shown a normal classroom and the dining hall at lunch, and ask to speak to a parent already at the school.
To arrange visits efficiently, contact several admissions teams in the same week. Complete one form, open your own private school search with a recommended shortlist and other suitable schools, and choose up to three admissions teams to contact directly.
Continue reading
Questions to ask an international school
Questions by stage, with a note on what a good answer sounds like.
Choosing between two offers
Turning visit notes into a decision you can defend.
Accreditation and recognition
What the logos in the reception area actually certify.
How to find an international school
Setting requirements before you start booking tours.
Last reviewed: July 2026
Visit formats and availability are set by each school and vary by season. Nothing here describes any specific school.
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