We were in catchment for an Outstanding school. Our son chose a different one.

On paper, the decision was made for us. Fulford School was our catchment school, rated Outstanding by Ofsted, with results to match. Then we went to the open evenings. By the end of them, the whole family had the same unexpected favourite, and our son chose Archbishop Holgate's instead. He was right to.

We run a school data website, so it would be tidy to report that the spreadsheet made the decision. It did not. The data built the shortlist; the visits picked the school. With open days starting in September and applications for September 2027 secondary places closing on 31 October, the next few weeks are when that second part happens. Book your places now.

What the data said

Both schools serve York, and both are large, with around 1,800 pupils each. Fulford School was rated Outstanding by Ofsted at its last graded inspection, in October 2023. Archbishop Holgate's School was inspected in January 2026 under the new report card framework and judged to be of strong standard in six of its seven graded areas, including achievement, curriculum and teaching, and leadership. (If report cards are new to you, our explainer covers what replaced the single-word grades.)

Our own composite score agreed with the conventional wisdom: a B for Fulford, a C for Archbishop Holgate's. If choosing a school were a ranking exercise, Fulford would win, and we lived in its catchment. Case closed.

What the visits showed

An open evening tells you things no dataset can. The state of the buildings and how the school uses them. The warmth of the staff and teachers. Whether the pupils leading the tours can answer a question that is not in the script. What the head chooses to say when given twenty minutes of your attention.

At Archbishop Holgate's, it all landed: the buildings, the staff, the overall feel of the place. And not just with our son. By the end of the evening, every one of us had quietly arrived at the same favourite, and it was not the school we had gone in backing. Our son walked out of one open evening politely unmoved, and out of Archbishop Holgate's talking about where things were and what he would do there. He could picture himself in one of them, and not the other.

None of this is a criticism of Fulford, an excellent school that York families happily choose every year. That is precisely the point: here were two strong schools, one child, and only one of them felt like his. The numbers could never have told us which.

We let him decide

It helped that we all agreed, but the final call was still his. He had visited both schools; he had formed a clear view, and it was going to be his five years, not ours. A child who chose their school starts with a stake in it: he walked in on day one to a place he had already decided to like.

Not every family will hand over the final say, and not every child will want it. But if you only visit one school, nobody in the family gets a real choice at all.

How to do open day season 2026 properly

• Book now. Most secondary open evenings are held in September and early October; many require sign-up, and popular sessions fill up early.
• Visit at least three or four schools, including one you think you have already ruled out. We would have missed the right school if we had only toured the catchment favourite.
• Take your child, and take their reaction seriously. They will notice things you will not.
• Ask for a daytime tour as well if the school offers one. An open evening is the school at its best dressed; a Tuesday morning shows you the default.
• Talk to the pupils, not just the staff. Ask what they would change about the school and watch how honestly they answer.

The dates that matter: applications for September 2027 secondary places close on 31 October 2026, made through your local authority, and offers arrive on National Offer Day, 1 March 2027. Primary applications close later, on 15 January 2027. Catchment is not the guarantee many parents assume it is, and how it actually works has its own explainer.

Where does the data fit in?

Use the data for what it is good at: drawing up the shortlist. Search for schools near you, compare inspection outcomes on the same basis, and check the area pages for your town (for us, that is secondary schools in York). Our guide to choosing the right school covers the entire decision-making process, data and all.

Then go and stand in the buildings. The best school is the one that fits your child, and you cannot download that. You have to go and look.