School Open Day Video: How to Plan a Film for Admissions

An open day is the one moment in the year when a school is judged in person. Parents walk the corridors, listen to the head, glance into classrooms and decide, often in under an hour, whether they can picture their child there. A good school open day video does not compete with that visit. It brings families through the door, works quietly in the background while they are there and reminds them afterwards of what they saw.

This guide is for head teachers, business managers, marketing and admissions leads and trust communications teams in London and across the UK. It is a companion to our guide on how to make a school promotional video, which covers the story, consent, the filming days and the edit in detail. Here the focus is narrower: how a film earns its place in the open day season, and what that means for when you film, what you show and which versions you need.

What an Open Day Video Is For

An open day video has three jobs, and each happens at a different moment.

Before the Visit

Families shortlist schools before they visit. A short film on the website and social media helps them decide that yours is worth an evening. Its job is not to tell them everything, but to give them a reason to book a place and something specific to look for when they arrive.

On the Day

Most open events include a talk from the head and a tour, often led by pupils. A film can open the head’s talk, play on screens in the hall or reception while families wait, and fill the gaps that a tour cannot reach: the lessons that happen on other days, the clubs that meet after school, the trips and the performances.

After the Visit

Families visit several schools in a few weeks, and the details blur. A film sent with a thank-you email or left on the admissions page reminds them of your school when they sit down to fill in the form. It also reaches the families who could not come at all.

Work Back From the Admissions Calendar

The single most useful thing you can do is plan the film around the dates families actually decide. For state schools in England, the Department for Education’s guide to school admissions sets out the timetable: applications usually open on 1 September, and families must apply for a secondary school place by 31 October. Primary applications open in September and close on 15 January. Councils send offers of secondary places on 1 March and primary places on 16 April. The same guide lists visiting the school as one of the ways to find out about it, noting that most schools have open days. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have their own processes, and independent schools set their own timetables, so check the dates that apply to you.

Whatever your dates, the film needs to be finished before the first open event, not during it. Work backwards:

• The first open event is your deadline for the approved film and all its versions.
• Review and approval need a few weeks, especially if governors or a trust need to see it.
• The edit needs time before that.
• Filming comes first, on ordinary school days with lessons running normally.

For a school whose open events are in the autumn, that usually means filming in the spring or summer term. Avoid exam weeks, mock exams and the last days of term, when timetables collapse and classrooms are not typical. The summer term has another advantage: sports, performances and trips are happening, and the light is better for outdoor scenes.

What Parents Look For on an Open Day

Parents on an open day are looking for clues, and a film can show them the clues they would look for if they could stay all day.

• How pupils behave between lessons. The corridor at changeover, the lunch queue, the playground. A calm, friendly corridor reassures a parent more than any statement about behaviour.
• Whether pupils talk to each other in lessons. A short scene of pupils explaining their reasoning to each other says more than a shot of hands going up.
• The first weeks. For a secondary school, how Year 7 settle in. For a primary, what a Reception class looks like on an ordinary morning. This is often what parents worry about most.
• The head, in their own words. Parents want to know who leads the school and what they care about. One clear idea is enough.
• What happens beyond lessons. Clubs, music, sport, trips: the things a tour on a single evening rarely sees.

The test for every scene is the same as for any school film: if you cannot point to the moment that proves a claim, leave the claim out. The approach that works best is documentary rather than advertising, and our guide to observational documentary filmmaking explains how it works in practice.

One Shoot, Several Versions

Most of the value of an open day video comes from planning its versions before filming, because each one needs different shots. A typical set looks like this:

• An invitation clip for social media and the website, well under a minute, ending with the dates of your open events. Keep the dates in a caption or end card so they can be updated each year without re-editing the film.
• The main film, a few minutes long, for the admissions page and to open the head’s talk.
• A loop for screens on the day, cut so it makes sense from any point, with captions rather than speech. Halls and receptions are noisy, and nobody can hear an interview over a room full of families.
• A follow-up version for the thank-you email and for families who could not visit, which can be the main film with a short closing message about how to apply.
• Vertical cuts, if your school uses platforms where vertical video works best. These are much easier to film for on the day than to rescue later.

Captions are worth adding to every version. Many parents first see the film on a phone with the sound off, and some families watching will not have English as their first language.

A Virtual Open Day

Some families cannot come to an open evening: parents who work shifts, families moving to the area, children with additional needs for whom a crowded event is hard. A virtual open day can be as simple as the main film plus short clips of key places, such as the library, the science labs or the early years garden, each introduced by a pupil or teacher. Put them together on one page of the website and send the link to anyone who asks.

Secondary, Sixth Form and Primary Open Events

Open events are not all the same, and the film should match the audience in the room.

Secondary Open Evenings

The audience is usually a Year 6 child and their parents, and both are watching. Show pupils who are a year or two older than the visitors, doing things the visitors can imagine doing. A Year 7 pupil talking about their first week is often the most watched part of the film.

Sixth Form Open Evenings

Here the viewer is the student, and the questions are different: subject choices, independence, how teachers support applications to university or apprenticeships, what former students went on to do. Let current sixth formers do most of the talking, and only describe the support and outcomes the school can actually point to.

Primary Tours and Open Mornings

Primary open events are often small tours during the school day, and the film works harder before and after them than during. Parents of children starting Reception want to see the early years classrooms, the outdoor space and how staff talk to very young children. Keep the film gentle and unhurried, like the day it shows.

Put the Pupil Guides on Screen

Many schools rely on pupils to lead open day tours, and families often remember the guides more than anything else. The film can do the same. A pupil walking through the school and talking about the places that matter to them gives the film a natural route and a voice parents trust.

Do not script them. Plan the route together, let them talk in their own words, and ask questions that invite specific answers: “What happens here at lunchtime?” works far better than “Why do you like this school?” Our guide to documentary interview questions has more on asking questions that get real answers.

Why Not to Film the Open Day Itself

It is tempting to film the open day and turn it into next year’s film. In most cases it is better not to, for two reasons.

First, consent. Visiting families, including their children, have not agreed to appear in a film, and many will not want to. The school’s own pupils are covered by its media consent policy; visitors are not. Second, an open day is not a normal school day. Lessons are staged, rooms are rearranged and everyone is on their best behaviour. Parents know this, which is why a film of an ordinary day is more convincing.

If you do want some footage of the event, perhaps for the school’s own record, tell visitors in advance, film at a distance and keep visitors out of identifiable shots. The consent and safeguarding principles for filming pupils are covered in detail in our guide on how to make a school promotional video.

Keeping the Film Useful for More Than One Year

A well-made open day video can serve several admissions rounds if it is planned to. A few choices make the difference:

• Keep dates out of the main film. Put event dates and deadlines in captions or end cards that can be changed each year.
• Avoid details that date quickly. Temporary building works, a particular year’s results or a staff member who is about to leave all shorten the film’s life.
• Film more than you need. Extra scenes give you material for new short clips next year without another full shoot.
• Plan a refresh. When a new head arrives or the school changes significantly, a short new interview and a re-edit may be all the film needs.

Who Should Make It

Schools usually choose between a video production agency, a freelance crew and an independent documentary filmmaker. For a single school or a small group of schools, one filmmaker who directs, films and edits the film is often the best fit. One person learns the school, builds trust with staff and pupils and carries that understanding into the edit, and a single camera at the back of a classroom disturbs a lesson far less than a crew. Our guide on when a small documentary crew is the right choice explains why, and our guide to how to choose a documentary filmmaker in London lists the questions worth asking before you book.

If you are also recruiting staff, the same filming days can often capture material for a separate film for candidates. Our guide to a school staff recruitment video explains how that film differs.

What Shapes the Cost

There is no fixed price for a school open day video. Every project is quoted individually, and the main factors are the number of filming days, the number of sites, the number of interviews, the length of the main film and how many versions you need. A focused film for one school can often be filmed in a single well-planned day. If you have a budget in mind, say so at the start, so the filmmaker can suggest an approach that fits it.

Questions People Often Ask

How long should a school open day video be?

Most schools need a main film of a few minutes for the website and the head’s talk, plus a short invitation clip for social media and a silent, captioned loop for screens on the day. A family deciding which schools to visit will watch a short, honest film to the end; they will not sit through a long one.

When should we film our school open day video?

Film on ordinary school days well before your open events, so there is time to edit, review and approve the film before families start visiting. For many schools in England that means filming in the spring or summer term ready for the autumn, avoiding exam weeks and the last days of term.

Should we film the open day itself?

Usually not. Visiting families have not agreed to be filmed, and an open day is not a normal school day. A film made on ordinary days shows parents what they really want to know. If you do want some footage of the event, tell visitors in advance and keep them out of identifiable shots.

Can a video replace a school open day?

No, but it helps the families who cannot come and those deciding whether to visit. A short film on the website works as a virtual open day for parents who work shifts, live further away or are moving to the area, and it reminds visiting families of what they saw.

Do you make open day videos for schools outside London?

Yes. Steve is based in London and films schools there, and he also works elsewhere in the UK: his film about XP School was made over three years in Doncaster.

Open Day Films for Schools in London and Across the UK

Steve Sklair is a BAFTA-winning documentary filmmaker based in London. Over four decades with the BBC, Channel 4 and other UK broadcasters he has worked as director, camera operator, editor and BBC series producer, and his film The Man Who Loves Gary Lineker (BBC Video Diaries, 1993) won the BAFTA for Best Single Documentary. His film Child Slave Rescue won a UNICEF Rights of the Child award. For the last four years he has been making education films with the National Education Union, filming children and teachers in real classrooms, and he made Above All Compassion: The Story of XP School, a three-year observational film about XP School in Doncaster. He directs, films and edits each film himself.

Steve films schools in London and elsewhere in the UK. Read more about school video production or his work as a documentary filmmaker in London. When you are ready, the documentary brief form asks what the film is for, who will watch it and when you need it, and Steve will come back to you with an approach that fits your school and your open day calendar.

Last updated: 3 November 2026