What might my daughter (age 4) and me be asked at interview for private school - reception entrance

[stressed2007]

At the risk of being pilloried (sp?) as per a few earlier questions I had regarding entrance requirements my daughter has managed to get 2 second stage interviews at 2 very good London private schools for the reception class. On the basis I was clueless about the playgroup assessment stage (the first stage) I am delighted.

We are going back for 2 45 minute interviews (one at each school). I have no information about what this will entail and was wondering if anyone had been through this process and could suggest:

1. What my daughter might be asked to do or asked about?

1. What I might be asked about?

I am also to have the opportunity to ask anything I would like. This seems very much like a job interview when one is supposed to use the questions to "shine". I have read the schools prospectus and both schools are excellent. I really don't have much further to ask. I would be over the moon if she was offered a place and I just don't want to mess it up for her.

I look forward to any constructive thoughts. Thanks very much.

[YorkshireRose]

Stressed - YOU are not the one being interviewed, this is all about the school trying to work out if your DD will fit in at the school. It will be just an informal chat with your DD and an opportunity for you to find out what you need to know to decide if the school is what YOU want for your DD.

Relax and remember this is about finding the best school for YOUR DD. If a school is really carrying out an interview of you to decide if they think you are worthy of sending your DD to their school, RUN A MILE!

[stressed2007]

I am pretty sure it is for both of us. It is quite an intensive school and have been told they want to ensure that the parents are going to be very supportive of the chidren etc etc

[DorotheaPlenticlew]

I would say just go along and be natural and don't over-prepare for this sort of thing. If it's a good fit, it will be a good fit. If you genuinely do have the time to invest in being "very supportive" (whatever they actually mean by that) and you and she both want this, I am sure it will come across.

If not, you don't want to end up sending her to a school that will make you (or her, obv!) feel in any way inadequate, so no point trying to pretend.

[frogs]

Are you asking seriously? Run for the hills.

"intensive school", + wanting parents to be "very supportive of the children" = shitloads of v. dull classwork and homework to ensure that they can all read fluently, do legible joined-up writing and do basic maths by the time they finish Reception.

Of course you can teach an able 4yo to do these things, it's not brain surgery. But there are many, many more interesting, fun and important things for 4yo children to be doing than sitting at tables learning to write neatly.

My youngest dd was offered Reception places at SHHS and NLCS. Luckily we turned them down in favour of her very non-selective, non-exclusive and not particularly desirable primary school, where they give the kids the afternoon off to sweep leaves and make compost, do weird activities involving jelly and straws, and make 3-d mazes in the playground. And no homework, hurrah! And yes, she can read Roald Dahl at 5, and would be quite capable of learning more times tables than anyone has bothered to teach her, but so what? She gets schoolwork that is challenging enough to keep her interested, and the rest of the time she gets to do what 5yo do.

Honestly, it's barking. The school are trying to pick children who are easy to teach and have pleasant, middle-class supportive parents. Any school could turn out good results with that intake. There's no great mystery to it, other than the mystery that so many people are happy to part with great wodges of cash to have their kids pushed till the pips squeak.

And breathe...

[stressed2007]

I am really living up to my name on this. I feel really stressed....like I am about to take my a levels/degree again

[IndigoSky]

Don't worry - it will be fine. They just want to meet her and you. If they don't want to have her obviously it's not the right school for her. Most pre-prep schools are suffering in the recession. Don't forget - it's YOUR money they want so they should be out to impress YOU.

Good luck.

[FabIsGoingToBeFabIn2010]

Stop feeling like you should be grateful for the school accepting you and your daughter but look at it as is the school good enough for you and your daughter and can they offer you everything she will need.

[coldtits]

Oh please don't do this. Not because it's private school, but because they are going to push your daughter to breaking point to get the results they want.

They don't care about her personal achievement. They care about the school's achievement, and God help your daughter if she at any point stands between them and academic excellence.

She's only 4. Put her into a normal school and tutor her for the age 7 intake. Don't ram your tiny girl into a pressure cooker.

[donnie]

sounds like Channing. Have a couple of friends who taught there - neurosis city, big time. Don't do it!!!!

[frogs]

Donnie, I hated Channing. Odd combination of pushy and precious.

[jaded]

frogs - which school does your dd go to? It sounds great!
I didn't know private schools selected children at such a young age - thought as long as you could pay then your child was in!
They might ask your child to draw a picture.
Just be yourself - if they don't like you or your daughter, then it might not be the right school. Are there other private schools in the area that aren't so pushy?

[donnie]

Indeed frogs; my sources tell me that at the Channing interview they would even scrutinise the way your daughter walked down the stairs as an indication of something....one leg one stair good, two legs one stair bad! now that could be a load of old hogwash but I know enough about that place to know I would NEVER send my dds there!

Your place sounds much better - pretty much like my dds' school which is a happy little state run C of E school in Barnet - ie, normal!

[Harriedandflustered]

oh no, selective schools with reception/nurseries do intend practise selection for 3 or 4 yo

All they'll do is chat with her, maybe do a bit of play to observe how she plays. In all seriousness, at one interview the head was in ecstasies over DD's cutting out (when presented with a picture inside a box frame, rather than cutting around the box frame, she cut around the picture itself. I would have thought that was a Bad Thing but apparently it was a Good Thing because she had the fine motor skills to do it.) But it's stuff like conversational maturity they look for.

As for you - relax. There seriously isn't any point in putting on a show - best see honestly whether or not you will fit with them and they with you.

Good luck

[frogs]

I'm not naming, jaded, but it's pleasingly bonkers under quite a straight-laced facade. But not a first choice school for most people in the area, cos the intake is a bit, well, mixed. My youngest dd is something of a subversive livewire, I fear she would have stood out at Channing, and not in a good way.

I did hear off the grapevine that one of the boys' prep schools in NW3 used to get candidates to thread beads against the clock, presumably to weed out any small people with dyspraxic tendencies (whoops, there go all the left-handers too, well never mind, they'll probably be slow to learn to write legibly as well, so better to be shot of them from the off).

I really fail to see how this type of selection is a recipe for anything other than a classful of boringly homogenous compliant and competitive little people-pleasers. You've weeded out all the eccentrics, all the late developers [pah], all the dreamers and the left-field thinkers, all the kids who'd prefer to make a paper aeroplane or cut up the worksheet instead of writing their name (without reversing any letters, natch) and draw a person with the appropriate number of limbs. So your child spends however many years sitting in class with people just like him or her. Yawn.

[claig]

stressed2007, Congratulations on getting through the 1st round. They both look like fantastic schools.

I agree with FabIsGoingToBeFabIn2010, you should go in with a positive attitude that it is you are assessing them to see if they will meet your daughter's needs.

I would ask about class sizes, and the numbers that take part in individual clubs. I would like to know, for example, how many children are in the Russian language club, so that I could get a feel for how much individual attention your daughter would receive. I would ask roughly what percentage of the curriculum over the years to come is devoted to subjects that you are particularly interested in your daughter learning. It appears on one website that tennis is not a sport that the school does. Is this the case, and if not, do they ever get any professional coaches to come in and speak to the children?
I would be very interested in the language options provided. One school seems to have a strong preference for Japanese, even above French. I personally wouldn't be too keen on that, I would prefer my child to study Mandarin, if studying a non-European language, as I think this will be a more important language for business and commerce when you daughter reaches adulthood. Does the school offer Mandarin in its after-school clubs. The other school does offer this and from an early age, which is an advantage in my eyes. The other school also offers Latin in an after-school club, which is an advantage for a well-rounded education.
I would like to know how much time does a girl spend in a club and how many clubs can she realistically join, without it taking up too much of her time. What level of proficiency in a language do the girls achieve with the after school clubs as opposed to the formal curriculum. Are the teachers native speakers? can they offer extra private tuition in languages if you would like to go deeper? Is there a cut-off point where certain clubs have to close due to lack of interest and are any of the clubs that you are considering at danger of closing for this reason? How many excursions to historic sites etc. do they do?

After all of that, they'll probably offer you a place on the spot just to shut you up

Remember, you are the boss, you are paying and you are evaluating them

[frogs]

Oh, and fwiw the non-selective prep-schools are regularly approached for places at 6+ and 7+ by parents of children who were 'selected' for the pushier schools at 4+ and are now being quietly elbowed out when they turn out to not be quite as academic as the 4+ assessments indicated.

Nice.

[MollieO]

Can't comment on the selective schools bit but can on the walking down stairs. Walking on alternate stairs is what 4 yr olds are expected to do. Putting both feet on one stair at that age is classed as developmental delay. Ds had this and it seemed completely unimportant to me but it was indicative of delayed gross motor skills.

[ZZZenAgain]

...threading beads against the clock...

at that point I would have taken my dc out. Are they preparing them for life at the conveyor belt?

[stressed2007]

"I did hear off the grapevine that one of the boys' prep schools in NW3 used to get candidates to thread beads against the clock, presumably to weed out any small people with dyspraxic tendencies (whoops, there go all the left-handers too, well never mind, they'll probably be slow to learn to write legibly as well, so better to be shot of them from the off). "

All of the first round play assessments had some bead threading involved....

[stressed2007]

"One school seems to have a strong preference for Japanese, even above French. I personally wouldn't be too keen on that, I would prefer my child to study Mandarin, if studying a non-European language, as I think this will be a more important language for business and commerce when you daughter reaches adulthood. Does the school offer Mandarin in its after-school clubs. The other school does offer this and from an early age, which is an advantage in my eyes. The other school also offers Latin in an after-school club, which is an advantage for a well-rounded education."

Thnaks fr this, I know the Japanese language loving school but which schools do Mandarin and Latin? I agree that Mandarin would be wonderful - I would love to try this myself too. Maybe I should just shut up with all of this and take an evening class!

[claig]

sorry I thought that one of the schools was the St Albans one. Must have got that wrong

[stressed2007]

no not yet - we have that next week. Very keen on that one. There is no interview though just play session

[claig]

yes the St Albans club list is really outstanding, shame there is not enough time in the day to sample all of the delights

[OtterInaSkoda]

"I have read the schools prospectus and both schools are excellent"

Although you might get a feel for the likely atmosphere of a place, you can't tell an excellent school from its prospectus, imo.

Agree with Harried: best see honestly whether or not you will fit with them and they with you.

Disclaimer: I know precious little about selective schools (or private ones generally), but I do know about selecting schools, iykwim.

[stressed2007]

thanks - all v useful.

I agree you can't tell much about school until the child has started by which time the decision has been made!