These school interviews are the first of many and I would love for you to encourage your child to see them as a great opportunity to learn skills and insights as to how to best  prepare for these occasions. Interviews are a part of life and these school interviews are the first of many.

Yes, the admission process into a senior school is challenging but the interview itself is just a part of the process that is well backed with school reports and teacher testimonials. In essence, the interview is actually no more that just a conversation. The focus, however, is on your child – what he or she is really about and why they would like to attend that school in particular.

Enjoy Remembering the Prep School Journey:

You, as a parent or guardian, can really help here by triggering the memories about the experience of Prep School. Recalling occasions in an easy and conversational way, noting times when your child was given special recognition for a particular accomplishment or reminiscing about teachers and friends , can all help in providing your child with a meaningful library of good and true stories. This will give your child greater self assurance for talking about him or her self.

Also, alongside this, do spend time in getting to really know about the senior schools in question. Having a natural enthusiasm for the senior school, combined an insightfulness as to what matters to him or her, will enhance prospects for a good and natural interview discussion.

Below are some starter questions from which I hope that conversation will spontaneously flow.

Some Questions to Consider:

What would you say about your Prep School journey thus far? (What do you appreciate about your school? In what areas do you participate in? What makes it a great school? If you were the Head, what changes would you make – if any?)

What is the best part of your school day? Is there a subject that you particularly like learning about – and why? And what comes really easily for you?

What aspect of school is really important to you? (tradition? sports facilities? club activities?)

How would you like to be remembered when you leave your current school?

How would your teachers describe you?  What kind of scholar are you?

How would your friends describe you? What are important qualities to you for your friends to have?

What five words would you use to describe yourself?

How do you respond to difficult challenges?

What do you love to do in your spare time? If you had a day in which you could do anything that you wanted to do – go anywhere, be with anyone, experience something that you have longed to do – what would that day look like!

What excites you about the school for which you are being interviewed?  What have you noticed about it in particular?   Why would you like to go there? What do you see yourself contributing to this school?

May this season of interviews be a calm, happy and successful one and importantly, may these questions spark a determination for your child to make the absolute best of each and every school day!