Interview Notification by CLSG - Soon I Hope?

[shootmenow]

16-18 will come up from the Preps only. The interview is as described -mental maths, discussion of interests and hobbies- they're just weeding out over-tutored girls. Nothing you can prepare for now.

[tjs777]

We now have 864 viewing and very few posting - weird - bit one sided. London-dad - ever so helpful but I'm still trying to understand the interview process rather than the stats - which I now appreciate - hasn't she done well. My daughter has had no tutoring at all and I'm trying to define/understand the 'mindset' for what will be a very big challenge for her.

[London-Dad]

We now have 864 viewing and very few posting - weird - bit one sided. London-dad - ever so helpful but I'm still trying to understand the interview process rather than the stats - which I now appreciate - hasn't she done well. My daughter has had no tutoring at all and I'm trying to define/understand the 'mindset' for what will be a very big challenge for her.

For schools with very high academic standards (which would include SPGS / CLSG / NLCS) my impression is that the interview process is aimed at answering the following questions:

1) Would I want this girl in my class?
2) Can she think on her feet / display logical thinking when confronted with an unusual problem to solve?
3) Can she respond creatively to abstract questions (e.g. describing the nuances of information contained within a painting / picture or other work of art)
4) (...and this will be important for some girls)....if there appears to be a bit of a discrepancy between her school report and her actual performance in our entrance exam....here is another opportunity to show why we should offer you a place.

Interviews at many other schools will seek to establish "commitment" to the school (i.e. are we wasting time in making you an offer....because we are really your 3rd backup school if it all goes pear-shaped)

If CLSG is 1st choice school (for you + your daughter) then her enthusiasm for wanting to get an offer will come across naturally....without needing to sound artificial or forced.
This should enable her to concentrate on answering probing questions without worrying about "creating the right impression".

At open-day at CLSG the head of admissions process made an appeal for parents (especially dads) not to try + micro-manage the preparation for interview.
("We want to find out what you (i.e. the girls) think...not what your father thinks")

- two or three recent books that she has read + is comfortable discussing
- one or two unusual questions to practice logical thinking
....any more is probably overkill.

good luck + best wishes to your daughter in her interview.

[kenyancowgirl]

tjs777 wrote:
We now have 864 viewing and very few posting - weird - bit one sided. London-dad - ever so helpful but I'm still trying to understand the interview process rather than the stats - which I now appreciate - hasn't she done well. My daughter has had no tutoring at all and I'm trying to define/understand the 'mindset' for what will be a very big challenge for her.

tjs777 - I wouldn't read too much into the number of views you have had, to be honest. It racks them up, every time someone revisits the thread and you get people like me, completely out of area, no knowledge of the school in question, just interested in the whole forum. I know that sometimes people post comments in the wrong thread - I keep an eye on as many as I can in case this happens and I can help. I'm interested in what is going on in other areas - I suspect others are too.

I also suspect you have lots of people in the same boat as you, keeping an eye on the thread to see if they can glean any information about the interviews - any snippet that may give them an advantage - which, in reality becomes no advantage, as everyone on here will have read it!! People become secretive about processes when it comes down to the wire of selection, so don't be surprised that people are not falling over themselves to offer advice - or indeed, the viewers may be like me and not able to offer advice.

The most salient and sage piece you have been given is from London-Dad about not trying to micro-manage the process. Let your daughter go in and be herself - then they will see her for her and know whether she will be right for them. Let her think on her feet and impress them with her natural spark - even if she doesn't get the question right. This will impress them far more than anyone who has been coached to give perfect answers to questions! You say she has had no tutoring at all - however, I assume you helped prepare her for the tests at home - if not, then the interview should not be a very big challenge for her. Best of luck!

[hermanmunster]

We now have 864 viewing and very few posting - weird - bit one sided. London-dad - ever so helpful but I'm still trying to understand the interview process rather than the stats - which I now appreciate - hasn't she done well. My daughter has had no tutoring at all and I'm trying to define/understand the 'mindset' for what will be a very big challenge for her.

Hi tjs777, don't worry there aren't that many people doing the interviews or reading the posts and not sharing info! -

I understand the viewing numbers on the forum are often inflated by automated search engines crawling the web .of the 7 named people browsing at present, 3 are google bot , googleadsense bot and bing bot .

[Daogroupie]

Hello tjs777,

This interview should not be a very big challenge for your daughter. Can you explain to us why you think that? She has already done really well in the exams and has been selected for an interview based on that. Now they want to see how she performs as a confident Year Six ready to take that next step into Secondary school in September.

One of the things that constantly astonishes me about students of this age is how some of them seem unable to engage with adults. They seem to think it is acceptable for their parents to do all the communicating while they just stand there. I don't find it acceptable when the conversation is all about them and their future. My opinion of a student dwindles when it is clear that they are used to adults running everything for them.

The best thing you can do for your daughter is to make sure that she is comfortable having conversations with adults without you and that she has her own opinions about things that impact her and things that are going on in the world around her. Both my daughters had a lovely time in their interviews at City, they enjoyed meeting the teachers and talking to them and I had a lovely time listening to the Head and meeting the other parents while waiting for them. I suggest you ask a family friend or relative to do a mock interview with her so she knows what to expect. I do this a lot at this time of year. I then feedback to the parents areas where I think they could do a better job. So of course I disagree with the posters who are saying be yourself and no need to prepare because if you do have a student who does not read the newspaper or watch the news and does not have opinions on subjects and is not used to talking to adults then they are not going to look good compared to students who are able to do all these things.

Hopefully after the interview you will be able to offer helpful advice to other forum members by posting some feedback on how it went. Good luck. DG

PS As with the other forum members I would point out that she may not have had an external tutor but if you have been working with her then she has been prepared for the exams which is all a tutor actually does. I expect you went through the past papers with her which is being tutored for the exam.

[staar]

We got an email yesterday saying interview dates would be sent out today by 4pm. We haven't heard yet, has anyone heard?

[Mymble]

We had the email about 4.30 confirming the date. DD is also doing a music audition so perhaps they sent music, art, drama etc out first? I imagine it takes a while to send out 300 individual emails so don't panic! They did say in yesterday's email to contact them if you hadn't heard by the end of the day.

DD also had her interview at NLCS today. It was a very friendly atmosphere and the staff and current parents were very welcoming and helpful. DD even came out saying it was 'fun'! Shootmenow, thanks for your post of a few days ago about the interviews at NLCS - I certainly felt more relaxed knowing that it wouldn't be a scary or formal experience for DD. Good luck to others with interviews coming up!

[shootmenow]

Dear Mymble,
I'm glad your DD enjoyed it. Her experience was pretty much the school in a nutshell. It's a very kind place and they put a lot of thought into how they can stretch the girls whilst keeping it low stress.
Best of luck!