Interviews at selective Independents

[fairyelephant]

I should add given the OP's question about low ranking interviewees that of course thankfully you don't know where you stand before the interview, but I suspect that the spread of marks at schools like City of London would not be great. DS was worried he might be at the bottom of the list, it just made him more determined to do well at interview.

[Daogroupie]

City has been quoted as saying that "the interview is of paramount importance" If a student is slightly weaker in English or Maths then that is what great teachers are for. But some of the attributes that students bring to interview cannot really be taught.

I see the interview as a wonderful opportunity for students to show everything they bring to the table. I really wish that state schools had that same chance but they are not allowed to interview just in case middle class parents give that added advantage.

Strange that state schools are not allowed to interview but universities are. DG

[kenyancowgirl]

Not really - education pre 18 is compulsory and the law in this land means that every child has to be offered a place - the interview process would always mean that some children were offered lots of places and others none - interviews would mean that pointy elbowed middle classes would always secure places for their children in the top state schools whereas currently, the catchment areas do mean that for families that have lived in the areas for a very long time, there are some protected places, although with the house price wars games, these catchment areas are getting smaller.

University education has never been compulsory and for everyone. With fees now it is more like a private school, where they want the best candidates they can (of those who can afford to go) - the interview process allows them to offer some "scholarships" but in this case the scholarship offer is in the form of a lower grade offer.

[shootmenow]

Nobody is 'entitled' to a selective (the clue is in the name)school place. It's just a question of accurate selection.

[MCLC]

Thanks all for your feedback. It is really interesting to hear different takes on the idea of the interview. I much prefer it when it is all about the child, which is as it should be.

[adelante]

Re: clocks being reset to zero, I know we hear this from everywhere but surely, it makes little sense for schools to put as much stock in a 20 mins interview (with different teachers, personalities and therefore floating benchmarks) as in a 2h+ exam that I suppose they've designed to be a reliable predictor of the future A*/A grades that they're chasing.

For all the notion that performance on the day of an exam can be volatile and a double check may be necessary, how much less volatile can a 20 min talk with a 10y old on a random day be?

I understand they wouldn't dedicate so much resources to the process if it didn't matter at all, but if I were a betting person, I'd wager a decent amount that rank correlation between raw exam results and offers is pretty high.

[OldBean]

My two penneth:
To weed out children with obvious behavioural issues. I know some who will pass but I wouldn't choose to teach them.
To look for sparky children who weren't hothoused to the test but show potential. And weed out the opposite.

[mamataxi]

Interesting to hear feedback. Just going through 13+ with DS. Wondered about interview chances as well. Got the following feedback from UCS: as he came at the lower end of the candidates that passed the test, he had to do amazing at interview. So I don't believe they start with a clean slate. Might be different for all schools. Does anyone have any insight in Habs and St Pauls?

[Googley2]

My DD was at an independent school and we found the interview experience to be double sided. I also seen other families that were not offered a place, mostly on academic performance of the child BUT also seen one refused as the mother was not to the schools liking shall we say!!! If they dont think parents will assist with home work, PTA events, etc. they may refuse on them grounds alone but they dont have to give a reason for refusal. My friend took her daughter to state infant school and tried to get into the independent at junior level, she was refused as the child was now much further behind and they felt the gap was too big to catch up. By junior school places get filled very quickly and its get more difficult to get a place without good academic scores.

So interesting and odd. I was really surprised with DD2 to find myself being interviewed at some schools. I was even asked point blank if, given DD's excellent Consortium score, we would take a place if offered. At NLCS, the Head comes to say hello to each group but doesn't speak to parents individually. This is to make it very clear that they are looking at your DD, not you. They don't care what you wear, how you speak etc. There are staff and current parents on hand to answer questions but no one's marking parents.