11+ interview exercises to do at home
With school interviews on the near horizon, we’ve put together some fun exercises to get your child ready.
Our advice to parents
Do
Do encourage your child to ‘squeeze the juice’ from every answer they give. There’s always more to say.
Do think about school options with a ‘horizontal hierarchy’. Having favourites makes no sense when every school has something different and special to offer; this will take the pressure off.
Do find ways to deepen interests proactively. Find news articles, watch videos and visit places.
Don’t
Don’t offer up or encourage model answers to questions. Schools tell us they can spot memorised/overly rehearsed answers a mile off.
Don’t waste time theorising about potential school places.
Don’t forget to spend time talking about the things that make your child unique. 1st XI football is great, but so is gardening.
Thunks
Thunks are questions with no right or wrong answer. They make us think and test our ability to consider a complex problem. Often schools use thunks to see how a child thinks critically.
How many bricks make up a wall?
If the hands fall off my clock, is it still a clock?
Are clouds in, under or above the sky?
What is the most important part of a fork?
When does loud start?
Is something boring because of it or because of you?
Do ideas come from inside or outside your head?
Can you get lost if you don’t know where you are going?
Interview questions to try at home
Without needing to rehearse, we hope this list of typical 11+ interview questions will act as a guide for some dynamic, multi-faceted debate at home.
Why do you want to go to your chosen school?
What is one thing other people don’t know about you?
You’re trapped on a desert island. What one luxury do you take?
What’s the biggest challenge you’ve ever faced?
What is one specific thing we could do about climate change?
If you were Prime Minister for the day, what would you do?
If I asked your friends what you were like, what would they say?
Why do we go to school?
The picture challenge
Interviews often involve pictures. Here are a few tips to becoming a pro.
Imagine the other person can’t see the image. What is happening in very simple terms? Always start simple and build up your analysis.
Notice a specific detail (figure, use of colour, shape) and use that as a ‘hook’ to start a discussion.
Why was this picture created?
How does this image make you feel?
The Fight Between Carnival and Lent by Pieter Bruegler the Elder
Analysing a poem
As with looking at a picture, start simple.
What is happening? Who is involved? Where is it set?
Pick a specific word or phrase – what does it mean? How does it help you understand the wider story?
Again like the picture, why was this poem written?
Photograph by Roger Stevens
This poignant poem describes a child’s experience of World War II. An extract from ‘Photograph’.
Now Dad’s in France
And our beach is covered in concrete
And tangled barbed wire
And landmines
In case the Germans invade
But on that day
We’d just made
The world’s grandest sandcastle
And watched the tide
Rush in
Filling the moat
Gradually washing
It all away
3-Session Interview Package
£360
We specialise in preparing children for their interviews for 11+ and 13+ entry to secondary schools. This package includes three one-hour sessions delivered live and online by a trained Oppidan mentor with reports to follow each session.