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

[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.

No one pilloried you.

I think you are taking the wrong stance with this. I might be naive about London schools but I would be viewing this as my chance to grill schools as to whether they were the most suitable for my child, not concerned with whether my questions were shiney enough to impress them. What do you want for your child's education? How well does the school measure up against those benchmarks?

I think if you are just yourself, then if you get in, it will the right thing, and if not, then it wasn't going to work for you anyway. Do you want your dd to go somewhere where you had to pretend to be something you aren't to get in? It would get pretty wearing after a while...

In your situation, I would be asking about pastoral care and balancing the whole child because I'm guessing that the prospectus and the results of the school speak for the academic side. I would consider it like a job interview in that the interview is both ways - you need to know that the school is right for your child, as well as the school considering whether your child will fit.