Private school primary interview

[djddmdm]

Thinking ahead for a job interview. Is the curriculum taught for that year group in private schools? Need to teach a year 5 lesson in maths. Should I prepare it related to the state year 5 curriculum or pitch higher towards y6? I don't know any class data.

I would prepare a lesson for the year 5 curriculum but with a step up and and step down activity included. Just because it’s private doesn’t necessarily mean everyone in the class is ahead. In my experience, due to smaller class sizes the teachers are really good at differentiation which is what I would focus on in your situation.

my year 5 dc had finished year 6 maths curriculum. So I would aim for year 6 level.

I’d ask this in the staffroom board rather than here so you get teachers’ responses rather than parents!

Is it the primary section of a school that goes all the way to 18, or is it not attached to a specific senior school?

If there is no senior school then year 5s need to be preparing for the 11+ style senior entrance exams so will be much further ahead than if the school is expecting all pupils to continue with them beyond y7.

Make sure your plans include some interesting and diverting fun extension activities for the maths whizzkids who will breeze through the main substance of the lesson in 5 minutes.

Check the website, they often publish a curriculum by year on there. Would assume general level is above NC but maybe start with that and have extension tasks available.

I would stick to the year 5 curriculum but make sure you offer extension activities and also be prepared to throw in a few more difficult questions during the whole class teaching if the class turns out to be much better than an equivalent state school class.
The school can't expect you to know what level the children are working at but will want to see that you differentiate and will be interested in how you teach.