St Paul's 13+ interviews

[Chocolateteacake]

Had anyone got a date yet?

My godson is waiting for a day/time and his mum is getting worried clashes with any potential acceptances from other schools that do the pre-testing doo-dah.

Last year, which may not be the same as this year, interviews spread from January to October so she probably needs to calm down! If there is a clash of interview date they will just offer an alternative. For 13+ there shouldn't be a need to rush any decisions.

The boy has sat for a couple of other schools and they have said that they will let them know by early March. Not ideal if you have to make a decision!

Aha I understand. The way the boys' schools work is that generally they are co-ordinated on their timetables so they all ask for a final decision - which means a large cheque - at the same time. This is Sept in year 8 for us I think. But on the way to that date most people preserve options at several schools which necessitates a number of smaller deposit cheques. So your friends perhaps need to accept that they are very unlikely to have all the information they need in March and may have to preserve a safety net whilst they wait for SPS if that's their first choice. HTH.

So they may end up paying for their backup school a deposit whilst waiting for an interview date?

And even if they get an offer now, it's only provisional anyway as they need to pass the common entrance? I'm assuming these are set by the schools individually (like it was in my day).

No wonder they're stressed!

They may be asked to pay a deposit elsewhere very soon, but if the other school is a member of HMC it is fully refundable up until the end of December this year.

Bless them, there's much more stress to come! And this issue isn't one worth fretting over as most people by definition won't get their SPS interviews before deadlines for other schools. It's a moving feast for the next year as people all have interviews at different schools at different times so some people are sorted quite quickly and some are still without places at the end of the year.

Realistically, if they receive offers now then they should be delighted and not stressed, as this is a good quality problem to have. Much better problem than if they don't receive offers...that's what they should actually be fretting about! But don't say that to them!!

DS didn't apply for St Paul's but has several friends with interviews next week. Rumour has it that the strongest candidates are given early dates, and this certainly seems to be the case with his year/cohort, but we also know someone who had an interview in June last year and was offered a place so who knows?

Maybe its in batches by school like Westminster?

Err no. School says completely random. Data says otherwise - state school boys first, then cleverest boys in the year in order.

Maybe it's all changed with the pre-test , but my DS now at SPS was the last in his year to be interviewed . The last 4 interviewees were all done in 2 days all got places . Some earlier pupils were waitlisted . I thought that up till May/June everyone had an equal chance with declining odds thereafter ? . my deposit was by another school .

...was refunded !

Alba my sense when DS1 did it was he was called for interview in age order and as a youngster went quite late in the year. I think the pre-test was done differently as fellow mothers across several prep schools all told me the super-brightest boys were called first (mine not one of these!). The early boys all got offers, the later boys were less likely to. A difficult situation for the school however they organise it.

Oddly enough, the brightest boy at the godsons school didn't get an interview at Westminster - and this kid is seriously very very super brainy. Westminster did interview in batches by school.

If there is a dob issue then the godson is the youngest in his year (late summer baby).

Should have been clear - ds1 went in t'old days and ds2 did the first year or the pre-test so very different experience.

Tea cake - fascinating re Westminster - certainly they gave far fewer interviews to our school than SPS did and amazingly fewer offers.

Godsons school did well at Westminster - the 'usual suspects'. Not sure about STP tough. Cls not too well represented there either.

I'm curious about the criteria as the pretest was for Westminster and stp among others. Maybe the heads reference plays a part?

They are thinking about Dulwich for godson as another option. They live centrally so can go any direction I suppose. I'm not sure about any schools northerly though.

Sooooo.... Any tips for the interview then (if it ever arrives??), pretty please (bats eyelids and offers home made sloe gin and macaroons...).

Yummy macaroons thanks!

I posted about it on last year's threads - completely unpreparable for because it's based around the form the boy fills in about what he likes and is interested in. So beyond making sure they know the names of the last few books they read and have practised talking about themselves all they can do is turn up! Ds's interview was incredibly wide ranging and deep - he ended up discussing the principles of electro magnetism which I didn't think he knew anything about, amongst many other topics.

They are also given a short maths paper and English question when they arrive and clearly Sps have loads of these prepared as I never came across anyone who got given the same one as anyone else. They form part of the interview as they discuss their answers and are pushed to justify it, correct it etc. A stretching but fun experience!

Do make sure that they think carefully about that form!

He's likely to be asked about its contents in considerable depth, so don't put down that he's reading A Brief History of Time if he's just skimmed through it one afternoon in the library!

One of the questions was about which subject they like least - DS put down Geography, which lead to some pretty quick work when he was interviewed by ... a Geography specialist!

For what it's worth, DS's interview 2 years ago covered the personality flaws of Charles 1 and Oliver Cromwell, the state of the England cricket team including a digression on the pressures and loneliness of leadership and why Geography wasn't as bad as he had always maintained.

Now all he needs to do is pass his CE in June!

He says he hasn't filled in a form... I suppose it comes with the interview letter.

Goodness kings, that sounds very highbrow for a ten year old!

11 and a half by the time he had his interview.

And to be honest, DS is considered an academic lightweight by the other SPS candidates at his school. I hate to think what he would have said if asked about electro magnetism like Working's DS...!

I was shocked when they told me in their feedback session that was what they had been discussing and thought - well there's no hope he could engage on that! But it turns out he had done something about it in science at school and also I think the interviewers lead them well through the discussion. I don't think they expect boys to know all abut those topics - what they are looking for rather is boys like Kingscote's who will enjoy and contribute to a wide ranging discussion. Those topics sound daunting for a good dinner party though!

Oh and our strategy about the form was to completely forget about it. DS filled it in 3 minutes outside the interview room - guess that meant it was very genuine as I remember he wrote something very personal I would ever have let him write if we had had time to consider it.

*never

Lord, this sounds very daunting. So are the successful boys the, erm 'intense' types? Godson is very bouncy, jokey and not all that serious.

Paulines are all types of boy but I would say err on the side of the down to earth and bouncy. I just made them sound like Kanga! But it is true. Sport is so important so many are very sporty, but there also musical, theatrical, debating, science, maths-obsessed boys. I don't think you can generalise except to say easier for an outgoing boy to show his mettle.