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Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

Original poster

KCS (Kings College Wimbledon) 11+ 2020

111 replies

Sosickoflovesongs · 16/01/2020 10:46

Hi everyone
Firstly good luck to everyone who is going through the 11+ process like us!
DS did the exam for KCS last Saturday. Has anyone an idea, or past experience of how long it takes to hear about interviews? Also wondered if they email or send a letter?
Anxious times, all this waiting!! Hmm

OP posts:
songeur · 21/01/2020 14:15

Good luck to everyone. Just received ours for the 20 min interview. Any idea what kind of questions they will ask? Do you suggest any preparation? Many thanks

Westbournemum · 21/01/2020 14:22

We received an interview invite for 13+.

Does anyone have any advice on what to expect? 20 minutes seems short.

Westbournemum · 21/01/2020 14:23

Was trying to add, wishing your DS all the very best through this process.

Notmynom · 21/01/2020 14:42

My DS sat 13+ last year. He had to choose one of two photos to talk about (think they were science topics) and then read through a short non-fiction piece and answer questions on it. Then they had a general chat about his interests. Interviewer was apparently very friendly and he quite enjoyed it.

Best of luck to your boys.

Westbournemum · 21/01/2020 15:16

Thank you so much Notmynom 🙏, helpful to know.

I guess you can actually cover a lot of ground in 20 mins!

songeur · 21/01/2020 16:34

@Notmymum many thanks for sharing your experience. We have the 20 min interview for 11+. Do you know if the interview format will be similar to 13+?

MummyLovesHeels2 · 21/01/2020 17:10

Hi All
We just received an invitation for 20min interview for 11+. From the thread I inferred that there may be another type of interview... can someone please shed some light on what other type of interview there is? Many Thanks. X

Westbournemum · 21/01/2020 19:55

@MummyLovesHeels2

Do you mean for the 2 different entry points; 11+ and 13+?

In which case, I think it is a 20 minute callback interview for both. However, I don’t know how much the content varies between the 2; perhaps others are able to shed some light?

Notmynom · 21/01/2020 20:28

I'm not sure about 11+. For 13 theyused to do 2 x 10 min interviews with different teachers but switched to one 20 minute last year - gave me a bit of a panic at the time.
I would imagine 11+ and 13+ interviews are very similar - I think the exams were the same.

R272727 · 21/01/2020 21:28

Interview here too. Do you know how many applied and how many are
Called for interview??

MummyLovesHeels2 · 21/01/2020 22:11

Thank you all..
Notmynom... that would explain what I've read. Thank you so much... all possible computations were going though my mind of the "other type" ... bless you all for putting this mum at ease. Xx

Sunshine6363 · 22/01/2020 08:39

Hi there,
My son had an 11+ interview at KCS last year (and was offered a place). The interview was similar to the 13+. They had a choice of two pictures (something news/science related) and had to discuss their thoughts on the picture they chose. They also had to read out a piece of text and answer questions on it. Lastly, they had a discussion about themselves and their interests. My son thought they were very friendly and it wasn’t too difficult. Hope this helps!

Notmynom · 22/01/2020 09:37

Did your son accept the offer Sunshine6363? If so would you mind if I DM you a couple of questions - my DS has 13+ offer to start 2021.

mummy291268 · 22/01/2020 11:53

Hi
my DS also has been called for interview on Friday. Has anyone worked out yet if there is any specific rationale to the order of interviews? And how many offers they are likely to put forward for the 30 places (considering SPS, Westminster etc...) ?

user45365 · 22/01/2020 16:21

@Notmynom and @Sunshine6363 - would you know how many more offers they make over the number of places there are for 11+ / 13+?

user45365 · 22/01/2020 16:25

@mummy291268 - I understand from another thread that SPS will not make more offers than there are places. So I think for SPS, any unaccepted places get offered to those on the reserve list who takes another short test in year 8.

Westbournemum · 23/01/2020 14:29

Hi All,

Does anyone know if there is any order to when they are called back for interviews or is it random? DS seems to have his around the same time as others from his school, but I'm confused by the order as it doesn't see to be alphabetical.

Has anyone's DS been to the KCS interview for 11+ or 13+ this afternoon? How did they find it?

Sunshine6363 · 23/01/2020 16:40

The boys from my son’s school were all interviewed on the same day too. This means no one had an unfair advantage of finding out (from the ones interviewed first) what was in the interview and then having several extra days to prepare for it.

Charm1619 · 24/01/2020 12:03

Is there someone for Saturday 10+ deferred interview?

SW153kids · 24/01/2020 13:39

Does anyone know the significance of an 11+ 20 minute interview rather than two 10 minute interviews? We have one sort and friend’s DS has the other!

ripple11 · 24/01/2020 18:28

@SW153kids not sure about Kings, but I understand KGS (tomorrrow!) use two interviews if they want to expore a potential weakness in either Maths or English.....otherwise its just one general interview.

user45365 · 25/01/2020 04:10

DS had his interview at KCS yesterday. There were the choice of two pictures, a reading exercise and a philosophical question. It sounds daunting to me but DS was made to feel really comfortable... and at the end of the interview, he was assured that he did very well.

MummyLovesHeels2 · 25/01/2020 20:22

DS had KCS 11+ interview today, he said it was very relaxed and informal.

MummyLovesHeels2 · 27/01/2020 19:27

Interviews are still in progress for this week at least. So can I just remind All not to discuss any details to avoid any unfair advantages. Xx

ripple11 · 27/01/2020 21:03

KCS interviews were scheduled to finish today .....do we know of more? DS was one of the last out this evening....said it was very friendly and relaxed.