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Secondary education

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

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Original poster

Group Interview Sevenoaks School

64 replies

BrassyLocks · 23/12/2022 20:14

DC has an 11+ group interview early January at Sevenoaks. Does anyone have experience of this? I'd like to get an idea of the format and types of topics they ask about. Maybe I'm BU asking this close to Christmas but it's all that's on my mind 😩

OP posts:

DilettanteMum · 26/12/2022 11:29

Bumping for you so it gets seen

IndeCandidate · 26/12/2022 18:03

I am also interested.
Any idea how to prepare for vr ?
I searched a lot but cannot find their past papers or any hints in timings of number of questions

Original poster

BrassyLocks · 26/12/2022 19:18

I think the VR will be like any other, e.g. Bond Books, CEM. Can't be more than 30 questions surely...

OP posts:

Oher · 26/12/2022 19:21

I want to know too! There seems to be surprisingly little online about it.

Oher · 26/12/2022 19:25

I did hear that the Sevenoaks VR is quite similar to the style of these
athey-educational.co.uk//athey-educational-store.html

IndeCandidate · 26/12/2022 19:31

I don’t have this book but any idea how many question in an hour?

Original poster

BrassyLocks · 27/12/2022 09:04

And how do 3 one hour tests plus interview take the whole day? I'm going to be wandering the streets like a waif😄

OP posts:

IndeCandidate · 27/12/2022 11:19

I thinks it’s too much for kids n school May be trying to save an effort for calling them in a different day for interviews but a really long day n no idea how to prepare kids on interview

damsone · 27/12/2022 22:54

We've done Sevenoaks entrance (successfully) twice. Sorry, not going to say anything about topics because I don't think it's right, but I really wouldn't worry about the group interview. Both DC described it as a bit of an activity and a bit of a chat with a couple of nice teachers. As for the VR - as a PP said, it sounded a bit like any other VR. Some question types were familiar, some weren't. I think the whole point of reasoning papers is they're meant to test ability, not practice. As for why the day takes so long, both of mine had a fair bit to say about lunch....

IndeCandidate · 28/12/2022 04:46

@damsone thank you for responding
agree to your point about not worrying too much on group interview part. Even school email says nothing to prepare.

I m aware that parents who have tutors / locals / friends who have done in previous years are at advantage . They know n have very targeted approach . Kids have been prepared mentally .

that’s where IMO such group are helpful to people with limited means to get some ideas n might help us to explain kids on what day could be like.

if others whose kids are appearing this years have not asked it’s just because 99% they know !

so if you share in public forum your prev year experience then it will help many n actually make it fairer for our kids .

but I totally respect your opinion.

Emanresu9 · 28/12/2022 05:23

@damsone yes I agree with @IndeCandidate

id say everyone who hasn’t asked already has been tutored and knows!

damsone · 28/12/2022 17:50

If it's reassuring, we didn't tutor at all - just worked through the past Maths and English papers from the website and did some general VR 11+ practice stuff from Bond etc.

IndeCandidate · 28/12/2022 21:59

Not really ! Post isn’t about reassurance. That we could judge from school email itself and rest fully assured by parents who say their kids just walked into exam!

No prob if you can’t share , totally understandable.

I am trying to school parents of senior years who can advise. I am sure someone will be kind enough to give pointers . If any pointers I will surely paste here

KindergartenKop · 28/12/2022 22:15

At a group interview they will probably set them a challenge to complete as a group. I would brief your child to get involved in the activity but, if they are inclined to dominate, to ask others what they think about the solution.

Basically they want to see that kids can problem solve and work as a team with others.

IndeCandidate · 29/12/2022 00:02

Thank you
that’s super helpful .

damsone · 29/12/2022 18:24

I do think tutors like to exaggerate the extent to which they're 'in the know' (it's in their interests!). In this case, the english and maths papers are all on the website for anyone to access, and presumably tutors aren't going to know which questions are going to come up in the VR test (and there are loads of practice materials out there, available to anyone). If they do have an insight into the number of questions etc, I'm not sure that's really terribly useful (and my kids certainly never remember stuff like that 5 minutes later, so I doubt tutors have got terribly accurate information!). I can see that tutors could have a role in actually teaching children or helping them to work through past papers if parents aren't able to, but I doubt they've got much in the way of secret knowledge.

Same with interview practice. I'm involved in interviewing applicants in the workplace, and it's so obvious when people have planned little speeches or gone onto 'how to answer an interview question' websites, compared with actually behaving naturally and thinking on their feet. I imagine schools are pretty good at spotting over-prepped candidates a mile off.

Original poster

BrassyLocks · 29/12/2022 21:57

Though my initial question was about the interview, right now I'm more anxious about the actual test and DC's nerves on the day, not to mention getting there with rail strikes 😧 I'm secretly hoping they'll postpone it 😂

For VR, we've been completing age 10-11 tests. Do you think it's enough or should DC really have been on 11-12 tests by now?

I also wonder what the pass mark will be. I was reading on another Sevenoaks thread that quite a few people who accept a place don't go on to take it once the grammar school offers some out, so that could be a good thing...I think?

OP posts:

sailingsunshine · 29/12/2022 22:24

@BrassyLocks , is your dc sitting other private school exams as this will help you gauge the level they should be working at? As you know Sevenoaks is 1 of the top 10 schools in the U.K. and with only the option of IB at sixth form they are going to offer to high performing all rounders. I know dc at the school and the level of VR they were practising at this stage would make no difference to their outcome especially as most of the work was done during the previous summer in preparation for the grammar school entrance exams.
Enjoy the rest of the holiday and keep the nerves at bay.

IndeCandidate · 29/12/2022 22:27

My son is at the moment really struggling with timings on eng paper . He is fine with maths .

vr we have done 10-11 books n he did clear iseb for Westminster so I m
hoping this level should be fine

I wonder too about passing marks on English especially as it’s giving me nightmares .

I am with you n hope exams dates shift by 3-4 weeks lol 😂

damsone · 29/12/2022 22:29

No idea really, I'm afraid, but I'd have thought it was more helpful to try some different question types than the exact level of difficulty. Reasoning tests are meant to be a lot about natural ability anyway. Back when we were doing VR and non-VR practice for 11+, I never found that either DC's scores improved all that much with practice, which kind of backs that up - I mean, they did a little bit to start with, but they plateaued pretty quickly.

It's definitely true that quite a few people take grammar places instead - I remember the school being very open about that on the exam day, and I've met quite a few who got in from wait list.

What a pita about the train strikes, I imagine that's stressful. Doubt they'll postpone though, sorry - term starts before the train strikes finish, and I can't imagine it would be easy to run entrance exams for hundreds of kids on a normal school day.

I hope you manage to get there OK and your DC isn't too stressed about it. It was a while ago now, but I remember being really anxious about how DC1 would manage, as she's not very confident, but actually it was honestly fine, even though she found one of the papers quite hard. She was definitely knackered by the end of the day, but quite cheerful. It was the last entrance exam we did, so it was a nice feeling to finish!

Original poster

BrassyLocks · 30/12/2022 11:02

IndeCandidate · 26/12/2022 19:31

I don’t have this book but any idea how many question in an hour?

I don't know, but the Athey tests I've seen allow 13 minutes to complete 25 questions. My DC is opposite to yours - stronger in English than in Maths.

@sailingsunshine yes, we have applied to other schools but I feel Sevenoaks would be a good fit because DC is an all-rounder in the sense that they don't have one particular strength that stands out, and are still willing and eager to try new things. Of course, all that could change by A Level/IB.

@damsone thanks for your reassurances. I'm trying not to let my anxiety show to DC, whom I know will be really nervous anyway.

OP posts:

IndeCandidate · 30/12/2022 11:36

@BrassyLocks thank you . For English he is not able to write quickly enough . if he was allowed to type he will be fine. I m only trying to make him write faster on paper now.

vr 13 in 25min sounds about right n inline with grammar school exams

HandyGirl76 · 02/01/2023 08:47

My daughter did the year 9 group interview a few years which I think is similar. They were asked to introduce someone else in the group (after a brief chat) and then were watched by a teacher as they debated a subject as a group. For them it something about what equipment they would keep on a boat that was sinking if they could only keep a limited number of things. The teacher facilitated the discussion so that they all had a chance to contribute. I'm told it's not about what answers they give but how they respond to the discussion and whether they demonstrate the behaviour and interest that teachers would want to see in a classroom.

I really don't think we could have prepared for it.

Original poster

BrassyLocks · 02/01/2023 13:46

@HandyGirl76 thank you.

All the best for you DS @IndeCandidate!

OP posts:

IndeCandidate · 04/01/2023 16:31

@BrassyLocks

hope your DC paper went well .

my dc surprised me n he managed to finish English paper .

Group interview I totally forget to prepare for among all the panic for English timing .

Glad it’s over. wish you all the luck .

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