Some schools use interviews as part of their selection process at Eleven Plus. Although this may sound intimidating to a child of ten or eleven, it is really little more than an opportunity for the school to gauge a child’s confidence, social skills and interest in joining the school. Many schools using interviews ask that the student brings something with them to talk about, typically a favourite piece of work from Year 6 or some other personal item, and then base the interview around this. Other schools will interview students in large groups of eight or ten, by asking them to take part in a group activity of some sort. This allows the school to gauge the children’s social skills and ability to work with a group.

Simple matters like shaking hands, making eye contact whilst doing so and not sitting until being invited to do so will go a long way. Beyond this, the child is likely to be asked why they want to join the school, to which a respectable answer would be an awareness of the school’s history, approach and achievements.

Conversation will probably involve a student’s favourite subjects at school and extra-curricular interests, at which point it will definitely help to heavily push achievements in sport and music.