The 11+ Independent School Interview: Questions, Examples and Strategies

What the interview is really for

Many parents worry more about the interview than about the written papers, which is understandable: you can't see inside the room, and it feels personal. In practice, a school is using the interview to answer a fairly simple question. Will this child be happy here, and what will they bring to the community?

Having sat on the other side of the table as a headteacher for seven years, I can tell you that interviewers are rarely listening for the "right" answer. They are listening for curiosity and honesty, for a child who will have a go at something unfamiliar, and for whether they can hold a proper conversation with an adult they met two minutes earlier.

You can't cram for that, and I'd gently discourage anyone from trying. What a child can do is know roughly what to expect, get used to talking about the things they genuinely care about, and walk in feeling like themselves.

My guiding principle with every family is achievement without anxiety, and nowhere does it matter more than here. A calm child is simply better company in an interview room.

What the interview looks like

Formats vary a good deal, so read each school's admissions page and ring the registrar if anything is unclear.

The most common is a one-to-one with the head, a deputy or a head of year, usually lasting ten to twenty minutes. Some schools see two or three candidates together with a teacher, which tells them a lot about how children listen, take turns and build on each other's ideas. Others set a group activity, such as a problem to solve or a short practical challenge. Nobody wins these. The staff are watching for teamwork, kindness and how children cope when something doesn't work first time.

Many interviews also include a stimulus of some kind. Your child might be handed a short passage or poem and asked what they think it's about, shown a picture and asked to describe it to someone who can't see it, given an object or a puzzle, or asked a few mental maths questions. Again, it's the thinking that matters rather than getting everything right.

Overseas and distant applicants are often interviewed online. Everything below still applies, and there are a few practical points on cameras and lighting further down.

If a school asks your child to bring a book or an object to talk about, take it seriously. It is an easy opening topic handed to them on a plate.

Presentations: think mood board, not PowerPoint

Some private school interviews, New Hall among them, ask candidates to give a short presentation on something that interests them. I think this is the best opportunity in the whole process, because your child picks the topic and walks in as the resident expert.

My advice is always the same: think mood board, not PowerPoint. A large sheet of card with photographs, drawings, tickets and a few captions gives a child something to hold, point at and talk around. It keeps their eyes on the interviewer rather than on a screen, and it says much more about who they are than a set of slides ever could.

Choose something your child genuinely loves, whether that's horses, Lego engineering, baking, a football club or a grandparent's home country. Enthusiasm counts for much more than an impressive-sounding subject. A simple shape works well: what it is, why it matters to me, something surprising I've found out, and what I'd like to do next. Keep the words on the board to short labels, because full sentences tempt children to read aloud. Check the time limit and practise to it; running well over is a common slip.

Expect questions, too. The conversation afterwards is where the interviewer learns most, so practise answering "Why did you choose that?" and "What would you like to find out next?" And let your child make the board themselves. Help with materials by all means, but interviewers spot adult handiwork instantly, and a slightly wonky board a child is proud of is worth ten slick ones.

First impressions: presentation, eye contact and body language

Interviewers form a view in the first minute or so, and most of it has nothing to do with what is said. What follows is simply about clearing away small distractions so that your child's personality comes through.

Appearance

Smartest school uniform, every time: freshly washed and pressed, blazer on, tie straight, shirt tucked in, shoes polished. I have always believed that if children feel smart, they act smart. They sit taller and speak with more assurance. Interviewers notice the shoes as well, because it tells them the visit has been taken seriously. Hair should be tidy, with nothing on the wrists to fiddle with; under pressure, a hair bobble quickly becomes a fidget toy.

The greeting

Stand, smile and say hello. "Good morning, I'm Amelia" is plenty. If the interviewer offers a hand, a firm, brief handshake; practise it a few times at home so it doesn't feel strange on the day. If they give their name, use it. "Thank you, Mrs Patel" at the end is a small thing that interviewers remember. Then wait to be invited to sit, and sit right back in the chair with feet on the floor.

Eye contact

Eye contact shows confidence and interest, but tell a child it matters and they will often stare, which is uncomfortable for everyone. Natural is the aim. Look at the interviewer while they are speaking, and at the start and end of an answer. Glancing away while thinking is fine; adults do it all the time. In a panel, look at whoever asked the question, then take in the others as the answer goes on. If looking someone in the eye is hard, looking at the bridge of the nose reads exactly the same from the other side of the table.

For some children, including many who are autistic or very anxious, sustained eye contact is genuinely difficult. Good schools understand this. If that is your child, tell the school beforehand rather than drilling a behaviour that will only make them more anxious.

Posture and hands

Upright but relaxed, leaning very slightly forward. Slouching looks like boredom, and perching on the edge of the seat looks like nerves. Hands can rest loosely in the lap or on the table, and natural gestures while explaining something are a good sign of engagement. Crossed arms, hands in pockets and hair-twiddling are worth a gentle word at home, but not a lecture.

Voice

A good rule of thumb is to talk to the interviewer as you would to a friend's parent: a little more measured and polite than with friends, and no slang. Most children speed up when they are nervous, so encourage them to go a touch slower and louder than feels normal. Full sentences help enormously. "Yes, I love swimming because..." gives the interviewer something to work with; "Yes" doesn't.

It's worth nudging vocabulary past "nice" and "fun". Words like "fascinating", "tricky" or "exhausting but worth it" tell the interviewer a great deal more, though they should still sound like your child rather than a thesaurus.

Children also need to hear two things. Pausing is fine: a couple of seconds' thought feels endless to a ten-year-old and perfectly normal to the adult opposite. And asking is fine. "Sorry, could you explain what you mean by...?" is much better than answering a different question.

Online interviews

Set the camera at eye level, with light on your child's face from the front and a plain, tidy background behind. When making a key point, they should look at the camera rather than the screen, because that is what reads as eye contact at the other end. Test the sound and connection the day before and, unless the school says otherwise, parents should be out of the room.

Common questions, with example answers

Most questions fall into six broad areas. For each I have given some typical questions and an example of the kind of answer that works. Please don't treat these as scripts. What matters is the pattern behind them: an answer, a reason and an example.

The STAR technique

Questions that ask for an experience ("Tell me about a time when...") are where children most often either ramble or dry up after one sentence. The STAR technique, borrowed from adult job interviews, gives them a simple shape. Here it is with a typical question about a mistake:

• Situation: set the scene briefly. "In Year 5 we did a group project on the Romans."

• Task: what needed to happen. "We had to make a presentation together in two weeks."

• Action: what I did, saying "I" rather than "we". "I took over and didn't really listen to anyone else's ideas."

• Result: what happened, and what I learned. "The work was good but the others weren't happy. Next time I made sure everyone had a part, and it went much better."

  
  

STAR is for preparing stories at home, not something to recite in the room; a child who begins "The situation was..." sounds coached. The result is where the interest lies. Interviewers care much more about what a child learned than about the scene-setting, so keep the first two parts to a sentence each. For opinion questions such as "Why this school?" or "What's your favourite subject?", answer, reason and example is the simpler fit.

1. About you

• Tell me a bit about yourself.

• Tell me about your family. How do you like to spend time together?

• What do you enjoy doing outside school?

• Describe yourself in three words.

• What are you most proud of?

Asked what they enjoy outside school, plenty of children say "Football and gaming" and stop. Compare that with:

It is specific, it shows some thinking, and it hands the interviewer an obvious next question.

2. Why this school?

• Why would you like to come here?

• What did you notice when you visited?

• What would you bring to the school?

"Because it's a good school and my mum wants me to" is more common than you might think. A better answer draws on something the child actually saw:

Interviewers can tell straight away whether a child has a real memory of the school, so talk about the visit afterwards while it is fresh.

3. Learning and your current school

• What is your favourite subject, and why?

• Which subject do you find hardest?

• What do you do when you get stuck?

• Tell me about a piece of work you are proud of.

The question about the hardest subject is really about resilience. "Maths. I'm just bad at it" closes the door, whereas this opens it:

The best answers are honest about the difficulty and show what the child does about it.

4. Reading

• What are you reading at the moment?

• What is your favourite book, and why?

• Would you recommend it to a friend in your class?

Almost every school asks about reading, and "A book about a boy. It's good" won't take the conversation far. Something like this will:

Your child should be able to talk confidently about two books: one they are reading now and one they have loved. They must genuinely have read them, because a follow-up question exposes a borrowed answer immediately.

5. The wider world

• Have you seen anything in the news recently that interested you?

• If you could change one thing about the world, what would it be?

• If you were head of this school for a day, what would you do?

"Not really" is the usual reply to the news question. Compare:

Nobody expects a sophisticated view on world affairs. A child-sized opinion with a reason and a bit of balance is exactly right, and First News or The Week Junior are excellent for keeping up.

6. Character and values

• Tell me about a time you made a mistake.

• Tell me about a time you helped someone.

• What makes a good friend?

• How would your friends describe you?

The mistake question is where "I can't think of one" worries interviewers most. Everyone makes mistakes, and the school wants to see that your child can own one and learn from it; the STAR example above is a good model. On helping someone, "I help my mum with the washing up" is fine but forgettable. This stays with an interviewer:

Curveball and thinking questions

Many schools slip in one question with no right answer, just to watch a child think. These cause more worry than anything else, yet handled well they leave the strongest impression. You might hear:

• If you could have dinner with anyone, past or present, who would it be?

• Who would you put on a banknote, and why?

• Is it better to be kind or to be right?

• Is it ever right to break a rule?

• Should 11-year-olds be allowed to vote?

• Will computers replace teachers one day?

• Which would you rather be: a pencil or a pen?

• How many tennis balls would fit in this room?

• What would happen if everyone in the world told the truth for a day?

• Here is a stone (or a paperclip, or a photograph). Tell me about it.

What the interviewer wants is the thinking, said out loud, and I teach children a simple approach. First, buy a moment honestly: "That's a tricky one, let me think" is a perfectly good start. Then pick a side or a starting point, because sitting on the fence is fine for a sentence but not for a minute. Give a reason ("A pencil, because you can rub out your mistakes and try again") and briefly consider the other side ("although a pen is more permanent, so maybe it's better for things that matter").

With estimation questions like the tennis balls, the number itself doesn't matter at all. A child who says "I'd work out roughly how many fit along one wall, then multiply by the width and the height" has given an excellent answer, even if the final figure is wildly out.

If your child genuinely doesn't know something, honesty is the best policy. "I'm not sure, but I'd guess..." earns much more respect than bluffing.

The questions your child asks

Almost every interview ends with some version of "Is there anything you'd like to ask me?", and it matters more than many families realise. It is the last thing the interviewer hears. A child who says "No, thank you" ends a good conversation on a flat note, while a genuine question shows curiosity, shows they have thought about the school, and turns the final minute into a real exchange.

Your child should go in with one or two questions of their own. The best ones come from something they actually care about:

• "Can Year 7s join the orchestra, or is it mainly older pupils?"

• "I saw the robotics club on the website. What sort of things do they make?"

• "What do pupils here enjoy most about the school?"

• "What's lunchtime like? Are there clubs then?"

• "What do you like most about working here?"

  
  

A few are best avoided. Anything the website answers in its first paragraph suggests no homework has been done. Questions that are really a parent's, about exam results, fees or scholarships, belong in your conversation with the school, not your child's. And a question asked only to sound clever rarely lands; interviewers can tell.

It's worth having a spare, because the best question is sometimes answered during the interview. If that happens, your child can say so: "I was going to ask about the chess club, but you've already told me about it." That simply shows they were listening. Then they should listen properly to the answer and, if it sparks something, follow it up. That is the moment an interview stops feeling like an interview.

How to prepare without over-rehearsing

The biggest mistake I see is a child who has learned answers by heart. I remember working with a girl who knew all the right things to say, but she had over-prepared, and when she forgot the words she panicked. None of it was natural, and that is the trouble with scripts. The interview isn't a performance; it is the school's chance to get to know the whole child. Interviewers hear the same polished phrases every January and will gently push past them with a follow-up question, at which point a rehearsed child has nowhere to go. Good preparation gives a child things to talk about and the confidence to talk about them.

Start by helping your child jot down five or six real experiences: something they are proud of, a mistake they learned from, a time they helped someone, a challenge they overcame, a hobby they love. Almost any question can be answered from one of these, and shaping each with STAR means it is ready to tell in four or five sentences.

Then practise the habit rather than the answers. Everyday questions at the dinner table or in the car ("What was the best bit of today, and why?") build the instinct for a full answer much better than a weekly mock interview. Turn the tables sometimes, too. Let your child ask you the questions and listen to your answers. It takes the pressure off, shows them that adults pause and think, and gives them a model of a full, honest reply.

Keep a book on the go and talk about it, and add a weekly news digest so there is something to discuss beyond school. One or two practice interviews with someone less familiar, such as a family friend, a grandparent or a tutor, are worth doing, because the real thing is with a stranger. Two is plenty; by ten it has become a performance.

Research each school together. Sit down and browse the website, looking for what makes it different from the others on your list: its ethos, a specialism, its grounds, its traditions. Explore the extra-curricular pages and pick out two or three clubs, sports or trips your child would genuinely like to try. Talk about what they remember from the open day and let them decide what appeals, as their reasons will be more convincing than yours. If you know a current or former pupil, a short chat with them often tells a child more than any prospectus.

Have a question ready, because most interviews end with "Is there anything you'd like to ask me?" Something genuine, such as "What do pupils here enjoy most?" or "Can Year 7s join the orchestra?", ends things warmly.

Finally, talk about nerves. Tell your child the interviewer expects them to be a little nervous and wants them to do well. Most heads go out of their way to put children at ease, and knowing that takes a surprising amount of pressure off.

On the day: a note for parents

Children take their cue from us, and a calm, ordinary morning does more good than any last-minute coaching. It starts the night before: screens off at least an hour before bed, phones and tablets out of the bedroom, and a normal bedtime with a familiar book. A good night's sleep is worth more than an extra hour's revision.

Leave plenty of time for the journey, as arriving flustered undoes a lot of good preparation. Make sure there is breakfast and a bottle of water, since interviews often follow a morning of exams. On the way in, talk about anything other than the interview, and resist the temptation to fire practice questions at them outside the gates. Say goodbye briefly and warmly; "Enjoy meeting them, I'll see you afterwards" is perfect.

Afterwards, ask what they enjoyed rather than how they did. Children are poor judges of their own interviews, and a post-mortem only plants worry ahead of the next school.

It's worth remembering that the interview works in both directions, and your child is weighing up the school as well. If they come out talking about the head's dog or the art room, that matters. The right school is the one where your child can be themselves, and a good interview gives them the chance to show exactly that.

I support families through every stage of independent school entry, including interview preparation that builds real confidence rather than rehearsed answers. If you'd like to talk about your child's next step, get in touch.

David Bell M.Ed. (Distinction), FCCT, FCMI

Founder and Director, David Bell Education