interviews at Thomas' Post Reply

[coldatchristmas]

Is it true that children are interviewed for the Thomas primary school?

what do they ask them? I love my Dd but I can't see her interviewing well.

[tamara]

yes but its not really an interview

we went and found it fine. DS was taken off and asked to draw pictures and desribe them - its more of a play group session where they watch them closely as opposed to a interview.

we got in but decided to go somewhere else - it felt a bit too grown up for our (rather young) four year old

[susanh]

when mine was interveiwed they took them off and read them a story and then asked them questions about it. They also asked them to tell a story (according to my son). He also drew a picture of a spider. He thinks the picture of the spider clinched it!

[Seb]

interview? interview?

at 3 years old? are you having a laugh?

what do they do for senior school? a selection weekend?

that is just wrong!

[coldatchristmas]

Hi
Ok we are now in to thomas' but i am really worried as i keep hearing stories about how confident every child there is and i am worried my daughter will not fit in! Is every child a mini over achiever?
I am probably worrying too much!

[Susan Cater-Allen]

my son is at Thomas and he loves it, it is a fab school and anyone that gets there child in is very lucky.

[coldatchristmas]

sorry - I didn't mean to say that children don't like it. I just wonder if you have to be particulary confident to fit it?

[SusieL]

Know this is a very old post but I was wondering if anyone had any clues about what this involves. I also would love to know if anyone took their child for the assessment, didn't get in and regretted going! My little boy is down for assessment in September (?) for 2013 entry and I know his chances of getting in are very slim but not sure what to do as I think it is a very good school. We do have other (non selective) options so just not sure. Part of me thinks we have nothing to lose by going along but other part of me doesn't want to brand him any type of "failure" at three! Not that he would know anything about it of course! Any advice gratefully received!
Also i cant believe that if they see 200 kids for 30 places (minus the approx 50 sibling places) that only 30 are suitable- so what else goes into the decision making process? Distance/ parents/ bribery! (joke before i get skinned!)
Thanks

[tooposhtopush]

They want to make sure they're getting the right type of child.

Someone elsewhere on the forum reckoned that if you were to assign tv programmes to schools then Thomas' is the Apprentice and Broomwood is Downton Abbey. It's sort of true in that they want confident assertive kids who will thrive in what is a large busy school. I think its important to remember that because it's not about pass or fail, really it's not, it's about "fit" and that's not something which is a child being better or worse, it's about their personality.

[juliantenniscoach]

"They want to make sure they're getting the right type of child."

Because that's really going to be clear at 3yrs old

[SusieL]

I have sort of resolved myself with the process, for exactly that reason- right child, right school (or as close as you can get at 3!?!?!). But that's part of the reason I'd like to know a little more about the actual assessment as my son is rather shy so probably wouldn't shine if all theyre looking for is confidence. However he does warm up and actually can be pretty forthright and interested when he feels more comfortable. I also know that it's more about me being disturbed by the process than him. So I'm not sure I want to put myself through the stress if he's unlikely to be "right for the school".

But it also brings me back to my second question. Surely there are more than 30 out of the 200 that are confident and are what they are looking for (they are 3 after all) so what else goes into the decision? Time registered, parents etc etc? Or are they really sooooo selective that the top 30 or so just shine? (I know they issue first offers and then a waiting list, with the rest outright no thank yous).

Sorry I know I sound a little anxious but this is HARD!

[Mistletoe]

It was my comment about the tv programmes, glad you liked it!

Seriously, I think you can tell some stuff at that age. For example if they ask 30 kids to walk through to another room and leave their mums then if 10 kids don't want to leave their parents then that shows that those kids might be less happy in a large busy school. It's not wrong, just different.

They are very confident, personally I fiend them a bit ott but we live where. Live and that's the downside of living in a area full of over achieving city types!

[Happymama]

I think there was quite a heated debate on this about a year ago when I was going through the whole school decision !

Personally I think its great marketing! If you get "selected" you believe that your have made it into an "elite" school. Whilst I really do not dispute that this is an incredibly good school with amazing facilities I really don't think it produces better results than the other local schools (private and State!) Interestingly when we were deciding whether to take the place we had I could not find any details of their academic results. Most other schools in the areas have these on their websites - this could have changed now !

I personally just disagree with Assessments at that age. Kids at 3 can easily have an off day. Also I have been told that the last 3 years all sibilings have been accepted - this clearly makes the whole selection process a bit of a farce. If they are going to accept sibilings automatically why assess other children.

Basically after the assessment there are 3 outcomes - you get a place, you get on the waiting list or you get told that Thomas's is not the right school for your child.

We got a place but didn't take it up and I really regretted putting my 3 year old through it - seriously the have so many exams, interviews, assessments to go through in their life and starting at 3 just feels SO wrong!!!

Last poing - when you are forking out over £4,000 surely they should be able to teach all types of children ?

Having said that - great school and great facilities and I have lots of happy friends there.

[supergirl]

Newton Prep which is in almost every way Comparable to Thomas', has stopped assessing children. The registrar said "we realised that we were putting both children and parents under too much stressed. What we do now is inviting the parents that wish to have a place so they can see the school, talk to the Head, etc."
I think this is such a better approach.
I did not wish to have my children at Thomas because this elitist kind of way repulses us.

[ready2pop]

I think whether the assesment process is stressful for the child entirely depends on how you approach it as a parent.

Our son had quite a lot of assessments (pushy mama moi?) but thought the whole thing was great fun.

We told him that we were working out where he should go to school next so he was going to visit schools to decide which he liked best. This took the pressure off him and also made him feel involved in the process. He enjoyed looking around the schools which I think then made him do better as he felt happy and confident rather than under pressure to perform.

All the schools we went to were careful to make the interviews fun - they are used to 3 year olds and are good at finding out about them in an unobtrusive way.

So I think that as long as you are pragmatic about the process, you shouldn't have much to lose by going through the process, regardless of whether your child eventually gets a place or not.