Your child has spent months preparing for the entrance exam. Practice papers, verbal reasoning, mock tests. And then the letter arrives – they've been invited to interview.
For a lot of parents, this feels like a curveball. Suddenly exam prep isn't enough; now they need to be "interview-ready" too. What does that even mean for a 10-year-old?
Here's the thing: the interview is much less scary than it sounds. And if you understand what schools are actually looking for – and the kinds of questions they ask – you can help your child prepare without turning it into another high-stakes drill.
It's not another exam
Independent school interviews aren't a continuation of the entrance test. They're something different – and in a way, something more human.
A standardised test can tell you a lot about a child's reasoning and vocabulary. It can't tell you whether they're curious, whether they're kind, or whether they'll thrive in a school community. That's what the interview is for.
The interviewer – usually a senior member of staff, a deputy head or an admissions officer – will be looking for a few things that don't show up on a score sheet:
- Genuine interests, not rehearsed ones
- A willingness to engage and think out loud
- Good manners and basic social confidence
- Some sense of why they want to go to this school
None of that requires intensive coaching. It mostly requires an honest conversation between you and your child about who they are and what they care about.
What to expect on the day
Most independent school interviews last 15–30 minutes. Some schools interview everyone who applies; others only invite shortlisted candidates. Timing varies – typically November through to January for Year 7 entry.
Some schools include a short practical element. Your child might be asked to read an unseen passage and answer questions, or work through a mental maths problem. A few schools ask candidates to bring an object – anything personal or meaningful – and talk about it. Some use group activities or collaborative tasks to see how children work alongside others.
Format varies quite a bit between schools. If you haven't already, it's worth checking the admissions page for your child's target school to find out what to expect.
The whole day is the assessment
Worth knowing before you go: at many schools, the interview itself is just one part of a longer morning or afternoon. Children often spend time with other applicants – playing games, doing group activities, sometimes having lunch with current pupils.
These sessions aren't downtime between the formal parts. They're part of the assessment.
Schools use them to see things an interview can't show: how your child behaves when they think no one's watching, whether they include others or hang back, how they handle losing a game, whether they're kind. A child who is warm and natural with their peers – not performing, just being decent company – will be remembered.
The practical upshot: talk to your child about this beforehand. Not to coach them on how to act, but so they're not surprised. Knowing that the whole visit matters means they won't switch off between the "official" bits.
The questions – all of them
This is the section most parents are really looking for. Here's a full breakdown of the types of questions your child might face, with real examples.
"Tell me about yourself" questions
These come up in almost every interview and are often where children trip up – not because the questions are hard, but because they haven't thought about how to answer them honestly and thoroughly.
- What's your favourite subject, and why?
- What's your least favourite subject, and why?
- What do you enjoy doing outside of school?
- What are you reading at the moment?
- What's the last book you really loved?
- What would you say is your biggest strength?
- What's something you find difficult?
- What are you most proud of?
- What would you like to get better at?
- What do you want to do when you grow up?
A word on the weaknesses question: it terrifies children. They think admitting to any weakness will ruin their chances. In reality, schools are looking for self-awareness – which is a genuinely impressive quality in a 10-year-old.
The formula that works is: acknowledge it, then say what you're doing about it. "I sometimes find it hard to speak up in class, but I've been trying to put my hand up at least once every lesson and it's getting easier." That shows maturity.
The "what do you want to be when you grow up" question is similar. Schools don't expect a definitive answer – they're looking for whether your child has thought about the future and can talk about it. "I'm not completely sure yet, but I'm really interested in how things work, so maybe something in engineering" is a perfectly good answer.
Questions about the school
These catch children off guard if they haven't done any research. The interviewer wants to know your child is genuinely interested – not just going through the motions.
- Why do you want to come to this school?
- What do you think you'd contribute to the school community?
- Is there a club or activity here you'd like to get involved with?
- What do you think makes a good school?
- Do you have any questions for us?
That last one matters more than people realise. Children who ask a thoughtful question at the end – something they actually want to know, not a rehearsed one – come across as genuinely engaged. That's exactly what a school wants to see.
Current affairs and the wider world
Many schools, particularly selective ones, will expect your child to have some awareness of what's going on in the world. The questions aren't designed to catch them out – they're an excuse to have a real conversation.
- Is there anything in the news you've found interesting recently?
- What's a problem in the world you'd like to solve, and how might you start?
- If you could change one thing about the world, what would it be?
- Do you think social media is good or bad for young people?
There's no right answer here. What the interviewer is watching for is whether your child can form an opinion, give reasons for it, and engage in a discussion. "I read about X and I thought it was interesting because..." is a great structure to practise.
Opinion and debate questions
This is where things get more interesting – and more revealing. Schools want to see whether your child can hold a view, argue for it and engage with pushback. These questions deliberately invite disagreement.
- If you could drop one subject from the school curriculum, what would it be and why?
- Should school uniform be compulsory?
- Is it ever okay to break the rules?
- If you could add one subject to the curriculum, what would it be?
- Do you think it's more important to be good at one thing or reasonable at many things?
- If you could be headteacher for a day, what would you change?
- Do you think exams are a fair way to judge what children know?
It's worth thinking through questions like this – not to learn a possible answer word-for-word – but to see what level of detail is required.
Take the curriculum question. They might suggest that ICT should be dropped as a separate subject and folded into everything else, because computers are a tool, not a topic.
This is exactly the kind of response these questions are designed to produce. It's not about the "right" answer. It's about whether your child has thought about something properly and can explain their reasoning.
The trap to avoid is hedging. Children who say "well, it depends" and refuse to commit to a view come across as evasive rather than balanced. Encourage your child to take a position, then explain it. They can acknowledge the other side – "I know some people think..." – but they should have a view of their own.
Hypothetical and "what if" questions
These are designed to see how your child thinks on their feet. There's genuinely no right answer.
- If you could meet anyone from history, who would it be and what would you ask them?
- If you were stranded on a desert island with three things, what would you choose?
- If you could be any animal, what would you be?
- If you were given £1,000 to spend on the school, how would you use it?
- If you could invite any three people – alive or dead – to a dinner party, who would you choose?
- If you could live in any time period, when would you choose?
- What superpower would you want, and what would you do with it?
These questions look like icebreakers, but they're not. An interviewer asking "what animal would you be?" isn't interested in the animal – they're interested in how the child explains their reasoning. "A dolphin, because they're intelligent and playful and I love swimming" tells you something. "Um, probably a dog" tells you very little.
The puzzle questions
Some schools – particularly more academic ones – include a maths or logic puzzle in the interview. Not because they expect a 10-year-old to solve it, but because they want to see how your child approaches a problem they haven't seen before.
For example:
"If you set up bowling pins in a triangle – one pin in the first row, two in the second, three in the third, and so on – how many pins would there be in total if you had 100 rows?"
The answer is 5,050. But the answer isn't really the point.
The way to get there is to notice that 1 + 2 + 3 + ... + 100 is the same as pairing up numbers from opposite ends: 1 + 100 = 101, 2 + 99 = 101, and so on. There are 50 such pairs, so the total is 50 × 101 = 5,050. A child who spots that pattern – or even who starts working towards it methodically – is showing exactly what the school wants to see.
What interviewers are looking for in these moments:
- Does the child stay calm?
- Do they ask for clarification if they need it?
- Do they think out loud rather than going silent?
- Do they try something, even if they're not sure it'll work?
Solving the puzzle is a bonus. Working through it confidently is the actual task.
Other puzzle-type questions that have come up in interviews:
- How many windows are there in London? (estimation – the interviewer wants to see a logical approach, not a number)
- If you fold a piece of paper in half 10 times, how thick would it be?
- I have a three-litre jug and a five-litre jug – how do I measure exactly four litres?
- What's the next number in this sequence?
For all of these, teach your child the same habit: say what you're thinking. "Let me see... if I assume there are about 10 million people in London, and each house has about 20 windows..." is a brilliant start to the windows question, even if the final number is way off.
What the interviewer is actually watching
Beneath all these questions, there are really only a handful of things an interviewer is trying to understand.
Can they hold a conversation? Not just answer questions – actually engage, listen, respond naturally. This matters because it's what classroom learning looks like.
Are they curious? Do they find things interesting? Do they ask questions back? Do their eyes light up when they're talking about something they love?
Are they self-aware? Can they talk honestly about what they find difficult, what they're proud of, what they'd like to get better at?
Would they contribute to the school? Not just academically – as a person. Would they join things, get involved, be a pleasure to have around?
Are they genuine? Interviewers talk to hundreds of children. They can spot a rehearsed answer immediately. A child who gives an honest, slightly imperfect answer will almost always come across better than one who delivers a polished script.
How to actually prepare
The best preparation happens over weeks and months, not in the days before the interview.
Have real conversations at home. Ask your child what they think about things. Not "how was school?" but "what's the most interesting thing you learnt this week?" or "if you could change one thing about your school, what would it be?" Get them comfortable putting their thoughts into words.
Read together and discuss. Current affairs don't require hours of news-reading. A weekly habit of looking at a couple of stories – BBC Newsround is excellent for this age group, as is The Week Junior – and talking about them is enough. "What do you think about that?" is the only follow-up question you need.
Look at the school properly. Sit down with your child and go through the school's website together. Let them click on whatever interests them. What clubs do they have? What does the school seem to care about? If your child plays an instrument and the school has an orchestra, that's worth knowing before the interview.
Practise talking about their interests. Not performing about them – talking about them. If they love a particular book, ask them what they'd change about the ending. If they play a sport, ask them what's hard about it. Help them go deeper than the surface.
Do a couple of mock runs. Not dozens – a couple. Sit across from your child and ask some of the questions above. The goal isn't to rehearse answers; it's to make the format feel familiar. A child who has never been asked "what's your biggest weakness?" at home will find the question much harder to handle in a formal setting.
Don't over-coach. There's a meaningful difference between helping your child feel ready and drilling them until they sound like a brochure. Interviewers can tell. Trust that your child, given the chance to talk naturally about themselves, has plenty to say.
On the day itself
A few practical things that matter more than parents expect.
Arrive calm. Leave earlier than you think you need to. A rushed, stressed arrival is a difficult thing to recover from in 15 minutes.
Presentation matters. Smart, clean clothes – not necessarily formal, but deliberate. School uniform is fine if your child has one. Hair tidy, shoes not falling apart. First impressions happen fast.
The handshake. Genuinely worth practising. A firm, confident handshake with eye contact makes an immediate impression. So does a limp one, with eyes looking at the floor.
Remind them it's okay to pause. Children feel pressure to fill silence immediately. A few seconds of thinking before answering isn't awkward – it's sensible. "That's a good question, let me think..." is a perfectly fine thing to say.
It's okay not to know. If your child doesn't understand a question, they should say so and ask for it to be clarified. If they genuinely don't know the answer to something, they should say so rather than bluffing. Honesty comes across much better than a confident wrong answer.
A note on nerves
Most interviewers expect a 10-year-old to be nervous. They're not going to mark your child down for it.
What they will notice is whether your child engages or shuts down. The goal isn't a slick performance – it's showing up as themselves and giving an honest account of who they are.
And whatever happens, the interview itself is useful experience. Most children find it less terrifying than they expected. A good number come out saying they actually enjoyed it.
On the exam preparation side
If your child is still working through their entrance exam prep, that's where HeyKitsu can help. It covers the full 11+ and ISEB curriculum – English, Maths, Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal Reasoning – through short, adaptive sessions that adjust to where your child actually is. The first three levels in every collection are permanently free, no card required.
Written by
HeyKitsu Team