School interviews

Posted: Mon, Oct 26 2009, 2:48 pm Post subject: School interviews

What kinds of questions are asked at school interviews (for entering 1st grade). I want to be totally prepared. If you've gone through school interviews (mostly in a yeshivish type school), what questions were you asked, and did they test your child?

Posted: Mon, Oct 26 2009, 11:47 pm Post subject: re: School interviews

Posted: Tue, Oct 27 2009, 3:17 am Post subject: re: School interviews

Where? In Israel, to enter first grade, the child may be asked to recognize letters, remember objects after viewing a picture with several, brachos, maybe her name telephone and address. Also, to name pictures using Hebrew words (bird, window, boy, bicycle). Counting, simple holiday questions. They want to see that your child definitely isn't retarded, basically. Because a lot of kids these days benefit from an extra year of kindergarten.

My friend freaked when her son was asked, "What does your father hold by havdala?" She didn't think her son knew if Tatty goes by the shita that allows beer, or that during the Nine Days a katan should drink the grape juice. The correct answer was 'a candle"! Laughing

The only thing I can thing of the parents being asked is how committed they are to halacha, if it's a situation of baalei teshuva applying to a frum school. Otherwise, why would parents be interviewed? (Other than the tuition committee.)
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Diamond Member Joined: Oct 29 2006 Posts: 4461

In Israel to enter 1st grade I know some schools interview, my dd was interviewed for her dd's gan!
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Posted: Tue, Oct 27 2009, 3:42 am Post subject: re: School interviews

There are schools that basically accept everyone, and schools where you have to "get in". In the latter case, they'd have heard about your family prior to meeting you, so any parent interviews will be a formality.

Moderator Joined: Dec 18 2008 Posts: 3653

count backward from 10 to 1.
Write your name. Write the numbers from 1-10.
"mah novel?" - what wilts? (I didn't know what "novel" meant once and neither did dd, but they took her anyway.) answer: a flower, a leaf...
Which item doesn't belong, in a grouping of 4 pictures.
Copy some geometric shapes. Draw a girl. Draw some other picture, I don't remember what.
My friend the psychologist says the test shows very, very little.
hatzlacha!

Gold Member Joined: Mar 30 2008 Posts: 1440

Platinum Member Joined: Jan 01 2006 Posts: 48223

For parents or kids? I never had anyone ask my kids anything until high school.

Posted: Tue, Oct 27 2009, 10:34 am Post subject: re: School interviews

At one school -- *Are you his parents?* *His natural parents?* *Both of you are his parents?* *So both of you are his parents* I was ready to confess to an affair just to get them to move on.

One school had kids draw a picture, following directions. The principal looked at my shy, quiet oldest son and said *I don't see the dog* DS1 looked at him like he was an idiot, pointed and said *its THERE* Was one of the only 15% of applicants admitted to school.

Another school gave kids toys to play with (to see how they handled them) and did a brief interview. *What's your best friend's name?* DS3 answers *Won Yong* VP says *What?* Yeah, you heard him, move on. He plays with Won Yong in the park every afternoon.

A friend's son (not yeshivish) was asked, at yet another school, what you do when Shabbat is over. Turn on the TV is apparently not the right answer.

You might get the idea that I think these interviews are ridiculous.

In any case, if you're applying for first grade, you need to know what the school expects kids to know. Some schools expect the child to be able to read when s/he enters first grade; others just expect the alphabet (and possibly aleph-bet). Virtually all expect the child to be able to write. Really, though, the child has a whole year to learn these things. They're probably really looking to make sure that you fit with the school's way of doing things (definitely dress to meet the school's standards) and that your child has some level of maturity.

Executive Member Joined: Jan 28 2009 Posts: 362

I can't tell you about the religious questions but here's a compilation of questions my daughter and my friends' kids were asked at a variety of schools in NY:

Show me how mommy makes breakfast.
Can you put the pieces in a row from biggest to littlest.
Can you draw this picture? (simple shapes, nothing elegant)
Tell me what you like to do when you play with your friends.
Do you have pets? Tell me about them.
They were asked several questions just designed to get the kid involved in a conversation.

Basically, they were trying to evaluate the level of physical (eye/hand coordination) and emotional/social maturity. They were often looking for signs of problems also--Asperger's/autism and major developmental problems.
Relax. Tell your child she'll be talking to someone who wants to know about her so they'll know how to make school as good as possible for her/

Gold Member Joined: May 04 2006 Posts: 1722

The schools I applied to, they usually watch kids play and ask to cut things out, shapes, letters, aleph bet, etc. The school that my son is now, he had to get an IQ test which was totally weird to me, but it was easy enough, they didnt ask anything else, just the IQ test.

Silver Member Joined: May 20 2009 Posts: 510 Location: CT

Just so you're aware, in my experience even the most verbal, intelligent child acts like the village idiot as soon as you get him in front of the principal who is interviewing him. Believe me, they mostly just want to see what you're like.