Does anyone know the questions asked to preschoolers when they go for a school interview ?

Question

any website that shows how a mother can prepare her child for a school interview , instead of sending the child for interview classes ...

Answer 1

Our school only does interviews with children enrolling in the Pre-kindergarten class. It is a five day class that helps children who miss the cutoff date for public kindergarten. It helps the teachers to know what they need to prepare the child for kindergarten and yet challenge them. There is nothing to prepare for. You might be considering some very prestigious schools that are very academic. My belief is that children need social activities, self sufficiency and a feeling of wanting to be at school. That school is fun and learning is fun.

Answer 2

We don't have a school interview at our preschool - just a lot of paperwork for the parents to fill out!  Perhaps he would be asked to identify his name, they will check on separation from mom and dad, count to 5 or possibly 10 - see, these are the things we learn in preschool and I can't possibly see the reasons for interviewing. Unless they are looking for possible delays which would be beyond your control.  Don't worry - just take him and see what happens.

Answer 3

I suspect they'll mostly interview the parents.  Of the kid they just want to understand if s/he has special ed needs, can talk, make eye contact, is potty-trained (you'd be surprised!), can get along with kids, can follow instructions, etc.  Not that they're expected to be fully civilized at that age -- that's why they exist after all.

Answer 4

I can't imagine it being much different than how one school used to do it, so don't worry too much. :-)  There may be other ways to do this and other reasons, but I can't think of any.

We did the interview for 2 big reasons:

1)  To let the child become familiar with the classroom.  A child that has already been in the classroom and is familiar with at least a few aspects of it and a few activities feels a lot more comfortable coming in.

2)  To see if there are any obvious issues that we may encounter that leads us to believe we might not be able to help the child.  This was especially helpful since we would take some students at 2 1/2 years old.  There were times that the child simply was not ready for preschool - still in diapers and still at the toddler age and development.  We even had one person come in who was obviously autistic and that was something where we felt like we could not help the child as much as if he were in another program.

It's not so much about "let's see what this child already knows since we only want those children that know as much as they can."  They're coming to us to learn.  The interview, for our school at least, was more for those 2 reasons than anything.

What we would do is walk the child into the environment and let them look around.  We would them show them a work that is both appropriate for their age and let them work on it until they seemed to have become bored with it.  We would show the child how to put it away and they would choose one more work or so.  We would usually let them paint a picture to take home with them.

If there were issues of seperation, etc.  we may suggest more interviews simply so the child becomes more comfortable in the environment and we do not have as many issues once school starts.

Note that your school may be different and handle their interviews differently.  I would call the school and ask how they do the interviews so you can tell your child what to expect to happen.  Keep it simple and explain it step by step.  (Example:  "I am going to stay in the office and talk to one of the teachers and the other teacher will show you some fun things in the classroom.")  Knowing what to expect will make the interview easier for your child.

I hope you enjoy it!

Matt