By the end of this pack your child can walk into an 11+ or independent school interview, take a breath, and talk like themselves. They can answer with a reason and a real example instead of one flat word, think aloud through a puzzle they have never seen, weigh up both sides of a tricky question, and smile at a curveball instead of freezing. And you will know exactly how to get them there in four weeks, without a single memorised answer.
Your child passes the written exam. Brilliant. Then the letter arrives. They would like to meet your child.
And suddenly there is nothing to revise. No past papers, no mark scheme, just a ten-year-old, a stranger in an office, and twenty minutes of conversation that decides the offer.
Most parents do one of two things. Nothing, and hope charm carries the day. Or too much, drilling answers until their child sounds like a small solicitor, which schools spot in seconds and quietly mark down.
This pack is the third option. Structured practice in the actual skills interviews reward (thinking aloud, giving examples, handling the unexpected), with a firm rule running through every page. Practise the skill, never the answer.
What's inside:
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The question bank. Over 100 real-style questions in eight categories, from "tell me about yourself" to the ethical puzzles top London day schools love, including group task prompts and curveballs. Each category explains what the interviewer is actually assessing, so practice targets the right thing.
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The answer frameworks. Six thinking shapes a ten-year-old can genuinely hold, each with worked example answers written the way a real Year 6 child talks, plus flat-versus-strong answer pairs so you can hear the difference. Not one scripted answer in the whole file, on purpose.
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The parent guide. How to practise without over-coaching, a week-by-week four-week plan, what over-rehearsed children sound like and how schools catch them, which well-known schools interview and the shape of their published process, the parent meeting, on-the-day logistics, and a proper section on nerves.
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Three mock interview runsheets. Complete scripts you can deliver at the kitchen table, with timings, questions, the follow-up probes real interviewers use, and a six-part scoring rubric that shows you what to praise and what to nudge.
Why it works (the honest bit). Schools tell parents not to coach, then interview your child alongside children who prepared. Both things are true, and this pack lives in the honest middle. Scripts are detectable and they backfire. But a child who has spent four weeks having short, enjoyable practice conversations, and who owns a few simple thinking shapes, is not scripted. They are just ready. That is the child interviewers describe as "a pleasure to meet".
It was built the practice-led way too, researched from what schools themselves publish, what admissions specialists teach, and what parents report their children were actually asked, then shaped into something you can run at home in ten-minute chats. No secret insider knowledge is claimed, because nobody selling interview prep honestly has any. What this pack has is method, and method is what you are missing at the kitchen table.
Who it's for. Parents of Year 5 and Year 6 children facing interviews at independent schools or interviewing grammar schools, whether that is a friendly fifteen-minute chat or a formal panel with a poem to read and a puzzle to solve. It works alongside a tutor or entirely without one. The mock runsheets also suit tutors who want ready-made interview sessions.
Not sure yet? Start with our free Complete Guide to 11+ Interview Preparation on the blog. It covers how interviews work and what schools look for. When you want the questions, the frameworks, the mock scripts and the plan, this pack is the next step.
£14.99, instant download. Add the pack to your basket and download it today. Print the runsheets, put the first ten-minute chat in the diary for tomorrow, and let the four-week plan do the rest.
Which schools does this prepare for?
Any UK school that interviews at 11+, independent day and boarding schools, and the grammar schools that include an interview stage. The parent guide shows you how to weight practice once you know your target schools, from warm conversational interviews through to academic panels with puzzles, poems and group tasks.
Will this make my child sound coached?
The opposite, and it is the reason this pack exists. There are no scripted answers anywhere in it. Your child practises thinking shapes (give a reason, add an example, talk your thinking aloud) on questions that keep changing, so what develops is confidence, not a recital. The parent guide even tells you what over-rehearsed children sound like, and when to stop practising.
How long does preparation take?
The plan is four weeks of short, low-pressure chats (five to ten minutes, a few times a week) plus two or three mock interviews in the final week. Less time than that still works. The guide includes a trimmed version for families starting late.
What exactly do I get?
One printable PDF with all four parts inside. The question bank (100+ questions in eight categories), the answer frameworks with worked examples, the parent guide with the four-week plan, and three complete mock interview scripts with a scoring rubric. Delivered instantly and yours to print.
Do we still need an interview tutor?
Many families use this pack on its own; the mock runsheets were written so any adult can deliver a realistic practice interview with no experience. If you do use a tutor, the pack gives your sessions structure and gives you the between-session practice plan, so paid time goes further.
Format: Printable PDF, 33 pages, download link sent automatically straight after purchase. Suitable for: Year 5, Year 6, 11+ and independent school entry.
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