Primary interview prep courses for kids
The primary school interview is an important event that may determine the quality of primary school a child enters and hence their early education milestones. It is also usually conducted around a year before a child enters primary school so can occur for children as young as 3 years of age. This is a difficult age to predict a child's behaviour as simply not getting a quality night’s sleep may impact their mood, attention, patience etc.
Some of the uncertainty and a parent’s stress can be reduced through proper preparation of the child. For example, exposing a child to separation classes, getting them used to interacting with unfamiliar adults and playing alongside other children, can be incredibly helpful to eradicate interview behaviour that might automatically lead to a rejection before a child is even properly evaluated.
There are also skill-based exercises and games that a child can practice that will help them develop important language, memory and reasoning skills, and also ace the interview. These activities might include
- reading a story and then being asked to retell the story, sequence the pictures, predict future plot developments and alternative endings.
- reasoning skills such as identifying a problem or illogical element in an image or picking an odd element out of a range of images.
The benefits of primary interview prep for children include
- enhancing cognitive development
- improving communication and social skills
- increasing confidence and engagement levels
- boosting emotional development
- developing fine and gross motor skills
- improving adaptability and resiliency when transitioning to school