Canadian International School Interview for 3 and 5 year old

[PaulaL]

My 3.5 year old daughter and 5 year old son will have their CDNIS interview is two weeks. My daugher is applying for Reception and son for Year 1. Any experienced parents please give us some suggestions?

Any written thing for the 3.5 year old? For Year 1 interview, anything particular we should be aware of? Thanks.

 

[sea princess]

My daughter sat the reception interview at the Canadian school last year. The interview was done in a group setting (three other children), she was asked to draw a picture, write her name, count, do some puzzles and simple things bascially. They were more checking to see how they coped without a parent present. I would say though, that it was probably the most formal interview she did and it went for about 45 minutes. The parents were not encouraged to even walk the child to the room and I found it a little cold. The other schools were happy and requested your child take a familiar object with him/her to talk about with the teachers to break the ice (some children took teddy's etc!) and they also encouraged parents to settle them in for a minute first before leaving. I was also a little put off by the amount of 4 year olds wearing black tie formal suits at the interview!

My daughter was accepted into the school, but put on the wait list. We ended up chosing another school in the end so who knows if she would still be on that waitlist!

Feel free to PM me if you would like to know anything else.
Best of luck.

 

[twinsmum]

do they expect a 3.5 year old to write their name? seriously? I dont know any 3.5 yr olds who would do that.. We have the interview tomorrow, fingers crossed, I will report back if you would like?

 

[sea princess]

Hi
Not sure if they expected it, but ceetainly she did write her name! My daughter was always into colouring and had good pencil/pen skills early, but thinking about it most of the kids in her kinder the same age were also writing their name at this age, albeit very messily!

 

[PaulaL]

writing name

Please do. Thank you very much.

My daughter is also having a hard time to write any letter or name. We did some tracing exercises these days, not easy for her either.

do they expect a 3.5 year old to write their name? seriously? I dont know any 3.5 yr olds who would do that.. We have the interview tomorrow, fingers crossed, I will report back if you would like?

 

[MotherGoose]

I think they're mainly looking for children with outgoing personality. They need to be independent, sociable and willing to ask/answer questions.

My younger son applied for Reception and failed twice! He knows how to write his name, sing 'O, Canada', and even recognises 60+ country flags. However, he refused to respond once they asked me to leave the interview room! He came out sobbing towards the end of the interview simply because he's too scared/intimidated inside a roomfull of interviewers(teachers) and screaming/crying kids.

 

[birddiz]

Hi, My son is in CDNIS and when he was having interview for the reception class he cried at the first interview. It's mainly because he was nervous about the new surroundings and new people. On the second interview, he was good, very independent, and very interactive with the other kids and teachers. and staffs looked a bit strict and cold, but when my son cried on the first interview, they were very helpful, caring and offered me to set up another interview date. In the interview room(classroom), he was asked to say his name and age, and play with blocks and other toys and draw his family. he was not asked to write his name. I suggest you to go to the school with your kids before the interview, in case your kids gets nervous with new surroundings like mine. Second interview was alot easier for him b/c the school was not new to him anymore!

 

[BeaMae]

My 3 year old daughter also has an interview coming up. Can anyone with kids currently in Reception, or who have gone through Reception, tell me a bit more about it? Are/were you happy with the school? Not happy? Thanks so much.

 

[capricorn]

PaulaL:
Please let me know how the interview goes. My two sons, 5 and 7 years old are going to have interview next month. Because we applied from overseas, so it might be a one-to-one interview without a group. Some schools requested my 5-years old son (in kindergarten American credited school) to write 5 sentences and read an article. It scared me a little bit. I hope CDNIS is not the same.

 

[PaulaL]

Dear Birddiz,

Thank you for your information and suggestion.

Why your son had two interviews? Any thing different between the two?When was his second interview?

My kids and I visited the school today. My son likes it. My daughter still feels a little bit scared. Hopefully she will do fine on Saturday.

Hi, My son is in CDNIS and when he was having interview for the reception class he cried at the first interview. It's mainly because he was nervous about the new surroundings and new people. On the second interview, he was good, very independent, and very interactive with the other kids and teachers. and staffs looked a bit strict and cold, but when my son cried on the first interview, they were very helpful, caring and offered me to set up another interview date. In the interview room(classroom), he was asked to say his name and age, and play with blocks and other toys and draw his family. he was not asked to write his name. I suggest you to go to the school with your kids before the interview, in case your kids gets nervous with new surroundings like mine. Second interview was alot easier for him b/c the school was not new to him anymore!