Welcome to Meta Prep, where metacognition comes first
Interview Expertise
Our team of mock interviewers is made up solely of former independent school Heads, Deputy Heads, Admissions Directors, Housemasters and Housemistresses. Their experience of preparing and interviewing hundreds of candidates for their own schools has given them an unrivalled understanding of the aptitudes sought by the UK’s most selective schools. We have shaped this understanding into a proprietary model which we use to generate workshop activities and questions that nurture and explore the higher order cognition, attitudes and interpersonal skills sought during interview by such schools.
We support schools in their own interview development work by offering both workshops and mock interviews for Years 5 – 8 inclusive of scholars with specialist interviewers from a range of day and boarding school backgrounds. We conduct both workshops and mock interviews on site at the schools with which we work.
Interview Workshops
Mock Interviews
We work with preparatory and primary schools all over the UK to share our passion for developing the thinking and communication skills that enable children to show themselves, naturally, in their best light come interview time. Consciously avoiding pre-rehearsed answers we engage pupils with our full or half-day workshops all of which are crammed full of fun, dynamic, brain-stretching activities that build familiarity and develop the thinking processes required to clearly and calmly answer interview style questions. Some of the subjects included: “Body Language”, “Approaching Different Question Types” and “Understanding and Communicating Your Strengths”.
Working at school premises, we offer 1-1 interviews, typically lasting up to 30 minutes, with a member of our highly experienced interview team whom pupils won’t have previously met. We can utilise multiple interviewers to provide mocks for an entire year group in a day and our team’s deep understanding of the senior schools allows them to tailor questioning towards an individual’s target school. Each interview is followed up with a detailed, personalised report that highlights strengths and opportunities for deliberate interview practice.
Meet Some Of Our Interview Team
Arabella Northey
Arabella has recently stepped down as Deputy Head of Fulham Senior where she wrote the entrance assessments for the prep and senior school. During her time at Wetherby Prep, Arabella specialised in preparing children for the top senior schools. She continues to be Head of Meta Prep, coaching children to become meta-learners to ensure their successful entry to selective senior schools.
Christine Lough
Christine has been Headmistress of St Christopher’s Hampstead and South Hampstead High Junior School. She is currently a governor of both St Mary’s, Calne and St Margaret’s, Calne as well as at Beaudesert Park School, Gloucs. Christine is also a mentor to new heads joining schools within the Girls Day School Trust.
Flora Watson
Flora has worked as a primary school teacher for 15 years, 13 of which were at a top London day school, Thomas’s Fulham. She was Head of Year Six for seven years, leading the team to enable children to enter their top choice of secondary school; King’s Wimbledon, Westminster and Dulwich to name a few. She has ample experience with a wide variety of assessment systems and interview preparation.
Sarah Dickenson
Sarah has spent over twenty years working in preparatory schools, initially at King’s Canterbury Junior School and latterly at Norland Place, Holland Park. She was Head of Maths at both schools and as a Year 6 form teacher she specialised in successfully preparing pupils for entry and scholarships to a wide range of independent and grammar schools.
Our partners
