THE PORTSMOUTH GRAMMAR SCHOOL
Guidance notes on the interview
All candidates will be invited for an interview which generally takes place on a Saturday
morning before the written assessments. The interviewer aims to help the children to relax
as much as possible and will ask questions about their interests. Children are also invited to
bring an example of recent work or an object or possession in which they are particularly
interested. The children are asked to read a passage aloud and answer some questions about
it and to complete some gap-fill sentences (known as a cloze test).
Interview passage
In the interview, the candidate is asked to read a passage out (see the sample passage Winter
below), after a little preparation, and the interviewer listens for skills in bringing out the
themes of the piece through tone of voice. The interviewer will listen for the candidate’s
ability to read fluently and recognise the importance of punctuation.
Some boys and girls may be nervous, and the interviewer may therefore begin with
questions, which help settle the candidate. In subsequent discussion, skills looked for
include:
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overall understanding of the piece
ability to articulate a viewpoint
ability to sustain discursive discussion
ability to understand inference
ability to identify some of the writer’s techniques
ability to create an imaginative response to the themes of the piece
Once the candidate has read the passage, they will be asked questions about it. For the
sample passage, some lines of approach might include:
 asking the candidate to reflect upon the writer's presentation of Winter.
 asking the candidate to reflect upon the main ideas within the poem.
 asking the candidate to identify and explain the effects of some of the writer's
techniques, such as personification "Winter prowled by the shivering sea") and verbs
("crushed", "froze", "race").
 asking the candidate to consider the effect of the powerful last line "at his back was
death").
 the interviewer broadening the discussion by asking the candidate to consider and
discuss their own experiences of Winter or other seasons.
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the interviewer asking questions based on genre, such as "what do you think of
poetry?" or "What other poems or books have you enjoyed and why?"
Sample passage for commentary during the assessment interview:
WINTER
Winter crept
Through the whispering wood,
Hushing fir and oak;
Crushed each leaf and froze each web –
But never a word he spoke.
Winter prowled
By the shivering sea,
Lifting each sand and stone;
Nipped each limpet silently –
And then moved on.
Winter raced
Down the frozen stream,
Catching his breath;
On his lips were icicles,
At his back was death.
Judith Williams
Cloze exercise
Candidates are asked to read a sentence aloud and to provide a missing word to show their
understanding of the meaning of the sentence, as well as vocabulary and sentence structure.
Three practice items will be used to familiarise the candidate with the requirements of the
task, followed by the actual test of up to 20 similar items, which get progressively harder.
For some questions, there may be more than one acceptable answer so it is important to offer
a response even though the candidate is unsure. Three sample sentences are given below:
1. James had had a busy day at school and, by 7pm, felt __________
2. The crowd _______________ as the ball hit the back of their opponents’ net.
3. The __________ of toast wafted upstairs, signalling that breakfast was nearly ready.
Possible solutions
The following words are possible solutions to the cloze test. Other words may also be correct
as long as they maintain the sense of the sentence.
1. Tired/exhausted/shattered/fatigued
2. Cheered/clapped/applauded
3. Smell/aroma