7+ 11+ 13+ Interview Seminar & Mock Interview Clinics
Date: 7th December 2025 - 11th January 2026
Venue: Great Western Studios, 65 Alfred Road, W2 5EU
Time: 10:00 - 15:30 (Daily)
Course Fee: £450 per day. Discount applied for multiple day registration
Book a placeCourse Introduction
As many students will be sitting school interviews in early January, we are organising interview clinics in December and January to help students prepare for this important, final stage. Interviews can be difficult for some students, as they will need to strike up and hold a conversation with a person they have never met before. It is impossible to prepare for this by reading or memorising past interview questions – and this is a really bad idea! Instead, students need to prepare for the experience of meeting an unfamiliar person and quickly forging a bond with them.
Course Schedule
Each day will commence with an interview preparation seminar, followed by mock interviews with specialist interview tutors.
Students may attend as many days as they wish to gain experience of different interview styles, a variety of interviewers and different interview approaches. Each mock interview lasts thirty minutes and students can expect no less than four mock interviews per day.
Each tutor will complete a report which will incorporate a short points-based grading system and recommendations for improvement.
Our interview clinics are suitable for students preparing for 7+, 11+ & 13+ interviews. Depending on the entry point and target destination, you will be allocated a seminar leader and interview specialists with experience of this school’s specific interview format and expectation. Interviewers will use past questions from the specific schools’ students are applying for to help make the experience as close to the real thing as possible!
During the interview stage, students awaiting an interview will complete activities with other students. These activities will be observed, and we will pass on our feedback to parents. At interview, in-school behaviour, engagement and participation is important (and often assessed) so we will be able to help provide an insight into this often-overlooked aspect of interview preparation.
“My daughter absolutely loved her day at Winterwood Tutors’ interview clinic. She came home buzzing after having spent the day being interviewed by tutors, learning about body language, talking about art and emotions, and asked to go back the following day!”
— Parent of 11+ Student
Group Leads
Tim Smith-Laing
Tim has been teaching since 2007, and has experience teaching university seminars as well as tuition. He is a successful freelance journalist, writing on books for the Telegraph, and on art and art history for magazines including Frieze and Apollo. With a background in academia, his academic credentials are considerable, having attained a Double First in English Literature from Pembroke College, Cambridge, an MSt from Balliol College, Oxford, for which he was ranked first in his year, and a DPhil from Merton College, Oxford. Whilst at Oxford, he also served as a college lecturer and admissions interviewer at Jesus College for three years.
Tim has interview prep experience from 7+ up to University admissions. He has worked with Winterwood students, helping them obtain places in schools such as Sussex House, Eton, Westminster, St. Paul’s, City of London Girls and Oxford. Tim also coaches students who are seeking to attain places at Oxbridge colleges, and specialises in how best to appear at formal academic interviews. He is charismatic, informative, and empathetic, and makes learning enjoyable for all his students.
Dr Tom Parkinson
Tom co-founded Winterwood in 2011 whilst completing his PhD. Prior to this, Tom worked as an independent private tutor since 2006, and so has almost twenty years’ of experience in the industry.
Tom now directs the business as the CEO. He is responsible for overseeing the entrance exam cohort and he takes educational assessments for entrance exam students, as well as convening group courses and small incubator classes for students applying to very academically competitive schools.
Tom has a particular track record of success for boys applying to Eton College, Westminster and St Paul’s school, and for girls applying to Godolphin & Latymer and St Paul’s Girls’ school. He is happy to offer advice and guidance to any students thinking of applying to these schools.