Mumsnet Talk

Hi,

New to this site, so bare with me - although I have been lurking a while!!

I have posted this here rather than on the primary page, not beacause I think I have a particularly gifted child, but I really want to know if these levels are just within the good average range or above average.

My little one goes to a local state school and is in year 1, a summer child age 5. The school is classed as outstanding and is in a competitive selective state grammer school area.

The school does not give much away in terms of levels and does not talk about gifted and talented to the parents, although a govenor friend said they do have a register, but don't tell the parents ( it causes too much angst )

At parents evening last week I was told that the class had been tested on independent writing, reading and spelling. My little one has a reading and spelling age of 8.5 - 9 and the teacher said writing is amazing for age (but gave no level) I can't compare this to the peers as they may think I am gloating.

I know a lots of the Mums here have very able children and I guess I am hoping someone will come along and help me guage how well my child is doing as I maybe getting over excited about nothing LOL.

Yes that is very good - the only question I would ask further is whether the reading age is for decoding or comprehension (sometimes the former develops faster than the latter). But either way, yes it is unusually good and my guess would be that your child is on the register (fwiw).

Very good but not gifted.

Not sure I'd say unusually good tbh.

Well it must be above average - because by definition the average 5 yr-old has a reading of ................. 5!

So well done your dc - that is definitely above average. Some schools do have a lot of advanced readers - so no knowing how common this is in his own class in particular.

I do not think you are getting over excited. Your DD is likely to be testing in the gifted range. If she was not reading before she started school, then after just 18 months, she is already way ahead of average. It is not often that you come across an excellent decoder who is not understanding and very high levels of understanding are a reflection of high verbal reasoning ability.

DS tests within the gifted range on cognitive tests (top 1%) and was reading well before starting school. At 5 his reading age was around 10 and at 8 it is 16 (the highest you can test, I believe). Spelling is high too and writing well, nowhere near that of your average 16 year old!

It is hard to know how it will all translate when they are 5, but we are now seeing amazing exam results across subjects such as Geography, History, Science, French etc, with Maths trailing a little.

I would ask for NC levels if I were you and look at the Gifted and Talented Policy and what it says about how such children are identified and how parents are informed. That should be an interesting one, from what you are saying!

Gifted?! Top 10% maybe not 1%! My dcs both had reading ages around 8 at 5. Now at secondary they're bright, but nothing really special!

Yay to your dd! Sounds like she is doing great The fact that her school is outstanding and she's surrounded by other able children is probably a good thing too as she's likely to be stretched?

I have a yr 1 dd at about the same reading age but we've been told to wait and see with regards her progression rather than giftedness at this stage. I still think it bodes very well for the future!

Coming on MN it seems most children are very able so similarly I feel unable to compare with peers and certainly wouldn't discuss with other parent in RL