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Gifted and talented

Gifted and talented eligibility criteria

9 replies

mammydora · 18/01/2016 20:48

Hi,

Help please my son has come home devastated that his three best friends (year 7) are in the gifted and talented and he is not. They said the criteria was a minimum of combined maths and English Key stage 2 5a. However, my son is now on a 7a in maths, and very high grades in Science and Geography, the only let down was he was three marks of a 5a in his sats for English SPAG (although sat the comprehension extended 6 paper and got a 5a) They said he cant be on it with his friends which they are running lunchtimes, but I dont understand as his Maths is high and some other subjects, he is just let down by his SPAG slightly, he is going to going into a year 8 class for his maths soon as he is now high enough, but still cant be on the gifted and talented, which to me doesn't make sense. As surely, he needs more help than a child that got a 5a in maths and a 5a in English.

I may be wrong but he doesn't understand and I don't either really. I emailed the school and they said he absolutely excels in maths and science, but is slightly below in English so therefore, can go to the classes with his friends. Is this fair? just looking for some feedback really

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LIZS · 18/01/2016 20:53

It is all relative to the cohort and pretty meaningless. Dn was g & t in several subjects at his comp but managed b s and c s at GCSE.

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user789653241 · 18/01/2016 21:01

If he is 7a and other children are 5a, is going to this class actually benefit him?

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mammydora · 18/01/2016 21:16

Hey, the children are 5a plus to get on the programme, some are 5a up to about 7c, he is a 7a, I think its more he has tried so hard and isn't allowed to attend because he was 4 points off on his English. Seems silly to me that a child with 5a in both maths and English could go, but not a child with a 7a in maths and a 6b in english

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Lurkedforever1 · 18/01/2016 23:24

Can't they just offer it by subject? Your son can't be the only one much stronger in one subject than the other.

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Brokenbiscuit · 20/01/2016 22:46

It sounds like the school is already recognising and catering for your son's higher ability in maths, because he is going to year 8 classes for this. Is that not right? I would assume that they have him listed as G&T for maths.

If this particular lunchtime activity is aimed at kids who were at least 5a in both English and maths, then unfortunately he doesn't meet the criteria for that. I realise that he is only a few marks off, but there may be quite a few children in that situation.

Personally, I think it's better for G&T activities to be offered by subject, and in our school, they usually are - there are separate lists of kids who are G&T in everything from maths to PE. However, dd did participate in a programme of activities last year where the participants had to be G&T in both English and maths, because the activities involved advanced skills in both of those areas.

I'm a bit uncomfortable with the whole concept of G&T activities tbh. DD is in a very high achieving cohort and there are some very bright kids who just miss out. I'd prefer intellectually stimulating activities to be open to any child who was interested.

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cansu · 21/02/2016 12:41

These classes will make sod all difference to the outcomes for your ds or for his friends. They are the schools attempt to tick the box for offering gifted and talented activities as this is a stupid Ofsted box. The term is pretty meaningless anyway and there is no particular criteria for deciding who is and who isn't anyway. Let it go as you are winding yourself up for nothing.

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hertsandessex · 30/05/2016 19:45

Hearing stories like this makes me hate this whole G&T designation. I just don't see the point of it. The important thing is children being challenged not having an artificial label put on them, or not.

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freshprincess · 30/05/2016 19:55

Mine would be more upset at having to miss lunch break for extra lessons. Grin
He's well above his peers on maths and is going to work with year 8, that's probably a lot more valuable than the lunch time classes will be.
Losing out by three Marks is tough but they have to have a cut off somewhere.

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WhattodoSue · 31/05/2016 08:43

Ask the school if he can join. They may say no, but they may say yes.

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