“Brilliant club”

[NotinToTintin]

Dc has not been selected for school’s ’brilliant club’ which identifies the bright kids and puts them “on a university pathway” (apparently). All dc’s friends have and they get to go on special trips to oxbridge and are told to aim for the highest.

There was nothing like this when I was at school but I guess I would have been one of the ‘high achievers’. Dc isn’t motivated by school work (does what’s required but nothing more) and I don’t know if I admire their attitude to protecting their time or if I am letting them down by not pushing harder.

also, I can’t help but feel they’re being written off by the school as unlikely to go to university. They’re only year 7.

please talk me down - am I being ridiculous?

It sounds as if they aren’t writing kids off from going to university, but have a cohort of kids they believe might be able to get into Oxford or Cambridge. By ‘university pathway’ I suspect they really mean Oxbridge, for which some extra coaching and so on is likely to help. I don’t think they’re saying that only the kids on the gifted programme will go to university at all.

He hasn't been written off. They won't include everyone who is capable of getting to uni and no university is going to stop them going if they get the grades, regardless of whether they've been part of the Brilliant Club.

The Brilliant Club is an organisation mainly for pupils facing barriers or disadvantage so maybe your pupil wasn't selected for those reasons or maybe they just thought he wouldn't get enough from it given that he seems disengaged.

It’s not a club, it’s an extra-curricular course over about 8 weeks! Brilliant Club is the name of the national charity that runs the courses. As others have said the goal is to give pupils from less privileged backgrounds a taste of what university is all about, through interacting with university researchers who are passionate about their subject. It involves extra homework including a substantial written assignment so schools choose the pupils they think would get the most out of that.

In Year 7 I would be clear with your son that you expect him to complete any homework set, and to behave well in class. I would attend all parents evenings so you can establish whether this is happening. I think it would also be useful to get a feel from his teachers of where they see him falling in terms of ability in relation to his subjects, eg well above average, about average, significantly below average compared to his peers. If there is a suggestion that your son is significantly struggling with numeracy or literacy, I would get him some extra help, but otherwise I would let him get on with it. I would aim to give your son as much opportunity as you reasonably can to try new activities, whether that's sporty stuff, music, cooking, going to the theatre etc. If he shows a particular interest in or aptitude for something, I would make a conscious effort to nurture that. Whilst some screen time is normal, I would be strict about not letting him become someone who is so obsessed with gaming that he doesn't want to do anything else. If that is in any danger of happening, I would make sure you nip it in the bud.

You are 100% making it up. A building site and a supermarket would never permit a primary school aged child to accompany a parent to work - the health and safety implications would be enormous and certainly severe enough that no one would bother to put the extra work in.

Literally nowhere I know of would allow small children in their work place - it would be incredibly limited to a few companies in offices.

Can you imagine your child's teacher bringing heir kids in? A small child sitting a t supermarket checkout? accompanying a builder to site? A 10 year sittign inthe Air Traffic Contorl tower? Riding along in an ambulance///

This, it isn’t the school driving the name or the focus on disadvantaged pupils, it is the direct focus of the national charity The Brilliant Club, who are a university access charity. At least 70% of pupils participating have to meet their disadvantaged/no parental higher education experience benchmarks. Many schools use pupil premium funding for the scheme.

if you believe that child actually went into the "live" part of a restaurant and building site, you're very naïve. And they sat int he dentists room all day? Or were they just dumped in Reception with a iPAD...

I'll be the majority just took the day off school and the parent took the day off work.

Ah the good old mumsnet "if I haven't experienced it, it can't possibly have happened" line 🙄

As opposed to the good old Mumsnet 'I'll make it up and double down when people spot holes so large you could drive a truck through them' ?

What an awful name and so outdated. The idea of supporting gifted and talented children is good, but to name it thus is awful.

Everyone used to have this division until the 1960s and in some places they still do, they are called grammar schools.

Telling year 7s they are not brilliant is a ridiculous idea. Even if it’s just a name change the school need - gifted and talented group is often used. If your DC is doing enough in year 7 then that’s good enough. Year 7 is the big transition year. Setting them up now to say they are not good enough for university is ridiculous. I guess you’ll need to play the school game and ask what DC needs to do in year 8 to be accepted if you think not being in it will dampen his enthusiasm and efforts.

So he does what’s required and no more, and you can’t understand why he hasn’t been chosen for a club that nurtures and encourages exceptional talent?

Hope OP sees your post because it’s very different to her description.

The school I work in has an aspirational program for the top 30 students in each year from year 9 onwards…generally over 100 kids in each year stay on for 6th form and 90% of those go on to university/degree level apprenticeship. I don’t think school will be writing him off, just that he’s, at this stage at least, not showing signs of being exceptional…it’s him you need to have the conversation with. What does he want to do? Does he know what will be required to achieve that?

I think you need to kick their arses academically if they have unrealistic aspirations; professional level sports/performing arts/influencer/gamer bollocks sort of thing that are unlikely to come to fruition, but once they are mature enough to talk about how they will support themselves as adults you can agree what you can do to support them.

(yes, I know some young people will be excelling in their hobbies, but the competitive nature of these things means they will need a safety net/other income stream and they will need to plan for that and secure a general education that affords them options.

At our school it is a club for disadvantaged students only. They seemed to enjoy it and it has raised aspirations.

The Brilliant Club does look to give disadvantaged/first in the family to go to university students support and seeks to raise aspiration and give opportunities to these students that they may not generally have. When I tutored for them this was the student profile. I wouldn’t say that they were selected as academically more able, one student clearly was, but many of the others had potential however lacked confidence, one was dyslexic for instance and lacked confidence because of this. It was more about trying to open a path to them which they may not have considered or doubted that they were capable of.

Can't believe these gifted and talented type cliques still exist

Not surprised kids are disaffected