To think my DC is too clever for state secondary school?

[GeniusCreator]

DC is Yr7. Top of year according to what I’ve been told. Read the full series of Harry Potter books by 7 years old. Excels in STEM subjects. Spends ages at home researching science stuff like quantum field theory and nuclear fusion/fission and enjoys it! Designs his own websites and writes his own code for his own games. Primary school were always pretty amazed by him. Secondary school have picked up on him now and have said they’ve never seen anything like him.

He’s already mentioning being a bit bored in class. We live in what could be described as a deprived town and are not well off, no family to help out, so would never be able to get him into a private school. I did check with the private school in the next town but there are no scholarships available.

WIBU to try to crowdfund for private school fees?

He needs a much higher level curriculum than the state school one to continue stretching him. I honestly think he’s destined for amazing things.

<only slightly light hearted>

@SlatsandFlaps The top boys boarding schools Winchester and Eton offer them. Boys will need to be very impressive though. I'm sure top girls schools such as Wycombe Abbey will have something similar. The boys schools are very wealthy institutions so if a boy is a brilliant as @GeniusCreator boy they could be in with a chance. Lots of brilliant boys will apply so there is no guarantee.

I know someone who could read at 2 years old much to her parents astonishment.
Reading in bed at age 5 was anything to do with scientific experiments, biology and drug trials

One of my kids would have been able to read that at 5 without an issue (later books a bit scary though) but the other two wouldn’t have been able 🤷‍♀️

Isn’t that what Judy Dent is.

Who would have thought a lexicographer would have a tv career based on their career

Perhaps it is worth remembering that as a pupil Einstein was considered slow. He discovered Special Relativity whilst working as a clerk at the Patent Office, having never in his life been suspected of harbouring a particular talent.

He didn’t seem to think this was all bad, telling interviewers he had the freedom to dream and let his mind roam freely.

I am not recommending that the OP leave her DS be, but maths/science camps, lectures, other activities and peer experiences to cultivate his creativity and social skills, as well as a discussion with him about educational preferences, seem the best way forward. He sounds terrific but not unique. (Said with my university admission tutor’s hat on). The sooner he realises both halves of that, the better.

Love OP's username 😂

I’m sorry I have laughed out loud at some of these comments. Yes you get the occasional mummy goggles - was it someone famous who said their child knew the words like crocodile at 6 months and could say them - they clearly couldn’t. And you do get some children that talk/ walk/ etc early. I’ve already posted but my daughter was talking clearly in sentences at 1. By 2 we were having good conversations. By 4 I’d pick her up from reception and in the car ‘hi mummy. Did you have a good day? It’s very sunny outside. The sun is a star isn’t it mummy? I can’t remember the gas ….. maybe it’s hydrogen ?’….. etc she was just a sponge and remembered everything. I mean everything. But she understood it and put it in context. We encouraged it reading, audio books, extension, art galleries - at school for a little bit it was ‘hidden’ she did the work she was asked to do not the work she could do. Even when she joined her new secondary at the end of year 8. She was doing or had done the gcse course. In her first two lessons she just sat and did the year 8 with the rest of them and didn’t say a word and then the admin caught up with her old school and they were like ok then…. And the next lesson the maths teacher just asked her - can you do this? Pointing to the gcse maths paper and she said yes so he gave her the paper at the start of the lesson, she did it, he marked it and then phoned me to say ‘err she got 99/100 on a maths gcse higher paper I have a situation’ I said I know - she was due to sit it this summer. We went in lockdown and she didn’t join the online lessons but prepared for the gcse. Her maths teacher asked me who had taught her and I said - she did. Maths gcse book done in two weeks. 1/3 a level in 4 weeks. The state school talked about slowing her down and muttered about breath and depth so I said ok - ask her a question to demonstrate not just her class book knowledge but depth and breath and they came back and said right we need to do a level - we will teach her and we will give her work in the lessons of a level and 1-2-1 once a week as she has the breath and depth already!
then All the teachers starting saying the same thing eg head of science rang me and said I’ve just started teaching camilla and she‘a ‘eating’ the classwork so I expected explained she had finished her gcse cgp books in year 7 ish and moved on the as /a level ones in her own time. As previous people have said - encourage but support the mental health. Encourage diversity.

People will be jealous. It’s natural. But I love her as a person not what she can do. We encourage sun light, walks, playing and reading in the garden, art and sketching etc don’t put them on a pedestal but love them for themselves.

mines not sure if she wants to say at her current school or go to the big city indie (we have spoken to the head) I can’t afford to send her but they would give a high bursary. I will go by what she says.

Also yr 7 is far to young to judge. The highest flying of my extremely bright DD's friendship group was bright enough but vey unremarkable at 12 (I taught him for a brief period). But he gained a PhD and is now, in his mid 30s, at the very top of his field. He overtook the others at quite a late stage.

Friend did night class at local college to do gcse maths 2 years early.

Or get a tutor in best subject to stretch them.

I'd also look at good extra curricular like scouts or sports

I’m sorry I have laughed out loud at some of these comments

I'm sorry, I have laughed out loud at your post @Cliftontherocks . Also with slight embarrassment, remembering my over proud, over detailed sharing back in the day.
Hopefully never as excessive though.

I have to say, lol, at how many 5-7 year olds read HP books. Have you even seen the books? They’re nothing like Biff and Chip books 😂.

His IQ came out at 155. Not on a MENSA test granted as you have to send off for them but on an online test that his friends challenged him to do.

Why, though? Some children are phenomenally intelligent. It's not a boast to recognise that and try to support it.

In many ways it can cause extra difficulties, as much as extra advantages.

i only used this username as MumOfGenius, MotherOfGenius, GeniusMum etc were all taken 😀

Where in the family do you think the intelligence is from ‘Lol’ 🤣🤣 Yes I can safely say we’ve pretty much all seen the Harry Potter books and they are more than accessible to a 7 year old

I think it’s because the poster is laughing at others.

It’s threads like this that remind me of what a monumental diss appointment I was to my parents, being quite thick.

That was a typo 🤣

If goodbyestranger is a troll, she is a very dedicated and consistent one @Snoopsnoggysnog and @Goldijobsandthe3bears who has kept up the same story on the Higher Education board for years. I'll put my money on her telling the truth.

I also agree with her that moving up a year isn't a great idea, especially post Year 7. Realistically, the work isn't that more intellectualy challenging just one year ahead and the pace isn't much faster but skipping a year will mean they have a lot to catch up on in the subjects that build on knowledge, like maths and MFL. As she says, it's also not great having to start afresh as the new kid in a year group where friendships are already established. Once puberty hits, the gap widens socially and becomes more obvious, as well as the issues of being the smallest in sports. We decided against it for those reasons when it was suggested my eldest start secondary school a year early.

Year 7 is no age really for indication of future performance and I'm always dubious of parents who somehow know their child is "top of the class".

A couple of posters have said that private schools don’t offer 100% bursaries, so just want to give one example to counter that:

www.latymer-upper.org/admissions/bursaries/

Excellent very academic school but not boarding so not much good if you’re not London based.

If your child is as exceptional as you claim, he will do well wherever he is.
also, plenty of private schools do 100% bursaries. My child was offered one herself, it didn’t cost me a penny.
if he’s that clever they would bite his hand off, I’m sure.

Yes you can get 100% bursary but generally only for low income families.
our local private school in wales is £15k a year for day pupil. Bursary’s are based on a sliding scale of income. The top limit was about £45k when we looked. We earned slightly above that so would not be eligible for a bursary. But with 3 kids we couldn’t afford to spend 1/3 of our income on private school for just 1 child.

I agree that Year 7 is no age for indication of future performance, it's an interesting year where some kids who will go on to do very well in GCSEs and A-levels are still a bit middle of the road, others who did stellar at primary school start struggling and decline due to the way secondary subjects are taught and sometimes due to undiagnosed ADHD, and some who sailed through primary dip briefly in year 7 due to having to adjust but pick up again later in year 8 or beginning of year 9.

I find it weird however that parents would not know their child is "top of the class". Kids know who is top in the class in any subject pretty much from reception. Some kids are top in all or most subjects, some only in maths or PE. Children are keenly aware where they sit in the achievement hierarchy. And when teachers tell you at parent evening that your dc exceeds in all topics, term after term, year after year, you have a pretty good idea of what's going on.

Honestly though, your judgement of how “difficult” these books are is skewed because, as you’ve admitted, you can barely read yourself. So you probably regard an average child as special because you’re comparing to yourself.