Bright Child.....don't want her pushed.....help

[KatieMac]

At my DD's parents evening yesterday - we were told that she was very bright and working at a higher level than her contempories, a year above in most subjects and 2 years above in maths.

I was pushed throughout junior school and then got bored in senior school when I had to redo work I'd covered ages ago.

How do I stop this happening to DD - I don't want her to get bored in the future and give up the way I did.

Any thoughts?

We have a similar situation with our dd1 who is aged 7 - working a year/two years above in most subjects, and dd2 aged 6 is working a year above in all subjects. Although we are slightly concerned about how this will affect them in high school, we have allowed the school to let them work at their own pace, as we felt that they would be bored otherwise and would lose the motivation to work hard. This happened to dh at a young age and he basically lost all the skills (eg self motivation, commitment and the need to put effort in), which seriously affected his ability to work for and sit exams in the future (he scraped poor a levels and failed his degree, despite being extremely clever).

Dh works at the high school that they will attend, and we are fairly confident that this school will work with their abilities and not cramp their style or stop them from moving forward. We haven't pursued this in detail but will be doing so in the future.

However we have the advantage that they attend a very small school now (total 20 pupils) and will be going to a very small high school (total 200 pupils). This means there is a lot more flexibility in how they are taught.

I would say that it would probably be worth pursuing this matter with the school in terms of how they view the matter,and what their long-term plans are for her future, and if necessary speak to the (possible) secondary school she may attend to see how they handle very bright pupils. AFAIK, if you are in England there is a duty to support Gifted and Talented pupils if/when they are on the scheme (sorry don't know much about the system as I am in Scotland)and this presumably follows through to secondary school age, so there should be a plan in place.

Sorry - a bit waffly - HTH.

Roisin is the one who can probably give you the advice you need!

Thanks Miaou, it really worries me, I know if my education had been handled better I would have better qualifications - but I'm not sure how

In my (admittedly limited) experience, schools seem to be a lot better geared up for more able kids than they used to be. If you make your concerns known now then you will have the opportunity to work with the school for your dd's benefit.

I had the opposite experience as a child, would have benefited from working at my own (faster)pace but was never stretched, consequently I was disruptive and always in trouble!

Trefusis - that's exactly what I want for her. They must be able to extend/enrich the work she does rather than doing future work.

DD is well adjusted socially, and does lots of OOS activities - but I don't want her to suffer as a geek