What is exceptional for reception entry?

[bedubabe]

This is mere curiosity at this stage as my DS is extremely young and his level of 'gifted' at the moment is being able to point to a duck in a book :)

However, I'm interested in knowing what people consider to be beyond the boundries of normality for reception entry. Obviously, kids develop at very different paces but any teacher's going to think a 4 year-old who can do calculus is pretty impressive.

I'm guessing, for example, a free-reader would be pretty rare as would be a child who understands fractions? Where would everyone draw the line between 'quite a bright kid' and 'wow'?

The reason I'm interested is that I live overseas and competition for primary school places is stupidly intense. Personally, if I was a school able to pick and choose as they like I wouldn't want the 'wow' kid as they would place extra pressure on teachers and resouces (and I wouldn't blame them!).

I have yet to meet a child I thought was genuinely gifted and talented, actually, in school - very bright, of course, ahead of most of others, sure, but gifted and talented, no.

Academically anyway - I HAVE encountered children whose artistic/musical/sporting ability was truly outstanding - and was recognized by outside bodies - Manchester United football club and the Royal Academy of Music for example...

I agree Catnao. Lots and lots of very bright children, but nobody gobsmackingly gifted.

Talented, on the other hand - a few footballers who were taken on by youth teams, and one boy who was the most incredible artist I have ever seen.

Thanks gapbear - but I also don't get the "gifted" as opposed to "talented" bit. What on Earth CAN gifted mean? Who gave them a gift, rather than a talent?

This is interesting reading. DS is 3.10, and in nursery. We had our first parents evening on Tuesday. His teacher is very good, with over 30 years experience, and she had him down to a tee.
She said that his vocabulary astounds her, he counts to 100, can add and subtract basic sums in his head, and if she reads a book that she has read to the class before, he will correct her if she deviates by one word
I do worry about Aspergers, as I used to work with children with ASD, but I discussed this with her (she is also the SEN co-ordinator) but she doesn't think it's an issue.
She also said he always wants to play games with the adults, as she gets the impression he thinks that the other children aren't up to the job

The only kids I know who are G&T have been pushed loads by their parents. Sadly they lack any real social skills and as a result have few real friends or play any childlike imaginative games.

Given that later in life these are the skills which will help them form relationships both personally and at work, I would far rather have an emotionally/socially well balanced/adjusted child than a genius.

Snowballed do you think it's a choice we have made? It's just the way he is.

I have no idea twirly, the one's I know have been pushed in the sense that the children can do nothing without it involving them doing some sums or spelling/reading. And it's constant, every sentence.

And fwiw all the parents say they don't know where their children get it from, that they don't push them to do stuff. Err...right

I find it fantastic that their kids are on G&T register at school, but sad that by Yr1 are still unable to eat a meal with a knife & fork or dress themselves or have formed social bonds with peers

I believe dd is exceptional at art, and making, and is very creative. She draws people from all perspectives at detail etc expected from much older than her, and yes, her drawings make people go 'wow'.

She is picking up reading and writing. I know a little girl whose reading makes you go 'wow' - she was not even 4. Yes, taught to some extent but IMVHO my little girl would not have been able to do that even if I had sat down with her every day. Sadly, apparently the other parents at her school have been bitching about hothousing .

Why can't we be proud of what our kids can do AND proud of what other kids can do AND understand that children are different and all fab at something (IMO and E)?

And of course, I am most proud that her nursery teachers and her TA said she was lovely and that she got on with everyone in the class. I do actually think her social skills and understanding are fairly exceptional too tbh. Not sure where that lies in G&T register but v important to me.

'G&T' is just a tool for teachers to make sure they are addressing all the children's needs in the class, of course. It is a bad choice of words but not necessarily a bad concept as long as different areas have different children identified.

My brother was G&T. He was explaining the concept of infinity to people by age of 3. At same age was obsessed with the idea that everybody lived to 80 and would go around asking how old they were, subtract from 80 and inform them that they had x years left to live.

He was from a family with no previous talent for math.

Being G&T made his life harder in a lot of ways though.

DS thinks everyone lives to 900 like Yoda

Ds at four could read the newspaper, tell the time and manipulate three figure numbers. He could write and spell words such as oracle from memory,he could identify hexagon and pentagons and spheres and cuboids. He however had little spontaneous speech and no social skills and a label of moderate autism and hyperlexia. He went through primary on the SEN register with a statement and the G&T register learning not much from an academic view but lots about social skills. He's still G&T for maths but mostly average elsewhere.