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Gifted and talented

Talk to other parents about parenting a gifted child on this forum.

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Original poster

How to handle parents evening

58 replies

mrsseed · 12/09/2011 16:57

So its the start of the school year and we have a parents eve in a few weeks. We are just starting on the G&T trail and want to avoid any problems others have encountered.
She is only in year 1, do you have any advice for us. Do we go with the' is she settling in' like we did in foundation, or go for the' we know she is exceptional, what are you going to do about it style?
p.s. Before any skeptics condem me, this isn't me just thinking she is exceptional, she is top of year(out of 80) and we were given foundation observational scoring to prove it. I just wasnt to learn how best to handle it, cause if she gets bored, she will become a trouble maker which is a bigger problem!

OP posts:

stealthsquiggle · 16/09/2011 17:20

Measuring DC's IQ is fairly meaningless though, because it changes.

OP - I always think the best approach to the first parents' event of the year is to sit back somewhat and see what the teacher says - which in turn will tell you whether they understand your DC or not - and then look out for signs of boredom/troublemaking (and be careful - I went wading in when DS announced that something was "boring", only for his teacher to show me the work of 3 other DC who were doing more/better than he was - never again!)

eicosapentaenoic · 16/09/2011 17:32

DD2 was an early reader - nursery - reading was deliberately not taught or encouraged. Teacher (excellent) and I realised she needed acknowledgement in school because she was self-effacing, so keen to learn, expecting so much that didn't happen, disappointed, eg teaching herself to read so she was 'ready to learn lots when she got to school'. Bless. Teacher organised her reading to class + praise - even now age 14 she is still proud.

There is no reason why they can't give the child the appropriate work, eg we had a y1 pressing ahead with the y4 curriculum in maths.

madwomanintheattic · 16/09/2011 17:48

oh, iq is problematic in lots of ways. but the 'top of a million' line is fantastic. i love it. i want one. not the actual kid, lol, that would be a nightmare, i'm sure, but just so i can use the line....

most teachers are more than capable and willing to differentiate, and do it routinely. the only difficulties we've had is with an infant school - purely through lack of immediately available resource. most all-through primaries have access to first couple of years of secondary resources for higher ability kids etc anyway. the infant school compensated by broadening the curriculum for the more able yr r-2s, rather than forging ahead. it worked fine tbh. and ds is not like his mother and loved percussion club etc. it caused a bit of friction in the actual school as the extension things were invite only and different, so more obvious from an external pov, but we were happy with the differentiation.

seeker · 16/09/2011 18:01

I was basing it on a uk population of 60 million. But my Maths is hopeless. So I am probably wildly wrong.

madwomanintheattic · 16/09/2011 18:02

madwomanintheattic · 16/09/2011 18:03

(am now trying to break that down into age categories.... )

there is a reason that i decided to abandon my pure and stats a levels, y'know.

choccyp1g · 16/09/2011 18:04

So there might be about 59 people in th UK who are cleverer than Colleger's DC.

"So it's not that exceptional really" Well, someone had to say it.

choccyp1g · 16/09/2011 18:06

Well to be fair, put him in the middle of the top .000001%, and say there might be about 30 cleverer people.

Still, I'm sure a few regulars will be along soon to say that it's nothing special.

madwomanintheattic · 16/09/2011 18:07

oo, choc, you're too good at this.

seeker · 16/09/2011 18:12

That's about average for my ds's class......

pickledsiblings · 16/09/2011 18:12

1200000, you left off a zero seeker .

seeker · 16/09/2011 18:27

Bloody glasses!

madwomanintheattic · 16/09/2011 18:42

ah, seeker, what's a trillion or so, between friends?

iggly2 · 16/09/2011 19:26

Hiya, sorry to be a pain but the % thing is wrong!
1 in a million is 0.0001%

InnocentRedhead · 16/09/2011 19:35

Not read the whole thread, so I don't know if this has been mentioned, and no experience of G&T except I was myself in school :o

You need to ask if they will continue to extend her knowledge and not sit on their laurels even though she is getting 90-100% consistently on tests etc. She may be the top of the class but still needs stretching and support especially if she struggles to understand the work at first (just like children do when faced with something new).

CaptainNancy · 16/09/2011 19:39

I was going to ask if colleger was actually in the US? There aren't. That many children in a year's cohort, so even being top of your year in the whole nation (measurable how?) Wouldn't make you no. 1 of 1million
But then I see she means IQ... which children aren't actually assessed in.

madwomanintheattic · 16/09/2011 19:51

i am literally pmsl at a random bunch of women on a g&t thread trying to work out what % is 1 in a million.

iggly, i think i love you!

where is colleger? s/he is the only one that can clear up how the 1 in a million thing was worked out in this case!

iggly - so help me god, i'm going to try this, please don't snort out loud if i'm completely wrong - does that mean that if you are one in a million (or top of a million/ whatever) your % score would come out as being in the top 99.999% of peer group? (still trying to related it to test outcomes )

i love mn.

iggly2 · 16/09/2011 20:33

Hi madwomamintheattic.
I think your wording is a bit off as "top 99.999%" would incorporate almost everyone taking the test. I would word it : "top 0.001%" This equates to 1:100,000.
Sorry I am a bit pedantic

madwomanintheattic · 16/09/2011 20:36

i told you i love you, iggly!

couldn't remember how it was phrased in ep reports.

madwomanintheattic · 16/09/2011 20:37

i think it's 'x scored better than 99.999% of peer group in this test' then?

fabtastic.

iggly2 · 16/09/2011 20:46

This is a normal way of quoting statistics. A value is quoted and often it depends on the statistian/tester what level it is quoted at so your child could be higher eg 1:1000000 . Often the tester probably have their own cut off eg are confident in tests ability to predict 1:100 000, but not 1:1000000. At these levels does it matter!

choccyp1g · 16/09/2011 20:47

I hold up my hand and hang my head in shame, I got carried away with the zeros after the decimal point.

killercat · 16/09/2011 21:03

Mmmm, inclined to take the whole thing of IQ with a pinch of salt as my darling darling husband was that "one in a million" and his IQ is 180+. Bless him, but I didn't actually know that until we moved house and I found a load of paperwork from his school and a University who'd tested him when he was younger - we'd been married 10 years and he never thought to mention it. The one in a million could have been a successful chat-up line. We will never know .

We have an incredibly bright daughter, and at her parents evening last week I turned a little tiger mother-ish. But my DH just wanted to talk about and share was "Is she happy?". And actually, he's right. From now on, her happiness is the only thing I will quiz about at any parents evening.

That would be advice!

madwomanintheattic · 16/09/2011 21:25

if you can hold up your hand and hang your head at the same time choc, you're probably on the right board, anyway.

lol at 'got carried away with the zeros' though. story of my life, really...

exoticfruits · 16/09/2011 22:39

Best to just bide your time while she is young. Is she enjoying school and making friends is more important. If she is way ahead of the rest it will stand out and the teacher should be able to cope.

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