Hi,
I have a son who will be 4 in July and will start the school in Sept 2012. I have lots of concerns which scholl to send him. He is a very bright child, I am not sure if he is gifted but academiccly very bright. He is very good in reading, math, computer, languages etc.
I would prefer to send him in year1, because he already knows everything that a reception year old child needs to know.
I heard even if a teacher does some extra work with gifted children it still would be the same work with more practice. E.g.: if children learn the phonics (s a t p i n) in school, the gifted children will learn the same phonics (even if he already knows them), he only will do extra works, so he does more practice but won't learn anything new. It means for me that he will loose the possibility to learn more quickly than others, and he will loose the interest about learning (doing the things that he already knows)and I think it can lead to behavioural issues.
Because of this reason I probably would like to send him in a private school where I will pay so I might have voice in his education. The other reason why I probably need to send him to a private school is because there is no option to start in Year1 instead of reception year in stat schools.
I would like to hear some comment from you, how your child school helped your child to develop his gift or brightness from reception year. Or if you have a child who started in Year1 at the age of 4 instead of a reception year euther in a state school or in a private school.
Please write to me if you know any good school for a bright child in West Sussex (Horsham area).
Thanks for your response.