Any additional things to do with a G & T child?

[hoisinnoodles]

Talked to HT at parents evening who confirmed DS would be on G & T/SEN register next Sept(y3). A school G & T special co-ordinator who will provide 1-to-1 tutorial weekly. Happy about it. But, they will not register my DD(reception now) although they say she is an able child. Does she need to prove herself until Y2 or Y3?

HT suggested not too focusing on achieving targets/curriculum but enrich DS with extra enrichment projects that can keep DS's interest on learning. Can someone share your experience on how you enrich a gifted child?

We hope to get a scholarship to one of top city private secondary schools few years later. What should I do to help DS to achieve that?

For scholarships most schools are looking for well rounded individuals so it is the non-academic stuff that really counts. The interviews for scholarship for one boys schools last year asked them to say who their hero was and why. One of the 10 out of 200 boys who got a scholarship said his dad and explained in detail how when his dad's business went under he got up and started all over again building another business. So appreciation of the wider world is really important.

Got to ask, why do you want your RECEPTION aged DD to be "Registered"?

"Can someone share your experience on how you enrich a gifted child?"

In more or less the same way as you enrich a non-gifted child, or an adult. Lots of interesting books around, discuss things with them, trips to museums, trips to the theatre if you can afford it, musical instruments are always good, sports good too, encourage him to write stories if he likes to, maybe get him a pen-friend.

Good point, lockets. Perhaps there are several clever kids who are due to leave soon , thus making space for the (currently) next tier of kids to be in the top 10%. Or perhaps he is currently in an infants only and the junior school has told him as much? OP??

Maybe G&T only kicks in when you get to Yr3? At our secondary, it only kicks in when you get to Yr9 (no G&T kids in Yr7 or Yr8).

Niceweather I suppose it depends on your/schools definition of G&T, although I find the idea of there being no recognition before year 9 a bit odd. Done well, an able child should be supported from as early as needed, label or no label or official "Recognition".

The Yr9 onwards G&T Club consists of debates, trips, opportunities to do stuff outside school, lectures etc. I guess there could be other stuff going on that I am not aware of. My son is 2E and they've picked up on it straight away and have been great.

Ds's school won't put anyone on the G&T register until Y3 upwards. They say children learn at such different levels that a child who has reading difficulties to begin with might suddenly outstrip a child who read very fluently very quickly or might go from bottom table to top in the early years. Ds was earmarked, as it were, early on, and was given some extra things to do but not much. Now he is in Y5 he has been enjoying the benefits of the G&T programme.

As far as enrichment is concerned we just do stuff - museums, art galleries, theatre, films, day trips, reading and watching telly. You can get a great discussion going about the history of film from a trip to see the children's film Hugo, for example which is enriching for everyone or a long discussion about science from a programme like Bang Goes the Theory, or something like Coast which gives you history and geography all in a one-er.

Thank you for all your suggestions. I think the school set the G & T programme at Y3 as they need to find their teaching hrs to nourish the child (I did not ask the HT ). I see the advantage for being 1 to 1 stretching by a special G & T co-ordinator once or twice per week.

The HT also said we need to widen his knowledge and not just only focus on academic. The HT saw some kids push too hard on academic and selected to switch off in Y6. She also suggested some ideas like designing a theme park, design a new island and knowing the current affairs on the news... They sound very interesting.
It is very helpful to know what questions the school will ask on the scholarship interview. A big thank you to Lizcat.

Find their teaching hours to nourish the child? Sorry but that sounds like bullshit to me. A G&T child does not need putting on a pedestal and ushered away once or twice a week for "Stretching", like some golden child; any school worth it's salt should be able to challenge them in day-to-day lessons.

We found if we could get ours into academcially very selective schools at 5 or 7 they would be educated only with other bright children and that that seems to work pretty well. Daughter 1's old school, North London Collegiate is often in the top 3 for A level results in the UK. It's much more fun if you're bright to be educated with similarly clever children when youre' 5 rather thanhaving to wait until you are 11 however it depends if the mother or father chose a career that enables them to pay school fees of course (as the UK does not believe ni selective education in the state system)

xenia but how will they learn to deal with less able people in life if they never meet any?

Because, rhetorician, in xenia's world less able people should all be shot at dawn.

Or, at the very least, kept separate.

Gosh that's abit harsh. I think the op was just saying the difference in learning with similar attainment children in comparison to being in a classroom where they are frustrated because the focus of the lesson is on the majority children who's attainment isn't as high.
Many, many schools stream groups by ability too, and even when they don't, ive seen children naturally gravitate towards children of a similar attainment level to them during a set task.

These higher attainment children still have friends and play sports and have lunch etc with children from other groups, so as far as coping goes, they seem to be fine. Having said that however, one could argue they cope because the school isn't selective, and children are continuously mixing and engaging with each other on different levels. I can't make the comparison however as I've not taught in a private setting.

Sorry OP, hijack!

I would say ideas given here are very useful, also I'd add following your child's line of enquiry as this is often lost in a jam packed timetable at school. G&T children often are curious about the world around them and ask some fantastic question, so I'd follow their interest and explore it in some depth through the mediums of art/music/books/film/theatre/ whatever takes your fancy.
And lots of lively conversation where you are actively listening and responding (instead of tapping away on your iPhone saying hmmm and uh huh periodically)

Plenty of parents support selective education. It is a fundamental principle of those counties with grammar schools and many but not all state schools. I am not the only person who thinks children get a better educate if they are bright if they educated with other bright children. Just about every study of exam results ever proves this is so.

Why would a child benefit from being in a class full of chidlren with much lower IQs? It's much harder to teach too because you have people at all kinds of levels. Even comps stream because I am so right about this principle.

to answer the OP...get your kid music lessons. Not boring ones though, ones where they have space to be creative as well as learning good technique and repertoire.

the comment was (partly) tongue-in-cheek - I am no position to make statements about selective education, not having a school age child, and (I think) not having an academically gifted child. The problem is though, that giftedness and the means (in your argument, access to selective education) to nurture that are not one and the same thing. And the fact remains that however academically able the child, they will still spend most of their working lives talking to, dealing with, helping, being directed by, people who are less able than they are. And that requires certain skills - important ones.

Of course parents who are interested in their chidlren's education support selective education - it brings advantage and all parents want that for their kids.

The problem with selective education is that it moves resources (good teachers, particularly) away from other children who might need them just as much as able children with supportive home environments. But we are not going to agree, are we?

oh and for the record education is not the same thing as good exam results, as I can tell you from teaching scores of apparently highly able undergraduates...

I suspect children from private schools and selective state grammars are the ones who are best at communicating with others. It is the illterates with low IQs and inabiltiy to string together a sentence who pack out our worst comps. Selection rules and is what is best for clever children by a long way.

Ok Xenia, now you're starting to sound quite malicious.

Many, many factors come in to play with regards to illiteracy, not just 'low IQ'.

But then you'd need an average IQ to understand that

My sons in year 5 and gt for four subjects, the school offer him courses to go on, (which we pay for) and he gets no extra tuition. I find this personally is all he needs we dont push him in any area and it only got noticed in year 2, I think that if theyre happy and learning well thats all that they need. I wouldnt want him to get any type of scholorship hes a happy lovely boy and brighter than me :)

I might add that 2 of the most academically able students I have ever taught (think high flyers at PhD level, perfect GPAs in humanities subjects) are students who were failed by the system - e.g. despite having very high IQs were unable to access resources throughout their formal education - and only gained entry to university because of access programmes - which I assume are anathema to the educate the best, fuck the rest philosophy suggested here - the problem is that the people who are able to access selective education are not the only gifted people around - even though of course some of them are highly gifted too.

But a lifelong commitment to education as a means to engender a meritocracy would undoubtedly lead me to these misguided conclusions.