Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Gifted and talented

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

Original poster

Possible g & t 2 yr old?

16 replies

hannabelle · 23/08/2012 16:52

Hi everyone, hope it is ok to post here. Dd has just turned 2 and a half and we've been aware for a long time that she is very intelligent. It is becoming more and more apparent that she is ' academically' (strange word to use for her age!) ahead of her peers. She uses adult vocab and sentence structure, has taught herself to add and subtract and now does it based just on numerals and in the last week has taught herself to read. She is happy and thriving at her small church run preschool.

The problem is that we have no choice as to primary for her, the village school has 350 pupils and classes of 30. They were criticised by ofstes for making no g and t provision and letting more able children coast. A friend was told to stop her reception age child reading library books because he had got ahead the level his classmates were at and it was making the teacher's life too difficult with 29 other children to deal with. The thought of sending dd there makes my heart sink, although of course she could be just average in two years time.

(her preschool teachers, both experienced qualified reception teachers have said she is exceptionally bright).

Is private school the answer? The local independent school has small classes and treats children as individuals no matter what their abilities. Or can we press for help in the state sector?

Has anyone had a positive experience with a gifted child in a large class? and what can I be doing now to helP her - more activities like ballet or should I be helping her with numbers and reading? I don't want to make matters worse for her when she starts school!

OP posts:
Nc4567 · 23/08/2012 16:56

Does she have to go to school?

Original poster
hannabelle · 23/08/2012 20:31

Do you mean consider home schooling her Nc4567? I think she could well have as many problems socially if we do that as she may have at the school.

OP posts:
almapudden · 23/08/2012 20:48

Private school if you can afford it. If, as you say, the state school has been criticised for not stretching able children then it really doesn't sound as though it will provide well for your DD.

flexybex · 24/08/2012 10:40

On the contrary, simapudden.
if the school's been criticised by Ofsted for not making sufficient G&T provision, then staff have to address that weakness before the next inspection in order to show 'improvement'.

Original poster
hannabelle · 24/08/2012 18:43

I hadn't thought of it that way flexybex, you may have a point. I think we are going to have to be careful how we approach the issue with the school, I've had so many problems with health visitors/doctors in the past about being supposedly just an over anxious professional middle class mum that I'm very wary!

I gave up work because she wasn't coping at nursery as a very young toddler. She has thrived having far more one to one attention from me, and recently at a small well run preschool. The only way we could afford private school would be for me to go back to work, but in my profession it is pretty much full time work or nothing and that would mean she would be at school until 5pm each day. It seems like far too long for a 4.5 yr old :(

OP posts:
lljkk · 24/08/2012 19:34

If Ofsted has picked up on it then that's exactly the area where you expect to see much improvement and soon.

madwomanintheattic · 24/08/2012 19:38

What flexybex said.

She sounds like ds1. Grin he's the biggest pita out of the three and at ten I'm still struggling with whether to he or not. His much brighter sisters thrive in school. Horses for courses and all that.

redwhiteandblueeyedsusan · 25/08/2012 13:00

you can do a lot at home with a bright child...out of school. it doies not take much one to one reading, a bit of maths and playing games ion the computer to move them ahead quite a lot. school is good for other things... the subjects you do not enjoy.. socila interaction... getting on independently... you may have the frustration of trying to deal iith them... or their complete inability to recognise that dd can actually read I think dd may have been good a t hiding it though

of course not alll schools are suitable for all children.

redwhiteandblueeyedsusan · 25/08/2012 13:06

oh i forgot... it is conmpulsary in one of these threads for "let her be a child"
"it all levels out in the end" to be thrown in there somewhere... thought I would oblige... get it out the way and all that...

oh and move them ahead... not meant to be ahead of others , more keep them learning..

and sorry about the crap typing..

RationalBrain · 25/08/2012 13:18

When the school does an open day for potential new parents, you could perhaps ask how they have addressed the ofsted criticism then? Then it's more a general question, rather than you being a 'pushy mum'.

If the school seems good otherwise, and if private schooling would mean you not being home as much as you would like, then I would be inclined to see how if goes at the state school, and try to work through problems with them. You can always transfer to a different state or private school later.

morethanpotatoprints · 29/08/2012 00:03

Hannabelle.

I think that the school will address the problem pretty quickly if ofsted noted it. Also just because a school states they treat kids as individuals doesn't mean they do. In addition, any school follows the same set of procedures, policies and curriculum within reason, so may not be the best for a g&t child anyway.
Just out of interest what makes you suggest your dd would have problems socially if you chose Home ed.
We have chosen this path for G&T and are gaining a wider social circle.

chocolatecrispies · 13/09/2012 23:14

Yes I agree with morethan, why do you think she will have social problems if you HE? At least look into it a bit. I was 'very bright' and I wish wish wish I had been HE. It's not socially great being very bright at school and I can't see what benefit several years of misery have brought me in the long term...

Original poster
hannabelle · 14/09/2012 10:56

Thank you everyone for taking the time to reply. I suppose I thought that as she already struggles socially and is very quiet, home educating could make this worse as she wouldn't be mixing with other children as much. I have to admit I don't know very much about home education, I wonder whether there are local groups where home educated children can mix?

We have moved on a little: DD has gone back to preschool and is hating it because 'they are all babies there mummy'. All the children she used to enjoy playing with have gone to reception and she wants to go to big school too. There are no 4 year olds so far as I am aware and the 3 year olds aren't ready for reading and writing, so they aren't going to be doing it with DD.

Today she had to be prised off me. I have had a long talk with the nursery manager, a qualified teacher. They think she will improve if she is allowed just to play, but that is just what DD doesn't want, she wants to be learning to read and write with the older children. Apparently I am being overanxious and just because I am bright I am assuming DD is.

Interestingly, DD has just started ballet lessons. At her second lesson this week I could see the teacher raising her eyebrows. At the end of the lesson she called me over and asked whether DD had been identified as gifted in maths, because to her it was obvious that she was spotting and pre-empting patterns.

So, now considering just taking her to surestart groups for the social interaction and home schooling for a year and seeing what happens. We are looking round the state school nursery next week with a view to seeing whether they could cater for her needs better.

I do agree that misery at school is no fun at all, I have to try to put my own experiences to one side but I had a reading age of 14 the week i started in reception and when my IQ was measured it was over 160. Primary school was fine, I always worked either with the year above or had special work to do on my own but secondary school was a nightmare. I was bullied by both the pupils and the staff for being bright so I learnt to be as invisible as possible and never to let on that I found things easy, or to ask for more work. I'm not sure that was a good lesson to learn!

Can anyone point me in the direction of some good information about home schooling?

OP posts:
learnandsay · 26/11/2012 11:42

Been asked to stop her son from reading library books because he's getting too far ahead of his classmates?!! If a teacher said that to me she'd need a holiday to recover from my reply.

hardboiled · 26/11/2012 12:19

What learnandsay said.

Pyrrah · 28/11/2012 12:46

Don't bet on a school raising it's game because Ofsted identified a problem.

The school that DD is at presently has been hauled up for their inability to cater for more able students in the last THREE Ofsteds in a row. My random interrogation of local parents has informed me that this is not about to change any time soon. When I asked the school in person, they were able to give me many examples of how they deal with children who were struggling but admitted they had no provision for the more able other than trying to give them harder reading books.

Also, be aware that not all independents can cater well for all levels, so if you choose that route then ask lots of questions.

I wish you and your daughter lots of luck.

New posts on this thread. Refresh page