NAGTY membership anyone?

[snorkle]

Interested to know if any mumsnetters children are enrolled and, if so, if they think it's worthwhile and what their experiences are.

I would like to respond to some of the issues raised here as an Education Consultant for the National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC). I am an ex teacher and lecturer, trainer and I am an author and writer. I also have a daughter assessed as gifted at 6 years old who is now 17 yrs old. I have managed & operated the NAGC Helpline (0845 450 0221) for the past 18 months. I am surprised at some of the comments about our organisation, the NAGC. Firstly unless you are a member of our organisation you cannot get onto the parent forumson our website, so I feel someone has possibly got us muddled with another organisation. Secondly, I feel it is unfair to suggest that all NAGC members are "pushy" parents. 99.9% of our members and callers to our Helpline are "concerned" parents wanting a fair & appropriate learning environment for their children, which I feel is what most of us want for our children. I would just like to add, that our organisation has the needs of the child first & foremost at the centre of all it works and advises on. Our Helpline offers high quality advice, information & Factsheets to members and non-members and endeavours to give an impartial and honest approach to all queries received. We deal with all aspects of giftedness, high ability and able pupils/young people and the Helpline is staffed by well trained, knowledgeable individuals who all have a background in education, giftedness and the law. Our Helpline is open Monday to Friday 9.15am till 4.00pm, closed on Tuesday's. In order to support families in their local areas we have a network of Explorers Clubs which run challenging activities for the children and provide support and discussion groups for parents/carers all run by parent volunteers. Do not hestitate to contact me if you would like details of one of the clubs or further information.

Hi

I dug up this thread as my dd is interested in joining the NAGTY, but I want to know more about it before I say yes or no.

Do I have to go anywhere with her, or does it cost anything, and does she have to stay away from home? I am a bit reluctant to agree to her being a part of this scheme as she does lot of activities already but she seems very keen indeed and is pushing me to sign the letter from the school. The school is holding a meeting in about 3 weeks to discuss it, but my dd is giving me a lot of aggravation saying she wants to join it and that's that and she will be very angry if I say no. (omg who would have 2 adolescent girls in the house! I am being bullied by a tiny little 11 year old - help).

Does anyone have any information?

Isn?t it fascinating how different people can react to the same thing in different ways! You say, ?do I have to go with her, does she have to stay away?? whereas I see it as, ?ooh that looks interesting, I wonder if they will let me sit in on the lectures too, and aren?t the Summer Schools a fantastic opportunity for them.?

If she is eager then please let her join as she will meet other like-minded, keen kids. I?m not sure if there is a joining fee anymore, in our day it was £15. The costs of other things vary widely: Summer School is expensive but can be a life-changing experience; Outreach are usually less than £50 and can be free, but there is always the travel cost to consider; the on-line stuff (chat groups and study groups) is free. There are Bursaries available.

My DD also does lots of other activities but still manages her NAGTY stuff too: G&T have no trouble in multi-tasking. Why do you want to hold your DD back!? You should be counting your blessings that you have an enthusiastic child and a supportive school.

Message withdrawn

My DS2 & DS3 are both members of NAGTY. There is no need to get involved in any activities unless your DD wants to. DS3 has signed up for the online reading group and they have both been to a couple of day events, which they found interesting (despite their initial worries that all of the other kids would be "geeks"!) DS2 is thinking about a Summer school this year. There is a newsletter but absolutely no pressure to join in anything unless they want to.

DS is a NAGTY member after being selected from his secondary school.
We intend to take him to quite a few of the day courses and will be very interested in the summer schools
I'm not sure if you can just join or whether the school has to invite you?
but it does offer some pretty good extra activities IMO

Yes, like piffle both of mine were selected by their school.

Wychbold

Sorry to offend you, but cost can be an implication for some people. My dd does other activities too, one of which is very time consuming, so yes I do encourage her greatly, but sometimes I need to balance her needs with the needs of another child in the family. She attends a grammar school, why do you think I am holding her back fgs? Would I be posting on this message board if I wasn't considering it?

Anyway, thank you for your replies. I think I need to look on the website to see more about what goes on - she was involved in g and t at primary school and wasn't greatly inspired by it, said it was boring - but of course she has forgotten this now and reckons it was fabulous. She is very enthusiastic about everything and would do every activity if I let her. However, time generally holds ME back, not her. Thanks again.

By the way, she has been invited by the school it isn't just something I have dreamed up!!

figroll: Sorry to offend you, but cost can be an implication for some people.

Sorry if I didn't make it clear. I thought that I had explained that, if desired, one could pick out the free or low-cost provision. As others have said, there is nothing compulsory in NAGTY- you just chose the bits to suit your interest and/or pocket.

Roisin- do they actually have to be 7 or year 3 for the Sat clubs?Sounds like the sort of thing dd1 would like.

Figroll by joining it costs nothing, gives access to online stuff for you and her, you get a newsletter (well your dd would) which shows a calendar of activities for various ages and locations, you pick and choose accordingly with what fits your schedules.
So it's all completely voluntray and no harm or obligaton by simply signing up and returning the forms
I apologise for not reading your post properly btw
Blame the preggy hormones

Nikkie - unfortunately for you they have to be in yr3, and they also have to be in one of the 4 cluster schools that run it. Sorry!

Your school might be part of something else though. Do ask when she gets to juniors.

Thought it would be something like that.
Will ask when she gets to junior school,need something to distract her from trying to 'teach ' dd2

Bumping again..

DS1 has come home from school with leaflets advertising the Outreach courses and application forms for these courses. Does this mean he is a member?

I think he is interested in a couple of them so will give it a go and see what he thinks.

Ds2 has just been nominated by his school, will join him and see how it goes for it - scholl says membership is free, but like other posters above he is already at an academically selective school, and odes loads of other activities so i really don't want to hothouse him.