What kind of G and T activities would you like to see in your child's school?

[GetStuffezd]

Hello all,

I work in a Junior school and will be co-ordinating G and T this year. There was nothing G and T-related at all last year, which is a shame as we have some wonderful children who love learning.

In the first few weeks I was going to give to all teachers some information about what being G and T means (NOT simply being bright) and create the register. But I'm not sure what to do next. Obviously children are G and T in different ways.

Every Friday PM we have "house learning" which is a range of mixed-year group activities/sports/crafts, etc. So this is most probably when I will have the G and T group. Can anyone suggest how I could use this time? Is there any sense in having a maths-based activity, for example, and including children who on the register for G and T English?

Any ideas would be really appreciated!

i don't see how you can usefully treat them as a group when they have very little commonality itms.

i'd use the time for them to do higher level stuff in their field that they are gifted in - ideally by working with the local secondary school or college and having a teacher there they can go spend the afternoon with and go to the lessons of. failing that i'd make it a time where they could all be working on an extension piece of their own choosing - so each chooses a project writes a plan and uses the time to execute it.

It might be worthwhile to read up on "twice exceptional" children - there is info on the Potential Plus website. There may be HLP children who are not on G&T register because of Curriculum Levels suppressed by dyslexia for example, but put them in a debate or a creative thinking situation and they may shine very brightly.

DS1 attends an invite only maths club at his school. He loves it as it for all year groups and the Y6 teacher runs it.

Ds is in accelerated learning group, they have workshops similar to how you describe your Friday afternoon slot alternating English, Maths and Science. They do this for year 5 onwards (school goes up to yr 8) so they split into yr 5, yr 6/7 and yr 8. The workshops are real life 'investigations' so for example science was a crime scene, maths they were spys cracking codes. They are grouped in 3 or 4's so that, for example ds is slightly weaker in maths, he works during the maths investigations with stronger kids and they assist each other. He also goes to an invitation only English club where they are encouraged to write more extensively and can choose to enter writing competitions if they want to.

DD1 went to the local secondary school on a day for more able pupils (basically a thinly-veiled recruiting exercise!) This book was the thing she came back raving about. It's basically philosophy and critical thinking rolled into one. It could easily form the basis for some animated discussions between children of different interests and strengths.

I also think she would have relished the chance to do some really tricky maths at school (DH does some with her at home). Things like the games and puzzles on the Nrich site.

I went to a junior school that had a special program for G&T pupils.
We did things like typing, calligraphy and drama.
I would vote that OP does stuff like extended learning of MFL, creative writing and science experiments.

DS (used to be on G&T lists) had to do critical thinking for y8 history and he HATED it. Has put him off of history completely. He just wants history as simple facts & stories.

Crikey, I just love what Labro's school are doing and I think my DS would too! It really sounds like fun! Is it a private school Labro?

Our school does Code Club. It's a computer programming club after school once a week for years 5 and 6.. My son loves it.

It needs volunteers to help run it, but you can Google their website for more info.

At DD's primary older G&T pupils did a STEM programme which incorporates Science, Technology, English and Maths. They also did a Primary Leaders course.