If you have a child on the G&T register

[AugustRose]

What happens in your school and what extra things do they do?

DD1 (13) has been nominated as gifted and talented in French for the last two years, however the letter says that only those with multiple nominations actually go on the school register

I know that the G&T children attend extra sessions and attend events but it feels like they are saying she is pretty good, but not good enough so we won't bother to encourage her further.

Perhaps this should be in AIBU?

My dd is on the g&t register for both English and maths. She has never done any extra activities as a result of this. Tbh I don't even think about it any more. To me it's a not very useful label. I wouldn't put it on aIBU unless you are wearing a flame retardant suit

Dd has a 'global' listing

She's done sod all extra and has actually missed out on trips because she does the wrong language, history trip was first come first served and she was off sick and an engineering project ran at the same time as a choir tour she had already committed to

It's always been a bit variable.

In KS2, the school provided someone to teach him at KS3 level in the two subjects where there was the biggest gap. He was given opportunities to use the labs at a nearby secondary for practical work.

He is now in a partially selective secondary, and in most subjects there are several children working at that level, so the school are able to differentiate the work appropriately.

Maths: there are two sets of children who would be considered g&t in most schools. They can do the UKMT, the Hans Woyda competitions, the Southampton University challenge, weekly Maths club, occasional workshops.

Science: he is the only one at that level but the gap is smaller than it was at primary and they are set for Science which helps.

French: a handful of them and the others in top set aren't that far behind; there is a French club and they have visited the Europa language centre.

He has been identified as g&t in other subjects but I don't think the gap is that big so whatever they are doing in class should be fine.

My kids have done fuck all extra, except in maths.

OP: how big is the gap between the level she is working at in French and the rest of her teaching set? If it's significant then I think I would email her French teacher with a gentle query about differentiation.

Gifted and talented just means top of the class, in real terms. It's great, obviously (!), but it's not a sign of heretofore undiscovered genius or real giftedness, unfortunately. Depending on the cohort, even relatively average children can be deemed G & T.
No sour grapes btw, two of mine are G & T for Maths and English, for all it's worth.

Our school doesn't have a 'register' or a 'list'. Children who are ahead are given extra in class, sometimes outside class, DS is three sub levels above the next highest achiever in his class and he is given extra work in class and outside class. Some children will go to the year above once or twice a week for a specific subject. Our school is very much of the mentality that the teacher is in the best position to integrate the highest achievers in the class and challenge them appropriately.

This is working fine, however I know that DS is capable of much more than what he does at school, but I am happy that he has to practice and apply what he learns together with his classmates.

The school probably is supporting your daughter further, just within the class setting. Talk to the teacher about it and ask what you can do at home with her.

Thanks for the replies - don't worry I wasn't really going to put in in AIBU! I'm not that brave

She does get pushed in her French class and gets on on brilliantly with the teacher. I'm not sure how much higher she is but at the last parents evening her teacher indicated she would be looking at an A/A+ at GCSE if she continued at her current rate.

She was listed as G&T in literacy in primary but nothing every happened with that either.

I'll just take it as a nice thing for her to have been included in and encourage her in her other subjects. She is an able child just not very confident but the French teacher has brought out the best in her.

My DD's school is pretty good in this area. She is currently in yr8 and so far has:

Maths - Royal Institute 8 week course at local University on Saturdays- 5 from school. Regular 'Express group' sessions at lunchtime.

Music - Trip to see the London Philamonic Orchestra, in school time. Group of 10 of them.

History - A special history project that they worked on in their own time. Five of them interviewed ex teachers and students and then wrote a brochure on the history of their school.

French - An afternoon session with a French author about writing colloquial French.

Also G&T for science, but nothing done special so far but believe that there is a 2 day science fair they go to in year 9.

It is all good, but mostly in their own (and the family!)

Ours is a challenge and extension program which every child who has combined CAT scores of over 120 is entered on to. It includes talks from outside individuals and a yearly project on a particular subject, usually a wide topic the other year it was water.
So year groups have over 50% of the year on challenge and extension other groups have much fewer. By not being the top 10% it means that in a particularly bright cohort every child who would benefit gets to take part.

Y7 DD's Middling State Secondary doesn't sort out "G&T" for her cohort until sometime this summer term which is sad, but scoring above a CAT score of 120 is apparently one way to make the cut.

I can't decide what's best i.e. a local top 10% or a national top 10% (a score of 120+ is roughly that).

A local top 10% might be a good thing in some schools because even if they're lower down the scale compared to a super-selective, they probably still get to twiddle their thumbs quite a bit in lessons because they're ahead of the majority.

Then CAT scores can throw up some false negatives and the scores do have error bars, so regardless of method I do wonder about the "right" children ending up on the wrong side of the threshold. Even assuming they were perfectly accurate, is a score of 119 that different from 120 etc?

Whatever system you use there will be error. For me using a CAT score is better particularly as DD's cohort is very strong at least 45% of the year will make the cut next year.

Whatever system you use there will be error

Yes, but imagine being the parent of a child who scored 119 where the typically unvoiced caution will be something like 90% confidence their true score is between 114 -124. Worse, imagine that the same child also hit the ceiling for one of the sub-tests.

I can see both sides, but as a general principle I'm slightly tilted towards the local top 10% give or take a bit. If half the year are bright then why aren't they routinely working at a faster pace and doing more challenging and extending stuff in normal classes? Whereas if just a few in a class are bright then they'll likely spend most of their day working well below their capability and some G&T stuff should compensate a little (not that much unless you're very lucky).

I think the gifted and talented register stuff is bollux. There is no way that the top 10% of kids should get preferential treatment or children should get preferential treatment for having a high cats score. I feel resources should be aimed at the top 0.1% whose needs aren't met in the classroom. Profoundly gifted children are seriously let down in the UK.

Both my children have been on the gifted and talented lists at primary. Ds found he was no longer deemed more able when he got to secondary as he was mixing with more middle class children.