School haven't told us DD is G&T. Why?

[MaQueen]

Apparently DD2 was G&T at primary school. We were never officially told, but a friend (who was also governor) told me in passing.

DD2 passed the 11+ with a really high score and is now in Yr 8 at a grammar school. She's really flying academically, with 7.9s virtually across the board in all subjects in her exams at the end of Yr 7.

Anyway, she came home yesterday and mentioned she'd seen her form register and next to her name was 'G&T'.

I just wondered if it's normal for schools to not officially notify you that your child is G&T?

G&T used to be able to apply to any curriculum area, not just academic. The funding for it was absorbed into mainstream funding some time ago.

But each school should be monitoring and stretching each pupil, increasing their aspirations be it in maths or mfl or music or sport.

Ask about her strengths, weaknesses/ development areas, and what the school is doing about them. And what you can do to support.

I was informed in writing.
3 of my 4 are, but we were never informed in writing. It was only at parents evenings that it was mentioned, just in passing.

Don't understand all the snipey comments either, MaQueen was only asking

We were never told dd was on the G&T register (for dance) at school either. When I asked whether they could look into it, they said she already was.

Complete waste of time mind you (the only thing it helped with was when she needed time off school for performing etc).

rafe

I did not say that all of the replies were non G&T parents, just that the snipey ones likely were as its seems to be a common sport on here for posters to wade in with snipey, unhelpful remarks when this forum shows up on the main feed. No surprise really that its a pretty dead forum & parents of G&T kids post questions elsewhere, where its likely to be better received & far better understood that in most cases it is way more than just "learning more easily"

& FTR my "precious snowflake" has been seriously ill for the last few years, so just keeping up is a blessing

As far as I know,all schools used to have to have a G&T register but that is no longer a requirement.

Our DCs school don't tell you but then from time to time they get invited to special trips/sessions called "Gifted, Talented and Passionate" events. So you can sort of guess which one your DC might be, although of course if your DC goes on, say, the cookery GT&P event you might interpret this as your DC is clearly gifted and talented at cooking and therefore destined to win Bake Off when they grow up, but actually they are shite at cooking and burn everything but madly enthusiastic and that's why they got to go on it.

I was G&T and much feted. I left school after GCSEs, got pregnant, did a load of interesting drugs and have never had a career. I have complex mh issues and have never done anything with my epic clever brain. My parents were very normal and middle class before you blame them.

Life is good now but purely by luck, not IQ.

I used to work in a Grammar School. All the pupils were classed as Gifted and Talented. The whole thing was utterly meaningless, but the occasional things that were put on for G&T were offered to everybody. My guess here would be, as PP suggested, that the label shows up for her because it came through from Primary School.

But Rockin not all MNers who are parents of "G&T" children will choose to use this board and that may well be because they dislike the G&T label rather than because they are envious.

So "snipey" comments could just as easily come from informed parents of "G&T" children.

I'm very sorry to hear that your daughter is unwell.

Where I work we don't inform parents normally, only gifted pupils occasionally.
We use Gifted (capable of exceptional performance against national levels), able (most able in their cohort based on SATs and CAT tests) and talented (particular ability, so could be art, PE, drama etc).
It is useful information and for the teacher means they can plan in more challenge for those identified and any others.
Ofsted is hot on challenge, as it should be, but I'd like to think all pupils are stretched in lessons and all reach their potential.

I was called in about DS when one teacher was the lead for SEN, and there was a formal plan for how to develop his learning - this was at the start of Yr 1. Now another one is, nothing is formally told, ever, and I only found out he was now on it for more stuff because we had a meeting about his autism, and it was mentioned as an aside. It doesn't make any difference, tbh. Autism does because he has planned support, but a good school will stretch all their kids appropriately anyway, and the focus will therefore simply be a box tick exercise for OFSTED as far as I can see.

She's doing well and she did well, so it's all good.

Sorry, that wasn't lucid: DS is gifted, and is also autistic. The focus, absolutely correctly IMO, has always been on the latter. But the level of info I have been given on the former has varied enormously from staff member to staff member. I don't really care, as unlike the diagnosis of ASD it's not a label that unlocks anything worth having.

It doesn't mean G&T nationally but G&T within the context of the school.

OP should be totally clear that it's not a diagnosis of anything, and in schools it's pretty much a box-ticking exercise. That she wasn't even informed shows how little importance the school places on it. There is no test for G&T status, it doesn't actually mean anything, a G&T kid in one school could be totally mediocre in another. A G&T student in one subject could be totally mediocre in everything else.

I think ma is at a bonfire do and doesn't care any more, especially after some of the reponses

FWIW Ma this happened to my DD this year (abroad) and I would have liked to have known/be told too.

Varies from school to school OP.
Some schools will ask teachers to inform parents at the open evenings, others via letter, some won't inform parents at all.
Particularly now, (as there is so much change to the curriculum) the school may be delaying updating the g&t register as information regarding assessment and support for g&t students will also change.
I advised the staff who I worked with to include tasks for the g&t students on their planning so we could check that their needs were being met. As long as you feel that your dd is being sufficiently challenged, I wouldn't worry.

I think Einstein's mum and dad were told he was G&T

My child was identified by p their high scores in CATS so that would/ could be standardised across the country.

But Rockin not all MNers who are parents of "G&T" children will choose to use this board and that may well be because they dislike the G&T label rather than because they are envious.
^
So "snipey" comments could just as easily come from informed parents of "G&T" children.^

TBH thats even worse IMHO, MaQueen asked a perfectly valid question & parents who should have more understanding of her query wade in with snipey unhelpful remarks - not nice

Though I do understand not liking the G&T label, I've never liked it myself either & there doesn't seem to be any consistency with it anyway, so what is the point, plus it can cause problems too. At one point DD was the only one in her year on the register, which was weird & that years teacher took issue with & DD was very unhappy in school as a result. It definitely seemed to mean more years back. On the back of the G&T register, when he was 16, friends DS was offered a special 2 week taster experience at Oxford Uni with view to offering him a place, he turned it down to go camping with his mate

I'm very sorry to hear that your daughter is unwell.

Thank you, thankfully she is doing much better than she was & is back in school & doing very well considering, though the 10 mile wide anxious perfectionist streak that goes hand in hand with being a clever glogs is off the scale atm, but fingers crossed this will hopefully settle as she catches up with herself again - fingers crossed

Pfft. The G & T threads that I have read always just seem a breeding ground for boasting and minimising OPKs genius. To be surprised at snitty comments is at best naive, which one can guess this poster isn't and at worst disingenuous, especially given the amount of detail given in the OP.

See my post Derxxa.
Noble is right, it's boxticking. Just as teacher's have to show who is SEN or Pupil Premium (or is it "disadvantaged" or some such now?).
When teachers know their pupils they know where and who to challenge and how. One of the most frustrating girls in my form is G&T and is so bloody lazy/lacking in motivation. I am glad she isn't in any of my classes.

Time was the top 10% would be given the label G&T at school. Of course schools and their demographics vary wildly so the interpretation of what it means varies, as does whether one should tell the children.

I do a lot of recruiting graduates. From time to time I see applications where a candidate's example of achievement or excellence is having been on the G&T register at school. Invariably these children have under-achieved because they're 21 years old and have been at university for three years and yet their greatest achievement was some one putting them on a list 10 years ago Their GCSEs are usually ok/pretty good but A levels are often dire, uni career ok. I often wonder if those people would have benefited from not being told and just being given some extra focused attention particular to them??Clearly my sample is flawed because those who are told and go on to brilliance would have no cause to mention such an inconsequential thing, but I see enough of it for it to concern me that these particular students were failed by being told.

So I dunno and it probably doesn't matter

We get termly letters congratulating dd on her data point scores being in the top 5% of her cohort which might be alluding to G&T.She does get invited to enrichment activities because of her scores though. Usually too busy ensuring that her SEN are met to think about the significance of the termly letter tbh

Yes Rockin ds was a member of NAGTY when he was at school years ago and did lots of uni weekends and enjoyed it a lot. Our local uni held regular sessions for NAGTY students with an interest in medicine (ds wasn't) which was very good apparently.

Yes Rockin ds was a member of NAGTY when he was at school years ago and did lots of uni weekends and enjoyed it a lot. Our local uni held regular sessions for NAGTY students with an interest in medicine (ds wasn't) which was very good apparently

Now that sounds much better Insa*

Though DDs current school don't seem to bother with G&T register which I am pleased about, especially given current circumstances but they do still seem to work very closely with local Unis & Med schools, not sure if it would be as useful as what you describe though