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Gifted and talented

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

Is the GIFED & TALENTED system in schools a good thing or not??????

59 replies

drosophila · 15/07/2007 19:32

DS's school is about to introduce it next year. I got to wondering is it a good thing to label kids so young? DS has been earmarked to be on it but I am not sure what it means. What I did like the sound of was that his hatred of writing will be addressed in a positive way and alternative ways of getting him to express himself will be explored. DS will love that cos he sure hates writing.

OP posts:
legalalien · 25/07/2007 16:26

MB - my SIL went off the leash just before she left the UK - and now there are a bunch of central London 10 year olds who know a LOT about Tasmania

Blandmum · 25/07/2007 16:30

Trouble is that in KS3,4,5 we have so little time it is exceptionally difficult to do anything other than 'deliver the curriculum' Which is and makes me

In ks3 I teach them new stuff every lesson!

The new ks3 curriculum is supposed to be less loaded and will allow more time for cross curriculr stuff

legalalien · 25/07/2007 16:44

Just scurried off to look at the National Curriculum site - good lord! How do teachers put up with all that..."stuff"? There are about a million Inclusion Statements, tailored by subject. Don't get me wrong - I'm all for the principle, but I'd kind of hope most teaching staff would get to the same place by applying a bit of common sense.

[hope I haven't offended anyone - admittedly am not an educationalist]

ska · 25/07/2007 19:17

MB - My DSD (not son, oops) got sat sscores this year of 7 and 8 in all subjects. Does that mean she is very bright and I'm doing her an injustice?- she is just leaving yr 9. I really don't understand any of these newfangled tests - nobody has explained it to me in a way i can understand! Where can i look this stuff up?

Blandmum · 25/07/2007 21:24

7 and 8s would make her the sort of child who you would expect to be going for A/ A* at GCSE

ska · 25/07/2007 21:36

oh that explains it a bit. Of course i did O levels so still mildly mystified. so i will be proud and pleased for her and give her loads of praise!thanks! what would i do without MN?

Piffle · 25/07/2007 23:27

level 8 MB?
Ds1 has been level 8 since beginning yr8
Does that sound right?

Leati · 26/07/2007 04:03

What is the difference between remedial classes and GATE? Both are providing curriculum based on a childs educational level. Challenging kids who are a little bit more advanced, makes school more interesting for them.

Hallgerda · 26/07/2007 21:17

I'm inclined to agree with twinklemegan. It would be better if schools looked at, and dealt with, "sticking points" rather than requiring a label, be it SN or G&T, before any child gets individual attention.

When DS1 (now 12) was in reception, the teacher actually noticed he had an aversion to writing and arranged for him to do some work with a classroom assistant to encourage better (and longer) writing. That wasn't to do with a G&T label, but was probably the most useful piece of intervention he had. Now he's officially good at writing - indeed, he was involved in the school magazine writing exercise mentioned by clerkKent.

In Year 1 he went to G&T sessions with another boy in the class, in which they did rather nebulous and ill-defined tasks, but at least it got them out of Guided Reading. A while later, the G&T teacher retired and was not replaced, and thereafter there was rather patchy G&T provision. The local authority runs some holiday G&T activity days which are quite good fun (so I'm told by DS2 and DS3) but don't sound wildly inspirational. They also run a course of Saturday morning maths classes for a boy and a girl in Year 5 from each primary school in the borough; DS1 found that more worthwhile.

A few things to add to what clerkKent has already said - there was a Year 7 G&T (later expanded to others interested) Carnegie shadowing group, and a Maths. competition (something to do with cars) that was open to anyone interested.

None of the above has left my children with overinflated egos; I wouldn't allow that .

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