School for the gifted

[NameChangedNoImagination]

If there was a school for the gifted, would you send your child? I would have loved one when I was a child. Where learning is accelerated to your own pace and where you have time and encouragement to study special interests.

Both are day schools, and both are always full.

If that's the case, I guess I can't help but question whether the "exceptional" label is really a bit of a misnomer. I thought we were talking about genuine outliers, rather than that sort of level of frequency. I genuinely struggle to believe that many of those children wouldn't be better off (with an appropriate level of good quality support) in mainstream education, but I'm not an expert on SEN so I'm willing to accept that I may be wrong. Of course, I recognise that good quality support isn't always available in mainstream with our current funding levels, but I'm talking about what I think would be ideal rather than the reality.

For arguments sake let’s imagine the top 0.1% in a city (like LA) of 4 million- that’s 4000 kids. Which is not an insignificant number.

ComefromAway

Yes, they do likewise, it's only testing that they have improved to the level they expect. It's only gradual so the ones who don't do well really shouldn't be there.
I've seen a couple go my mutual understanding and in both cases the child had not been happy for a while.
Some people think it would be a lot of pressure but it's not.

I don't follow your maths. 4000 is 0.1% of the whole population, surely - not the population of school aged children.

Then, on top of that, only a proportion of the top 0.1% in terms of ability would also have SEN, and some of those would probably have parents who preferred mainstream in any case, so the potential cohort would end up being relatively small. The children would have relatively few same-age peers. Still, I guess it might be workable in a big city with that kind of population size. Not sure how well it would work here outside London, though. The kids would have a heck of a lot of commuting to do.

4M is the total population of LA isn’t it? Or am I wrong?

Ah sorry excuse my terrible maths. Clearly not the area I was gifted in! You’re absolutely right that’s 0.1 of the urban centre itself. I do know that there is clearly enough demand for the schools to be full every year

I watched a brilliant documentary called 2e about the LA school, and it made some really excellent points about the way these kids approach learning. It was very moving actually.

So 600 odd gifted children in LA.

A lot of them wouldn’t be twice exceptional, or want or need or would be able to afford a special school. I don’t know how it would work.

The point I was trying to make (poorly) is that if a school like that Is oversubscribed in LA, there surely must be a market for it in London, a city that is double the size. Even if you chose to run it as a business, to circumvent all the ‘don’t spend money on those kids’ naysayers.

@BertrandRussell the school exists and is hugely successful and valued within its commmunity.

Also jjstbto come back to an earlier point, I see absolutely no difference between being musically gifted or gifted in an ‘academic’ field. It’s like saying to @RomanyQueen1 “your child will be fine, just let her practice music on her own time- use an internet tutorial or take some sheet music out of the library. If they’re that good they’ll work it out for themselves”. It’s complete nonsense. That’s just not how learning works. Why should academic subjects be any different?

What’s the name of the school, Leapfrog?

It’s called Bridges

I'm guessing from a quick google that it's the Bridges Academy. Looks like they take "gifted" kids as well as the "highly gifted". I think that generally refers to IQs of around 130+, so not really just the outliers. It also looks like it's fee-paying.

www.bridges.edu

X post!

There’s a huge difference between being a highly talented musician and a gifted mathematician in terms of school. Apart from anything else, a musician needs a school schedule that allows for loads of practice. She needs other musicians to play with, accompanists, performance opportunities as well as specialist teaching. A mathematician needs access to teaching- but apart from that doesn’t need any other special facilities.

The question was whether there was demand for a 2e school and whether it was successful. I believe the answer to both is yes.

As regards degree of giftedness, with a 2e school I think there would be more range, as IQ tests are not always as accurate within the 2e population.

Yes I believe it is fee paying. So I imagine there would be even more demand from 2e students from underprivileged backgrounds.

So it’s not really just a gifted school-it’s a school for gifted children with additional needs. Is that what you were envisaging? Or were you thinking of a school just for gifted kids?

@BertrandRussell so an extremely gifted scientist needs no facilities, no specialist teaching, no lab group to study with, no field trips or extension opportunities... I just don’t see the difference.

The 2e school discussion was a tangent. OP was originally discussing a school for gifted children. I added in the discussion about a specialist school for 2e children (to declare my interest, one of my sons fits this bill)

I am finding this conversation interesting. I come from a family full of geniuses. I am not saying that to be facetious, it's just the reality of our family. Yet most of us have gone through fairly "normal" educational paths with varying degrees of efficacy.

A PP suggested that a gifted child could take charge of their own education if their needs weren't getting met. I think this is probably much easier in some setting than others. I happen to live in Los Angeles and have brought up my 2E children in the schools of Los Angeles, so can directly speak to the points raised above. (more below)
I too grew up in California where there is a rich assortment of educational types. I went to our local "public" school for elementary and high school and to a weird progressive private school for middle school. But this was in the 60's and 70's when being different was acceptable.
When I got bored with normal classes, I took extra ones and when I ran out of classes to take, I left school (and went to England for a year of A-levels at a fancy "private" school). I went to MIT undergraduate, but that didn't hold my complete attention so I worked in nightclubs and ran a few businesses on the side. I have been through several careers and am still searching for the "right" one. I am glad of the exposure to academic peers in my education while also having the exposure to people of all abilities and socioeconomic levels. However, like the OP I do often still feel isolated.
My dc's are 2E They are highly gifted, but both have significant learning differences (absurdly slow processing for ds and severe dyslexia/dyscalculia for dd). In the end they too followed a similar path to mine, not because I pushed them in that direction but because they found it and I gave them the freedom to follow it.

Dd is currently 16 and finishing high school (very very mixed socioeconomically). She has been taking all her academic classes at Community College for 2 years, but remained at our local high school for the social interaction and because it's a performing arts magnet and she has continued to participate in some of the performing arts electives. Following this path took work and although some came from me, much came from DD. I don't think that she would have had the opportunity to continue her non-academic pursuits in this way if she had been at our local private school for geniuses (yes it actually exists and you have to prove your IQ to get in). She may also have suffered academically in that type of setting because of her dyslexia which although it doesn't make her less intelligent, it does slow her down.

As others have said, there isn't just one type of giftedness. And as such there isn't going to be just one type of solution. Having flexibility has been most helpful to me and my family because we truly don't fit into any one box. It doesn't cost extra to educate my dc's, but it does involve extra thought and work and awareness of the options out there which not every school admin and/or parent is able to do.

Leapfrog, would you agree that the needs of 2e children are likely to be substantially different from the needs of children who are gifted but NT?

I can understand the rationale for a school for 2e children, but don't agree that gifted children who are NT need special provision.

I looked at Bridges for my ds, but the commute would have been over an hour each way (lots and lots of traffic in LA) and we decided that that was too much. Bridges also seems to have a high proportion of children with emotional difficulties. I knew several families who had fought and won to get their local School District to pay for their child to attend Bridges because the local School District couldn't meet the child's needs in a regular public school setting.

Alexa I would agree with you that the needs of 2e children are substantially different from the needs of children who are gifted but NT, but I disagree that gifted NT children don't need special provision. I do think that that special provision can be easily provided with flexibility and differentiated teaching in a regular setting.

but I disagree that gifted NT children don't need special provision. I do think that that special provision can be easily provided with flexibility and differentiated teaching in a regular setting

Actually, Sofia, I phrased that badly. I meant that NT gifted children don't need special schools. I do absolutely agree that they need flexibility and appropriate differentiation within mainstream schools. I should have been more clear.