Gifted and bullied?

[ginnyweeze]

I'm very worried about my 'gifted' son.

He's always enjoyed school and did very well until this term when suddenly his work has gone backwards.

Now he's said his best friend has been stealing his lunch money and that another boy is tripping him up and giving him 'wedgies'. He's also been in trouble for the first time ever for 'pushing' the friend who he says stole from him.

I've asked the school to investigate but they say they couldn't get to the bottom of the missing the money and I've not had an answer about the physical bullying.

It seems to me that something is wrong, especially as his work is going downhill (dropped from level 4c to 2b). But when I spoke to the head about his work she seemed keen to make excuses rather than solve the problem. If anything she was keen to point out that he 'didn't stand out'.

I'm worried that a bright child is an obvious target for bullies, yet the school does not appear to be taking this seriously. My son's also not interested in football and cars, prefers Dr Who and imaginative play, so he has a small circle of friends, mostly girls, only one boy.

I was a bright child at school and also bullied....am I the only one who understands?

This is awful and the Head sounds useless. Could you go over her 'head' and speak to this other boys' parents? If he was previously your son's best friend and your son is a decent sort, then surely his parents should be approachable?

He's home from school and seems like the others have been spoken to. He seems happier...for now.

How old is your son?

One tip we've recently received (and I'm not sure our son is 'gifted' as such, but is bright) is to provide ways for him to link in with the less gifted boys. For example, I dislike the way our big two are so obsessed with Star Wars, but this has given him common ground with the other boys. Likewise, he tends to read stuff way above his age group and then likes to do imaginative play around books other boys are not reading yet. His teacher advised us to give him Horrid Henrys etc that his teacher, the literacy head of the school, despises. However she says that this will give him more common ground.