Starting school as an advanced child

[Mummymegs]

Reaching out to connect with other parents of advanced kids. My 4 year old has just started reception class. She has a reading ability beyond her age (at least year 2 standard according to my retired teacher friend). She could pick any book from our bookshelf and read it herself, and her maths is very advanced too.
My question is how to get the school to recognise her abilities? Her nursery report mentioned she was academically advanced and I have told her teacher that she can read. She is only on week 2 of school so I know it takes time. Her first reading book is a picture book which I know is compulsory as part of the curriculum framework, but I just want her to be challenged. I feel a big responsibility as she has so much potential, so I want to do the right things.

That reminds me. OP, you’ll get people saying ‘just let her play and be a child’ and ‘you’re being so pushy, with all these extra activties’. They could be right, but if she is really bright, then she’s likely to want (and need) a lot more challenge and stimulation than other people realise. You know her best, and should make your own judgement.

My dd got excellent basics from primary school (including phonics which have made her an excellent speller, though she could already read), and social learning, but what made her really have to concentrate and think was almost entirely outside school (music, dance, sport, drama, chess). And she was clear from very young that that’s what she needed and wanted.

She went to a selective school at secondary, which was a much better fit - she came out on the first day saying ‘we did learning and writing in half an hour, that would have taken three hours at primary school, it was great!’.

I know she has an interest in languages. - you can foster that at home, while letting her be at school.

My GS - a bit older though - is teaching himself Welsh (we are on the border) and Norwegian (we are not!) online!

Yes DD also uses Duolingo to teach herself languages and took to computer programming easily, she says it's all the same sort of thing.

She also loves language as a tool so poetry, plays, satirical things, Shakespeare have all been massive hits as she's gotten older

There is so much that can be done at home to nurture children.

In terms of her describing the book though, she is supposed to use it as prompts to tell a story not just what is Infront of her. That's one of the very basic, almost childish parts of the autism assessments whether the person factually describes what is on the page or if they tell a story taking note of the characters facial expressions. Not saying she is ofcourse, but that is something they look for

Thanks that’s good to know. To be honest it’s been very hard to get her interested in the picture book. She already knows the story inside out and is very good at retelling it with or without the book. The only way I’ve managed to get her interested is to tell her that the illustrator has drawn the pictures and she is the author of the book so it’s her job to write the words. We also role played as some of characters which sparked some interest as she is good at expression.

She sounds fabulous! Keep encouraging and reading with her at home. Perhaps she might like to learn an instrument

I'd do as others have suggested and also introduce emher to musical instruments at home. Take her to see a live orchestra and pick an instrument. If she can read, then reading music is a fab way to stretch her that will support her overall learning.
When is her first parents evening? It will prob be before half-term so you can discuss things then, they do baselines for all children in reception so ask how she did and go from there, if it differs massively from your own understanding of her maths/English then mention it.

Numbots and spellingshed have good games that help children learn, if you use devices at home.

If you haven't already, you could also teach her to write her own name and the top 100 high frequency words. This will massively speed up her writing. But only if she is enjoying it.

Mine is an early reader she still has a comprehension gap, closing that gap is more important than acceleration. Dd’s school has been very supportive and they are also aware of areas of weakness (i.e. comprehension). Currently they are figuring out the best approach to take. I only mentioned it to her teacher because I mistakenly thought she had brought home reading books at the wrong level (they weren’t reading books and I felt an idiot and a bit embarrassed at having had a moan that they were probably too easy).

If they don’t help you out I would just work on comprehension at home. We also work on expression and starting to understand punctuation.

I would also say I was an earlier reader than DD. Unfortunately it wasn’t a sign of a gifted IQ I just really liked reading so as soon as I could I read everything I could get my hands on, plenty of practice. I was also taught to read just as my DD was.

We talk about whether Dd liked the book or not, what the character must be feeling, why did they do that, etc. She gets a “well done” for tackling a word she finds difficult but thats because she refuses to sound out letters so when she eventually cracks and does it I like to encourage her. Main thing is she’s developing a love for books, thats a really big gift.

Ok yeah we do a bit of that too, Dh has taught her how to play draughts and some card games and is going to start introducing chess, she likes logic puzzles and word searches. Mainly though she does sports because she’s pretty high energy.

I would definitely expose her to a bunch of different things but I think we should be doing that regardless of whether they are G&T or not. They may just pick up a hobby that is meaningful to them.

Agree with this! In the playground the other 4 and 5 year olds couldn't care less about who is good at maths and who is good at English, all that matters to them is having a good time, playing with friends, using their imaginations, having fun, getting messy.....they are only little once!

Reception is about making friends, sharing, learning social norms, eating together, learning to wipe their own bum....Great if they are 'gifted' but they won't and shouldn't get any recognition for it! They don't need to be pushed at this age, and they won't get bored from lack of stimulation either. If in year 1 or 2 she's still way ahead the teacher will notice and hopefully stretch her, but no guarantee....

You can often find that the children who can read on starting school are able to do so only because they have been taught to by an adult. Other parents may wait until the child starts school and leave it to the teachers. You can’t really tell which type is the most gifted on entry as some children just haven’t been taught things but are actually more gifted than some who seem advanced on entry.
Sometimes the early reader will stay ahead, other times they can be overtaken by others. Also remember age related expectations are, of course, adjusted for age so it can be best to wait until the end of Reception to see what’s what.

I’m Indian. This isn’t the case at all. Most of my Indian and African friends teach their kids how to read before school starts using phonics and maths and all of the children, including the ones with sen, have stayed ahead because we don’t stop being teaching and guiding. This applies to everything from sports to music to academics. This idea that being gifted is an ‘innate ability’ is a unique white british way of thinking

School won’t teach much above class average unless it’s an a private school with an academic focus
I was that child - I remember getting to the end of reception and I couldn’t think of a single thing I’d learnt all year academically.
However I learnt a lot about making friends etc during primary school which is just as important, and I did more advanced stuff at home with my family.

Mine were early and advanced readers but we are a reading type family so they just picked it up from us. They are both excellent at English.

My tip would be set up private language lessons with a small group of other parents. Primary schools don’t teach languages so a good grounding is very beneficial. Both mine really took to languages at secondary and dd1 doing a language element to her degree and dd2 doing an extra language privately.

@Ozanj being 'gifted' IS an 'innate ability.'

What you're describing is not children being 'gifted' - it is children getting 'ahead' and being very competent in lots of areas due to the home influences that you have described in your post.

(I am not criticising that approach for a moment, but it's not the same thing as being gifted.)

@Mummymegs your daughter sounds delightful and so do you. I hope her brightness and keenness to please continues, and she has a wonderful time at school.

My daughter was quite similar, and primary school was a mixture of joy and boredom, with lots of lessons learned along the way (for us all!) She's now at grammar school and is still very academic.

Regarding foreign languages, we went to France when DD was four, before she started school. We listened to a basic French learning CD in the car beforehand, and DD loved it. A few months later, she was still keen to learn more, so we found her a small group class with other young children, being taught in a fun way by a lovely French lady.

Eight years later, she still enjoys her weekly 30-minute group session with the same lady, and she has found it easy to pick up a second foreign language at secondary school, and is learning a third for herself on Duolingo.