Finding peers and support for a highly mathematically gifted nine-year-old

[bluebellnoodle]

DS is 9 and is profoundly mathematically gifted - many years ahead of his peers. Gifted in other areas too but the gap for maths is the biggest, at least 7 years. He attends our local state school in London. Until now he has been largely bored with mainstream academics but happy as he has good friends. Now it seems he also needs a community of other children who are of a similar age and ability as he is starting to feel isolated and disillusioned by the maths teaching (or lack of). I am trying to find a suitable teacher for him, which is not easy, because it's hard to know what the curriculum should look like. In the meantime he would love to chat maths (and other topics of course) with children who are like him. Would love to hear from any parents with children who are similar who would like to have a playdate! Or any helpful advice on how to navigate the above, based on personal experiences? Thank you so much.

Thank you for the suggestions. Kings school not an option just yet as he doesn't want to board at the moment and we have another child to consider if we had to relocate.

These posts fascinate me. Imagine being so good at maths that you could ace an A-level paper at 12. Crikey, I scraped a C at GCSE and was chuffed with that. Good luck to your son, hope he makes millions with his talent.

I agree with looking for a super selective secondary, having a peer group and (crucially) teachers that actively choose to work with DC like this is a huge benefit. He won’t necessarily find anyone as gifted as him at maths, but the school will at least have experience of it, and that peer group will mean that there is lots of enrichment like good chess clubs, high level music, opportunities to do Olympiads etc easily available.

The bursary offers can be surprisingly generous, up to 110%, so it’s worth a look at private schools.

Following, because my dc is similar (although probably not quite as advanced as OP's - and we're not in London!)
He's complained of being bored in maths lessons and it's started to make him dislike the subject. He's probably a few years ahead. School just keep saying they can't teach beyond the curriculum.

I am looking into resources outside of school but it seems a great shame to leave him to not enjoy the lessons at school because they're focusing on a set standard.

He generally enjoys school and learning. I hate the idea of him being limited and unable to excel at school, when he's desperate to learn and soak up new concepts. I can't afford private etc either. When I was a child I went to a Saturday maths class held at the local University and really enjoyed it as I met other people like me and got stuck into more unusual challenges.

Mine also enjoys piano.

Ah he can do a GCSE paper, not an A-Level one ;) That would be crazy!

But I do appreciate your kind words wanting the best for him. Honestly if he just ends up happy and able to support himself well enough I would feel relieved. Someone else in the family had a similar gift and the lack of support amongst other things completely crushed that person beyond repair sadly.

Thank you for the message - it's been interesting - some selectives seem super excited and open about the idea of a child like this and others are very clear that they don't really want the bother of it

Ah I'm sorry to hear you're in a similar situation. Is your DC in primary or secondary school? In my experience state schools at primary seem much more flexible with allowing different maths work

Hello OP. My nephews (both of them) had a similar issue, particularly with maths.

Their state primary was inflexible, uninterested and didn’t really have spare resources unfortunately. They were so bored in maths but weren’t allowed to do more challenging work because the school head believed that ‘all children learn at the same pace’.

They are now at an extremely selective secondary and so much happier.

I know their family found Potential Plus UK very useful for both connecting with peers, advice and resources.

Would you mind sharing the names of schools in the former group?