G & T Register - any point?

[IndigoBell]

Discussing G&T policy at govs meeting tomorrow, and started thinking about it...

Am I right in thinking there used to be a req for 10% of kids to be on the G&T register - but the req is gone, and now it is totally up to the schools discretion?

Does school even have to have a G&T register at all?

Is there any point of having 10% of kids on the G&T register? Wouldn't it be better to just have 'gifted & talented' kids on it?

Is there any point in it at all? Or does it just generate more paperwork for teachers? I mean you can offer differentiated and extension activities without having a register or some kind of IEP document.....

I will do lots of things to please my HT. I thought about games club, but you hit the same snag really-chess or scrabble require particular attributes which not all gifted children have, and which some non-gifted children have, and lumps kids falsely. I'd much rather run a French/Italian (even Latin, Greek or classical Arabic-that should get me brownie points) club open to all comers and meet the needs of some G&T kids for stretching than decide that G&T kids need an activity.

Basically, since I have to do it, I think it'll be an extended project club, a sort of mini-creative curriculum for a broad range of kids with a broad range of abilities, and it'll be to do with medieval history, and involve everything from cooking to manuscript manufacture and a bit of Latin and history. Not because that's necessarily any good (although it's as good as anything else I've thought up in the last couple of hours), but because PhD teacher teaches G&T club on PhD topic will be so many brownie points I need never buy chocolate again.

Just out of interest, to other G&T coordinators, what do you do? I really don't want to do anything other than provide a port-of-call and access to activities and help for willing colleagues-just as a SENCO might-but I think the pressure here is to do more and basically coordinate a policy all on my tod. I am actually very cross and worried about it-I have no expertise other than having an excellent academic record (which is entirely the reason I always hated working exclusively with 'bright' kids) and have half completed an MEd concentrating on raising literacy standards for underperformers, which is clearly the absolute opposite end of the spectrum. It could be fun, and the kids will undoubtedly benefit, but I am not amused at the unspoken caveat of my employment being 'do this' given I was interviewed for this post fulltime only three months ago and it wasn't mentioned. Just out of interest, Indigo Bell, who is going to be responsible at your school and what support will they have?

Your extended-project club sounds fantastic to me.

Indigo - I thought the top 10% register meant that any G&T kids would get on it and therefore not fall through the net because they didn't havepushy parents. The question of what you do with them then is a separate matter. Summer School isn't very popular because what normal child wants another 2 weeks school?

Many gifted and talented children aren't in the top 10% of a class because their gift or talent aren't in areas that are measured by the government

Ok, just had govs meeting.

I asked the staff governors if they thought the G&T register was useful. They looked embarrassed and then said it was. So I didn't push the subject.

Adela - I like your idea. I'll pm you.

alice - how does being on a list stop you falling though the net? My DS is on the G&T register and is certainly not being set stretching or challenging work.

School are very happy with him because he hardly walks out of class now, and hasn't hit any children this term - and, oh yeah, he's also made 'good progress' academically. But at school he isn't working anywhere near his capabilities. Not even close. ( ie at home he's working at GCSE level - at school he's working at level 4. I'm really looking forward to asking for the days off next year because he has GCSE exams to sit.)

Whereas my DD who has learning difficulties but is also very bright (according to the EP report) isn't on the G&T register - but if you are taking the top 10% she def should be. And she is def falling through the net. None of her work is set at the right challenge level.

And I truly believe my school is very good, and they're doing a lot for DS and DD. I just don't think the G&T register has had any part in making them a good school.

Indigo - yes, of course they then have to do something useful with the G&T kids once they're on the register. But getting on it shouldn't depend on parents insisting that their dc is gifted; it should be a bit more objective than that. Probably best to get different work in class, not extra hours/days?

Alice - but all kids should get differentiated work in class. Why should you need to be on the G&T register for that?

@IndigoBell. Thank you for the PM. For brief public consumption, I too think the G&T club is hazardous. However, it does highlight a strange anomaly in our (and many other schools') 'extra curricular' clubs, in that we are a two-form entry school with about a quarter of our teaching staff having worked outside of primary education, with several multi-lingual members of staff, yet offer nothing but sport and music. The development of a slightly more open 'academic' side to those activities might be sneakable in under the G&T remit, but without being closed to all.

@Cat64. I don't think the register helps, but for this school I think a very prominent G&T policy with concrete manifestations will be very important. I reckon about 80% of our kids would have gone private if they hadn't got in. And part of keeping that intake and our links with this horribly plush community will undoubtedly be a shiny part in the prospectus dealing specifically with G&T, with prominence given to clubs and specific stretch activities, and heavy use of 'Dr X' as coordinator. And, again, none of that actually means we'll be any better at identifying or meeting the needs of gifted children in any or all areas, but it will sway opinion.

My DSs have been put on the G&T register by their school and so far as I can see it means absolutely nothing. It's just a label.

Two of ours are on it and as far as I can see, they miss crucial lessons in class to do stuff in the playground with leaves!

Indigo - I agree. But have heard of kids with same Stage2 grades treated very differently at same secondary school due to difference in parents' 'pushing'; don't know how common that is.

I am a primary school governor and have just returned from a G&T event at our local high school. The whole morning was run by Y10 'able' mathematicians and catered for 35 Y4 (junior school) and 35 Y5 (middle school) supposedly G&T students. In reality, all of the students there had been chosen by their teachers because it was thought that they would benefit from the experience, and they did. Being on the 'register' did not seem to be a prerequisite for attendance but undoubtedly the presence of a register is what leads to these events being scheduled. So, in that respect, I'm all for the register.

No they ran in my LEA long before the G&T register came into being but were called "challenges" each school in the area sent two pupils from each class then along came G&T and suddenly it was a G&T challenge

Re: lunchtime clubs for G&T pupils. I took over a Humanities club that our history & geography depts had designed for and targeted at KS3 G&T pupils. It was a horrible failure, had a minute attendance rate, and the teachers were very happy to wash their hands of it and hand it over to me. I removed the G&T provision aspect of it, made it much more fun, opened it up to the whole school, and launched a lunchtime Latin club to run in conjunction with it.

6 months later, I have more pupils than I know what to do with, run either Latin or Humanities every lunchtime, and 10 of the regular attendees are starting independent short course GCSE Latin in September. When I audited the pupil data last week, I found that 50% of the students were on the G&T register for one or more subjects.

I firmly believe that if you create challenging, entertaining provision, the kind of pupils you want will self-select, and kids who've never been recognised as especially gifted will self-identify in droves. If you think of it that way, a G&T club is a fabulous opportunity. Just make sure you don't call it a G&T club, and don't make it by invitation only.