Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Primary education

Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

Flip

1 2

Original poster

Bright Children

30 replies

Figgis8 · 21/12/2011 12:40

There has been some coverage in the press recently about bright primary children not reaching their full potential. Our DS is classed as gifted (age 7) and it looks like our 3 yr old DD is following in his footsteps. So far it has been a struggle to get the mainstream school to provide work at the appropriate level for DS and he is getting very bored. I would like to know if any other parents have had this problem and what to do about it. I really don't want to go through this again when DD starts next September...

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

blaaahh · 21/12/2011 13:51

My dd (now 15) was (and still is) classed as g&t..
She was moved up a year in her primary school because she was getting bored easily but after a week we decided this wasn't right for her.
Could you speak to the school and see if maybe for Maths or so,etching he could do that lesson with the year above to keep interested?
Obviously not suitable for your dd but maybe ds?

tallulah · 21/12/2011 15:01

When you say he is classed as gifted who by? My DS1 was on the G&T register at his school because all schools have to include the top % of their cohort.

School should be capable of differentiating work for the higher level. If they won't then you'd probably do best to look for one that will.

festivefireworks · 21/12/2011 15:29

Figgis post this under Gifted & Talented thread which is also under Education. You should get lots of helpful people replying.

mrsshears · 21/12/2011 15:54

welcome to my world figgis8
my 5yr dd has been assessed as highly gifted with an IQ of 145 and on the 99.9th percentile,school are reluctant to see her as this (although they do see her as a bight child) and they treat her as a slightly above average child,therefore this is how she acts in school and is underperforming and not revealing her full potential.
Come over to the G and T board

HoneyandHaycorns · 21/12/2011 23:57

According to her school, my dd is several years ahead of her classmates, but I have always been very happy with the school's approach to dealing with this. They did suggest putting her up a year at the end of reception, but we declined - she is young in her year anyway, and acceleration by a year would still have left a gap between dd and the other kids. So she has stayed with her peer group and is blissfully happy with lots of friends.

So far, the teachers have all been good at differentiating work for her. Could she achieve more if pushed a little harder? Absolutely she could, and if we wanted to hothouse her, who knows what heights she could reach?! But she is six! At the moment, she likes school, she likes learning and she likes playing with her friends. She is making progress all the time, but I don't want her to be racing too far ahead of her friends - yes, she could probably rush ahead and get lots of qualifications at an early age, but to what avail? What would be the point.

As far as I'm concerned, bright kids need enrichment rather than acceleration, and in my own experience, most teachers seem to be quite good at providing this. I think most are also keen to ensure that kids make the expected level of progress as defined by the government, but as a parent, I wouldn't necessarily measured by NC levels!

If your child is bored in school, I would talk to the teacher about what might interest/motivate him, but I wouldn't get too hung up on the issue of "giftedness" and would also look at what you can do to enrich his life in other ways.

HoneyandHaycorns · 21/12/2011 23:59

Saturdaynightsprout · 22/12/2011 00:00

I absolutely love you HoneyandHaycorns

blaaahh · 22/12/2011 00:17

Well said honey dragons

HoneyandHaycorns · 22/12/2011 00:54

JollyJinglyJoo · 22/12/2011 01:06

we don't seem to have the "g&t" thing here. dd (7) has been assessed as having a reading age far above her level, and for a while the school were giving her extra work, but it seems to have fallen away a bit...

the way I see it, she can do so much learning off her own bat/ with us. I don't really see the need to "hothouse" her at this age. I am realistic about it, as I had my IQ measured at her age and scored highly, but as I went up through the years I never felt like I was anything extraordinary- I may just have been further ahead than my peers at that age. Despite little or no extra tuition at school, I still did very well and enjoyed my time at school/uni.

Totally agree with Honey re enrichment. Bright kids are always learning somehow (dd sets herself her own little projects, writes stories and poems etc, as well as asking questions of us about all sorts of things) Interests are a great thing, and not just the remit of the school. Tbh, I don't expect the school to bend over backwards to accomodate my children's needs- I'm happy to add to whatever they learn in school, and I'm happy with what they do learn in school

Sillyoldelf · 22/12/2011 01:13

honeyandhaycorns I love your post . I wish there were more people like you '

breadandbutterfly · 22/12/2011 11:16

If your dc is bored/twiddling his thumbs in lessons then speak to the teacher about more stretching work. agreed, good teachers should provide differentiation but not all do. Also, try to set your dc challenges outside school eg good books to read, musical instruments, other classes etc. As long as they are not bored.

sittinginthesun · 22/12/2011 12:25

Love your post, Honey. Completely agree.

onceinawhile · 22/12/2011 13:15

I feel like Honey about one child of mine who is exceptionally bright and self motivated to learn and I am grateful every day that despite being quite geeky on top he is not bullied, and reasonably catered for. This is though entirely to do with his personality and his class set up, as there is a small group of boys who is very similar and so he is not on his own and does not stand out as much as he could have done in a different class.

My DD1 on the other hand has a hellish time at school. She is in a class with a small group of severely disruptive boys, the cohort is very low achieving and she stands out like a sore thumb. She is not being catered for at all and is constantly disengaging with education. This is partly to do with her character and her desire to "fit in" and the individual situation of the class.

You cannot apply one rule to all, you cannot say that a bright or exceptionally bright child will do well everywhere, because I know from my own experience that this is entirely untrue.

insanityscratching · 22/12/2011 15:16

Honeyandhaycorns that's just the approach I took with my super gifted ds and it worked out just fine. He fulfilled his potential academically but more importantly he loved school, he thrived socially and did every extra curricular activity that took his fancy.

Idratherbemuckingout · 22/12/2011 16:55

When I was at school, and maybe some of you too, we were streamed. Not made to sit on different tables according to what group we were in, actually streamed into A, B and C. So, when I did my reading age test (which I can clearly remember after 46 years!) when I was only just seven (late birthday) and on my very first day in Primary, and came out as having a reading age of 14, I was just put in the top stream. I was never a hard worker, but in our regular end of year exams (who says kids nowadays are examined too much?) I used to come about 3rd with no trouble, in a class of kids of scientists and brain boxes, as we lived near AWRE Aldermaston, and our school had more than its fair share of what you would call G and T nowadays.

Bring back streaming. Much better for the kids. We must have been a class of over 30, and I think most of us would have been classed as G and T nowadays. We all went off to the local grammar schools.
Incidentally, having a high IQ has never been a good thing for me - never having had to work to stay near the top, I never actually learned to work hard! So when I did have to work a bit harder, I couldn't, or wouldn't. Plus I probably was Aspergers which didn't help, as no-one knew then. Ah well.

insanityscratching · 22/12/2011 17:13

Dd is streamed at her primary and has been since year one for numeracy, literacy and phonics. She doesn't in fact spend a great deal of time being taught in her class by her teacher as she is also taught Music, Art, ICT and French by other teachers specialising in those subjects too.

bishboschone · 22/12/2011 17:25

My dd is 8 and is very bright . She has always been so and has done well at school . I hardly ever read with her and don't listen to her read now . I am the total opposite of a pushy parent . We talk , discuss topics and learn together through our lives . She has massive potential to be super bright if she were pushed but do you know what I dont care . If she went up a year she would be out of her peer group and may struggle socially . I just want her to be happy and well liked which she is . This may stem from me being super bright as a young girl and told all the time how clever I was . I don't think it did me any favours and I am normally bright now so I do think we all peak at different times . My dd is always always writing , poems , stories , is very artistic and is never seen without a pen in her hand , surely if your child is bright and motivated they can learn on their own . My daughter was recently bought a book of facts which she loves . She read it cover to cover and regularly brings up facts into conversations , how about so something like this or the work books you can buy in wilko etc . She also loves .

mrsshears · 22/12/2011 17:40

I think there are lots of factors in how well a bright child does in the school environment,personallity being a big one,my own dd could be two different children between home and school.
As onceinawhile said i also don't agree that a bright child will do well everywhere.

insanityscratching · 22/12/2011 18:13

I think if you rely solely on school to meet a bright child's academic needs then you are more likely to be disappointed. Ds fed his own interests and expanded his own knowledge, he also attended out of school clubs for chess (played county level) and ICT. The desire to learn remains even though he's now in ft employment as he is doing a maths degree for fun and has taught himself computer programming.
We saw school as being less the focus of his academic pursuits because he didn't really need teaching he just absorbed everything and more the focus for socialising with peers and enjoying whatever the school at the time had to offer.

Iamseeingstars · 28/12/2011 22:14

We use school for socialising and help support the additional learning needs at home

Iamseeingstars · 28/12/2011 22:30

I also now realise that being bright is very different to being g&t after spending a day at a g&t school.

what area has your dS been identified as being gifted in because there is usually one area identified rather than across the whole spectrum.

With schools not giving appropriate work, this seems to be the norm, (teachers and parents views vary), because as parents we expect our kids to be extended but in reality many children do not show what they are capable of at school. Many teachers like to extend children sideways so that they fully understand the topic completely in all different aspects rather than extend upwards which causes more problems down the line.

onceinawhile · 28/12/2011 22:35

thanks mrsshears, I have followed your story with your daughter and has made me think several times about my own as they share similar traits. I hope things are going well for her!

Iamseeingstars · 29/12/2011 03:29

I also do agree that bright children dont always show their best. In our case, one of the children is now classed as bright but lazy and does the bare minimum in schoolwork. with more cooperation and support from the school there would be a huge difference in the quality of output.

But as my child is classed as above average there is no support to extend whatsover. They only focus on below average children

mrz · 29/12/2011 09:39

There's a thread on TES at the moment which suggests some schools are focusing on brighter pupils (who may be a level 5/6 with a push) at the expense of less able pupils

Flip

1 2