Bright Children

[Figgis8]

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...

I left my last school because they were terrible with SEN and were failing my DD very badly.

At the same time one of her friends left because 'she was very bright, and school weren't extending her'

And at the same time another child left the class because 'he was average, and was being overlooked'

So, that school was failing kids who were above average, average, and below average :).

I suspect if a school is doing badly by your child it's not because your child is G&T or has SEN or is average - but because it's a bad school.

Please can someone create a link to the TES thread about bright children? I went to the other site but coun't find anything.

Hi,First time mum here!....My 5year old just started school in september and is now on reading books.....which of course i am very happy about....im worried though as ive been given no advice on how to help/encourage this development and im scared im either not going to do enough or that i might do to much and put her off literacy and/or maths. Any advice would be grately appreciated. Thanks. Di

hi Di84,

Welcome. You've added your subject to the bottom of somebody else's discussion. What you probably really wanted to do was start a new topic. But, with a widely discussed subject such as yours, I'd look backwards through the discussions which are already finished. You've chosen a really popular topic and I'm sure you can learn lots from previous conversations.

"I suspect if a school is doing badly by your child it's not because your child is G&T or has SEN or is average - but because it's a bad school."

Wisely spoken there

When dd moved schools for Yr 7 I was amazed to find how the same school now seemed to be able to support her giftedness and her disability and her anxiety problems. And as far as I can make out they are also doing an excellent job on my slightly below average ds.

I think sometimes we let bad schools off the hook with "what can you expect, she is gifted so she's bound to have problems" or "of course it's hard for the school to deal with SEN"- assuming that the problem is the child rather than the school.

Three years later I am still reeling with shock at how many problems were solvable.