What to ask school for re gifted and talented?

[codandchipstwice]

Parent's evening last night - went well. School only has G and T for sports - frequently visit other schools for sports outings and always in various championships. They do nothing else, and DCs aren't sporty.

I feel that either there should be G and T for all, or none - and I am concerned that other talents are not being encouraged/rewarded (and for this I mean passion as much as aptitude).

So - what kind of things can I ask HT for in respect of literacy/maths? Am thinking could possibly be extra curricular - like Maths club/school newspaper(blog).

Could you give me examples of things at your dcs school please?

Thanks

cod

IME G+T at primary school is meaningless.

They should be stretching all children, whatever their ability. Most "G+T" registers are the top % at that school, and seems to be more to make sure clever children is crap schools get appropriate teaching. But G+T in special measures school in crappy estate may well be below average at naice middle class school with educated parents.

Dc's school doesn't have G+T registers at all. All achievements are celebrated. For my DC it's useful if they need to miss school for their sport- putting down G+T means the school get brownie points for facilitating their "educational needs", and they get time off authorised so technically don't miss school on paper.

I agree that it is - it just narks kids (and me) that sports people get paraded at assembly, mentioned in newsletter etc and there is no provision for any other kind of extra curricular clubs with for any other interests (sorry - brain frazzled and not articulating very well). I't smore I'm after examples of what equivalent activities the kids could be doing that's not sport - other schools are forever having roman days, maths sessions etc - but it helps with my complaint if I've got something to ask FOR rather than just berating them for a lack . . .

It's not being precious honestly it's just trying to get the school to be a bit creative in their offerings

Our primary sometimes had story contests.
Project work, of course. DD would write 30-40 pages by hand from age 7.
Math: it's been adequate for them to aim for L6 in yr6.

Secondaries have the UKMT.

Ok, so the non-sporting extra-curricular stuff that our primary school offers includes: chess club, lego robotics club, book group, cooking club, two choirs, "orchestra" (this is really a band of about 8 completely random instruments), gardening club... If you would like I can pm you a link to our school website and you can have a look. The school has won an award for its extra-curricular provision, BUT:
most of this (with the exception of chess club) is run voluntarily by parents or staff in their spare time. There is an ISSUE getting people to volunteer - the school can beg, but it doesn't guarantee people will offer. Don't be surprised if the school asks you, when you ask them to be more creative, what you're offering to run.

I thought G&T wasn't even a 'thing' anymore? And you want to redefine it as something for all or none... For passion as much as aptitude. I'm not saying they are bad ideas but I think you'd do better without the G&T label.

I think what is done to help the most able is often not advertised around the school. Extension groups, going up a year for certain lesson, having work set individually in class - parents don't get to hear about them unless they affect their own DC. School newspaper or anything like that I would hope would be done as a lunchtime club open to all comers, like our choir and library group are. The thing is, though, these things tend to happen because a teacher or TA gives up their own lunchtime, or a parent volunteer comes in. Which members of staff should give up their time for these things, or will you be volunteering?

Sadly I work full time which is why I asked for input as I genuinely don't know about these things or how they are run. Again it's nothing to do with the G and T other than the school itself is promoting G&T - so either it's done, and if so all children should be gifted and talented at SOMETHING, or it's not done and that's fine. I don't see how those gifted at sport are promoted but everyone else ignored?

The clubs run by volunteers, that's fair enough - but the suggestions of going up a year - school currently does not offer this - our school did have mentoring where children got to show their work to adults that weren't directly involved in their learning but this dropped off - this kind of thing can really promote self-esteem and pride for little cost. Last year school also got together with other schools for things like Maths Challenges, speaking competitions etc - and ds not done one school trip for over a year (he's year 5).

School have changed curriculum this year and yr5 teacher confessed that the balance is totally off as they are having to cram to the new curriculum before end of year assessment to give a fair reflection of ability opposed to amount of curriculum covered. It's possible this has reduced their time for the non essentials.

The school where I volunteer has similar clubs to those mentioned by others. Sports teams, orchestra, choir, sewing, gardening, ceramics, dance, Brownies, conversational mandarin (run by one of the mums), origami (also run by one of the mums). Most of the clubs are run after school by outside people, so you have to pay extra to take part.

I think it is poor if the school don't cater for anything other than sport in terms of extra curricular activities offered to the children.

What the teacher has said is absolutely right: if your DS is year 5 then I'm afraid he's in a really bad place - not school's fault: the government changed the national curriculum as of September 2014 and age-related expectations changed (were increased). Year 6 are still following the old NC, and children lower down the school will have longer to play catch-up, but the children in this year's Y5 are furthest removed from their new ARE, so will have the biggest ground to cover in-year. If that makes sense?
In terms of celebration, maybe you could speak to the school about celebrating the full range of accomplishment or achievement, rather than only sport? Couch it in the terms of, "it's unfortunate for unsporty children that only sporty achievement currently seems to be celebrated, when there is such a wide range of talents that the whole school community has". Maybe?

I think Y5 are particularly hard pressed this year, yes.

I think there are 2 separate things here. Extension groups/going up a year for certain subjects are just ways to give the right differentiation to the most able, not a building self esteem thing. (AFAIK it's just Y1 phonics here, I've never heard of it in juniors but then why should I?). Inclusive extra-curricular stuff or the celebrating of other achievements is a different thing entirely.

I think so much of the extra stuff depends on teachers "going the extra mile" above an already very full-on job, and maybe that is just a step too far this year. Maybe something could be done in assembly to spread the achievement though - houses competing for points, competitions between classes for tidiest classroom, most recycling or something. Our school has various roles for kids like green reps, charity reps, school council, class gardeners. Maybe you could organise y5 to run a charity cake sale or something - shouldn't take much time and would only need an hour or so to run, but would be an achievement for those involved.

The issue with extra curricular activities is that teachers have to run them in their own time unpaid which won't be popular, or an external,provider who charges has to be accessed. Most schools wouldn't limit access to any extra curricular to gifted and talented only particularly of they dint have such a programme. I think extra curriculars are not the way to go here, children should be stretched and challenged and developed i normal lessons.
Surely the school do celebrate and recognise academic as well as sports achievements, if not perhaps that is something worth making a suggestion about.

Our school has introduced pen licences for the juniors. Only those who write neatly and legibly qualify for one. Suddenly they are all making a great effort with their handwriting. The names of those who have qualified are pinned up.

They also have a book of kindness where kind things are celebrated in assembly.

Another local school had a book week and children were rewarded for being spooned reading books in unusual places in the school. I think this was sponsored as the children won a book token - I think.

Our school has a choir, dance club, gardening club, chess club (which participates is tournaments with other schools).

spotted reading not spooned! Stupid auto correct.

Thanks - yes I will separate out the extra curricular stuff as the staff are wonderful but amazingly under-resourced as is, so I absolutely don't expect anything further from them

The insight into year 5 being hard is useful too, I thought it was just our school so interesting to know it's across the board.

love the kindness book and the spotted reading thing though, that's exactly the kind of thing I could suggest