Exceeding in all areas in reception?

[HTK]

My son is just finishing reception, he is my oldest so no experience of this. Now obviously, to me my DS is the brightest and most special boy on G-ds green Earth but with my realistic head on he seems an on-the-bright-side of average 5 year old. He is reading at level 5, has a great vocab but seems atrocious at Maths. Lots of friends etc.

We have been to two parents evening and at both have been given the impression he is a lovely bright boy, but no comments made on him being in anyway outstanding.

Anyway, his report has come in and he is Exceeding in all areas. I was surprised because I would have thought we would have known in some way if he was above average in every area. Like maybe we would have to DO some unspecified something. Is this common? Or could it be our NQT class teacher being a bit over enthusiastic? And do I need to do anything with him now?

To get exceeding, he has to show evidence against national standard, so, nothing to do with NQT being over enthusiastic. And no, I don't think it's common. I only saw maybe 2 posts saying they got exceeding for all 17 areas last year on MN.
He is a bright and advanced for his age. But I don't know if you can tell at this point, if he is gifted or just early bloomer.
And to answer "do I need to do anything with him now?", I would say just follow his lead and provide him with opportunity and resources of his interests.
Mine didn't get 17/17 exceeding, but doing very well. One of his class mate who achieved 17/17 exceeding(parents were telling everyone in playground) is just slightly above average kid, and some who were way behind in reception are top of the class now in KS2.

My DD got exceeding in everything last year (in reception) but we knew it was likely as her teacher had told us it was pretty unusual to get a child who is good in all areas rather than in just one or two. We have other children who are above-average but she is super-bright. We don't do anything in particular with her other than provide books/activities etc that she's interested in. School have suggested moving her up a year (private school so quite flexible) but I don't think she'd be emotionally ready for that.

He is definitely very bright, as long as he's happy and progressing I would continue as you are. He may be an early bloomer, gifted or continue as being one of the top of the class.

DS2 was exceeding in all bar one criteria (he's just finished year 2) - he is definitely a bright boy and picks things up easily but he's not gifted or talented.

TBH, some of the criteria is more to do with maturity, so Winter born children like my ds has advantage, while children who are summer born can have significant disadvantage due to age.

Hi,

My son is 5 and is going to be 6 in August He has been tested with a reading age of 10 and spelling age of 10. He is free reading. They took him off the bands as he was finding them too easy.

His maths scores have put him in the top 12%.

He isn't classed as G&T and to be honest it is too early to tell. Children develop at different speeds and they all catch up eventually. He is very much abnormal child.

Level 5 in reading is the right age range for a 5 year old. To be G&T I think the scores have to be much higher.

Keep doing what you are doing. Your child is clearly doing well.

Actually, my comment was wrong. I don't think you can tell if your dc is gifted or not, only from getting all exceeding for early years goal. But teacher maybe able to tell, since they know in depth about a child.
Those who shows significant ability sometimes do show from very early age, ime. (FRom my own experience, and reading posts on MN.)

DS was below average in all areas, in all years, at primary school. Then he was average in high school, a non selective comprehensive. He left university with a First class degree.

Who knows what the future holds.

First thing to say is Congrats to your DS.

Our DD did this last year, so I had a trawl around at the time. This is what I picked up.

I believe it's top 1-2% get all 17. Older girls fair better, younger boys worse in the scale.

Has the teacher over egged it? I read through some opinions, and the consensus seemed to be that there's no reason for a teacher to, and some reasons not to (it sets the targets for KS2, so the best they can do is remain on par with your DS), also the criteria is pretty binary - have they been seen doing X. Many schools just don't have the time to gather all the evidence.

Is he G&T, - too early to say, I took a look into the message board on this site for G&T, and ran screaming. I think it's more about single subject excellence, if DS is not knocking out original compositions or the like, then I'd suggested not going there, same with tutors, would seem to far too early.

So.. what else.. it's a little annoying, not mentioning it in the playground is pretty obvious, but then it's difficult not being able to broach the subject, to get a comparison, is DD far ahead than other kids, or just a little? No idea.

In the end we settled on carrying on as we were, trying to engage her curiosity, praising effort over attainment, being kind - that sort of thing. Personally I think that kids switch on to school at different times, that your's has switched on early is great, and in a couple of years the picture will become clearer, as he gets more competition in class, and as particular talents emerge.

Miaow, when you say photographic memory, what is it, really?
My sister has it, and my ds too, I think. But with ds, I am not quite sure, he can remember tiny details of everything, but he is also capable of forgetting something quite easily. For example, he goes upstairs to get something, then start doing something else, and totally forget why he went upstairs in the first place. Are these different from having a photographic memory?
Do you remember things that doesn't interest you as well?

Miaow two of mine have photographic memory.
One reads through and then can recite it back straight off, the other says if she closes her eyes she can see the page.

my reception kid got exceeding in all areas last year. I really don't think she's G&T, and there are definitely brighter kids and better readers in the class. Your phrase "bright side of average" would describe her well. However she's a very confident, October-born child whose abilities are spread evenly across the curriculum. I think the assessment framework favours that kind of child.

DC1 is far more traditionally-academic, but was only meeting expectations in some of the social areas.

Thanks guys, that is all very useful. I wasn't sure how common it was and it was interesting to note that about the teacher having to evidence everything so much. I certainly don't think of him as G and T, I help out in the class enough to see that he is a fairly average 5 year old. Which is why I was surprised at the report I suppose.

I agree a lot of it is just maturity..... I know the self care etc stuff he wouldn't have been able to do back in the winter, and yet some of his class are just that age now. He's a a December baby.

I was assessed as G and T for reading quite early on. I'm definitely a quick and voracious reader but I haven't done anything particularly special with life. He also isn't the best reader in his class, I know at least two kids on level 6.

Anyway, food for thought and very interesting, thank you.

gumbrilla, G & T board is nothing like what you say. It's where you can ask genuine question without being judged pushy or delusional.

DD (turned 5 at the end of February) is exceeding expectations in all areas, even though she's missed a lot of school due to health reasons.

I certainly wouldn't say at this stage that she is gifted or talented in any area, just really bright overall.

Can't bring myself to discuss it with other mums for fear of seeming to be bragging, so I'm I'm doing it on here instead!

Remember that 'achieving' is where they should be at 60 months. Children born early in the year will be older than 60 months, so for the non-academic things such as the gross motor skills, and the self-awareness/self-care stuff, it shouldn't be a surprise if they are exceeding! The academic stuff ought to be a bit more level, as they've all had the same number of lessons - although of course there is still some advantage to the older children.

In terms of 'exceptional/gifted', I guess there's 'exceeding' and 'really exceeding by a long way', and of course there is no 'grade' beyond exceeding. I don't think you can read a great deal into 17x exceeding in terms of exceptional ability, although of course there's every sign you have a bright and capable child!

My dd got exceeding on all 17 last year (late November born, though born 10 weeks premature). She's bright, and a good all-rounder, just like DH and I were at school. Likely to stay in top groups within a 'normal' cohort throughout school/uni if she maintains her good attitude - just like we did.

I keep an eye on the G&T boards because I find them interesting, but deep down I think my DD is just a bright kid with a personality that is a good 'fit' for school.

I think you will know within a year or two whether your child is truly 'gifted' at a particular subject. Meanwhile, enjoy the positive moments such as a 17/17 exceeding, which is relatively uncommon. You should be proud of how well he's started school!

It's lovely to have a great start to school. I would just enjoy it. The only thing I would say is perhaps make sure he gets a chance to fail and try again to build a bit of resilience in learning. A chance to make mistakes.

A few of my August boy's friends did really well in the first few years, partly because they were bright and partly because they were older. Because they found things easy and were used to bring in the top sets etc, when the maturity advantaged diminished a bit some (not all) really struggled with either not understanding stuff instantly or not being in the top.

I have another child who is old in year and this is something we've needed to work on

That's great advice, grasspigeons. It's not always easy to find such opportunities in school, but you can encourage other interests in areas that are not their natural strengths: sport, music etc.

Totally normal, the expected level is actually quite a low bar.

Sorry just to add, exceeding doesn't mean a child is gifted just that they are exceeding quite a low level of expectation.

2014newme, there seems general agreement that exceeding doesn't equal gifted, but even on Mumsnet it has been fairly unusual for a child to get 17 exceedings. I think that to suggest it's totally normal is inaccurate.

It's totally normal for a child to exceed in every area, it may not be common but it's normal. It's within the normal range.
Hth

2014, you must live in the different world. Being top 1%(or 2%) nationally is not normal. It's outstanding achievement.

2014newme, according to this data 2% of children achieved exceeding in all 17 areas in 2016.

Of course a full range of scores between 17x emerging and 17x exceeding are possible (and they all occur: see page 4 of the report), but they cannot all be called normal, if your meaning of normal is itself normal (Google suggests ‘conforming to a standard; usual, typical, or expected’)