Gifted and Talented

[saskia69]

Hi, i'm looking for some help for my DD, she has been on so called G7T since primary school and is now 14. She hates school and feels she is not getting the education she wants, her 2 older brothers were both on the G&T but did not recieve any extra support and got bored, any help would be appreciated

Need more info. What kind of education does she want? What is she not getting? What is the learning environment like at her school?

She would like to go to a private school but thats not an option, she is bored in lessons and feels held back by teachers dealing with disruptive children, she has had a lot of bullying and is having counselling at the moment to help with her negativity and anxiety, the school have recently had an outstanding for special needs but i have never found them very helpful, also there is a constant turnover of staff and therefore they tend to spend a lot of time going over the same work

She must be in yr10 ( or one of the oldest in yr9). Not the best time for a change in schols.
Has she been at the same school since leaving primary? Have you / she ever spoken with the head of year or relevant subject departments to get extra work to stretch her more.

If she is well ahead in everything and does not wish ( or it isn't practical) to do extra in the normal subjects, what aboutextra curricular stuff? Drama / debating groups, musical intruments, martial arts, sports, another language. All go down well when it comes to the uni applications, and something new to focus on.

We need more info. Presumably she is in top sets for all subjects.
Are the top sets equally disruptive?
Will she be taking any GCSEs this year?
What are her predicted grades?
How is her revision going?
What are her plans for college/careers?
Will she be staying on at the school for Sixth Form or can she look forward to a new start?
What other activities does she do?
What does the school offer?
Does the school not offer anything like an AS in critical thinking for specially able students?
There is a lot to be said for circular's suggestion of stretching her in other directions. My bright but depressive dd gained a new enthusiasm which spread into her school work after she started drama club.

Does the school have a co-ordinator for gifted children? If so I'd speak to that teacher, if you haven't already done so.

My DD was identified as gifted and for a while she was either being bullied or on the verge of it. She found the extra-curricular side very helpful (music) as she could spenmd mpost lunch times in the music area with other people who enjpoyed music. She also found another routine job helping the school resource centre, so I think that was useful too - just not hanging around at lunch-times.

Her school should be making provision to stretch the most able, so if they are not, I suggest you discuss with the Head, if there's no co-ordinator.

Would activities outside school help?

I agree that academic intelligence is only aspect of anyone's personality, but if she feels very different from others in her classes, it might be that she could speak to one of the counsellors at the National Gifted and Talented organisation - they used to have a counselling line for members but I'm not up to date on this. My DD was younger when we belonged to that but it might be worth checking if they do any activitied for teens in your area, IF your DD would be interested. (More difficult with teens than primary of course)

I have spoekn to a cople of very bright 20 year olds who say now that they never found anyone to really talk to at school - it was only at uni they found they could really be themselves. But they need to have strategies to cope with this feeling and interests away from school might help.