Exceptionally bright 12 year old. Advice needed.

[vdbfamily]

Our youngest who is an end of August baby so always youngest in year, is very bright. Her primary head said she had never met a child so bright in her years of teaching. She is now year 8 and almost without fail gets 100% in any test across all subjects bar IT/Music?PE etc
She came home yesterday saying her German teaching had told her she was level 9 already and had got full marks in a mock GCSE. All her teachers are hassling her to chose them as an option for GCSE(even the DT teacher)
My question is what we do. I know we need to speak to school about how they make the next 3 years meaningful for her but I am not sure, with a class of 30 to manage, why she would ever be a priority when there are kids needing lots of support. Would we be letting her down to leave her cruising along.
We both work fulltime, only have one car and are not earning private school wages. School is a short walk from our house and all 3 kids are currently there. 2 older kids have not been privately educated and oldest would definitely have benefitted from that. She is currently stuggling to get through GCSEs and we are praying for passes, definitely not looking at 9's, except in languages.
I am very confused and conflicted as to right way to go.
Any suggestions please
Out of interest she is quite a complex child and would describe herself as having social anxiety. She is awaiting paediatric ENT appmt as has misophonia and cannot bear the sound of others eating breathing sniffing etc. So her school results are despite having to work with both hands over her ears(does not want to draw attention with headphones)

Look after her emotional side - it sounds like this is where she needs your help and support, it's as important to success and happiness in life (more so, imo) as a well stimulated exceptional brain.

Have you considered extracurricular activities instead of school changes? She is achieving no problem, but activities like cadets can be really beneficial for young people. "Bright" individuals can go quite far and as an Army Cadet instructor I can say they make exceptionally good cadets. She is at the right age to join as well.

I would consider all your local options, state and private.
I am a psychiatrist and would advise thinking v carefully before moving a happy settled child with anxiety related to any domain.
ASD (autism) crossed my mind - has your dd been assessed?

You could do nothing. Let her enjoy her teens and get Great results along the way.
Or
Put more in outside school - tutor in extra subjects / broader than gcse syllabus, get involved in academically focused local societies, take up an instrument etc
Or
See if school can offer more in any way
Or
Consider other schools. I wouldn't move her to another state unless it was really different. COuld you save for private at 6th form?

I was similar to your dd at her age in academic terms. At an ordinary comp. Lessons were very boring. I did loads of extracurricular stuff which kept me busy. BY a level things were lots better, and my school took a risk in letting me take a 5th a level by myself just learning from books/ other sources (it was geology). Late 1990s. that was brilliant for me. I did get an A, but even if I hadn't taken the exams I enjoyed the process.
Peaked early though - these days my brain hardly functions at all. I think I burnt myself out at oxford uni, medical school, working in the NHS and then having kids...

Onaroll you echo my experience. Dd was accelerated 1year and although intellectually she is v able she was isolated by her academic year group and rejected by the girls in the year she was accelerated to, hence her support group became the boys in the year above.
It is so easy to get carried away thinking the mental stimulation is everything when socialisation and emotional development is equally important. She took French iGCSE in Y7 and passed with an A* but we realise now it doesn’t really count for anything other than to give her more time on other subjects.
We took the decision in Y8 to move her back to her academic year group albeit at a different school and it has been the best thing, she has flourished in personal confidence and she is acing her GCSE’s with little worry.
The most important thing as a parent of a talented child is to provide stimulation outside the classroom. We were able to get a Dd into a great academic school so that intellectually she is surrounded by same age similar level girls, however I believe what she engages in outside school is more valuable.l to personal growth.
There is no need to rush through the curriculum if you are providing enough stimulation outside of school.

I'm studying A-levels right now, did the new GCSE system (yes I lurk on mumsnet...), but I'd say that getting high grades in the earlier years doesn't mean as much as it might seem at first. They use a different grading system entirely on the year 7-9 kids - sure a mock paper itself probably would be marked on set boundaries, but in years 7-9 they use 'levels' instead of grades.

I can rummage through an English book from year 7 and see multiple 8s and 9s despite the whole text being a slew of grammatical errors and bad decisions, because it's a level 9, not a grade 9. It is definitely indicative of 9 potential, don't get me wrong, but it doesn't mean that she'd get a 9 if she sat the exams now because she hasn't been taught the content.

At least in my school, GCSE science only started to be taught in year 9 - year 7 and 8 are basically taught how to colour in the lines (the majority of our geography lessons). She definitely seems like she's going to get 9s, but just be aware that the 'grades' they're telling you may just be the levels they hand out to them like they did for us.

Speaking exams are also quite different to the other German exams - I took both French and German (taking A-level French right now as well), and for speaking answers on the spot you can literally say the most basic of sentences as long as it answers it and is in the correct tense, so it doesn't really test grammar skills or anything. I wish we were given speaking in year 8 though, we only started being given anything to do with it in year 10.