Aim:
At Primus, we believe that all children are entitled to an education that will enable them to develop their full potential; be that intellectual, physical, aesthetic, creative, emotional, spiritual or social, finding appropriate challenge in our learning environment. The aim of this policy is to provide opportunities to nurture those who are more able and their abilities as well as ensuring a consistent approach to meeting their needs and unlocking their potential. While trips, visits and experiences beyond the classroom will benefit these learners, our main focus and provision will come from high quality teaching and learning that engages and challenges students in lessons.
Key Definitions
“Children and young people with one or more abilities developed to a level significantly ahead of their year group (or with the potential to develop those abilities)”
According to Primus :
• Gifted refers to students who achieve, or have the potential to achieve, significantly above average (compared with other students in their year group at school) in one of the Curriculum subjects other than art, performing arts or PE.
• The term talented is reserved for those students who achieve, or have the potential to achieve, significantly above average in art, performing arts or PE compared with other students in their year group at school. An individual student can be both gifted and talented.
The Gifted and Talented programme aims to enhance the opportunities of the most academically able and talented children in the school. The school has a commitment towards excellence for all and strongly believes that true inclusion can only be achieved through stretching the most able and supporting the least able. The Gifted and Talented programme allows all students to achieve their full potential.
Common Gifted and Talented Traits
• They are better able to construct and handle abstractions.
• They often pick up and interpret nonverbal cues and can draw inferences that other children need to have spelled out for them.
• They take less for granted, seeking the “hows” and “whys.”
• They can work independently at an earlier age and can concentrate for longer periods.
• Their interests can be wildly eclectic and intensely focused.
• They exhibit an intrinsic motivation to learn, find out, or explore and are often very persistent. “I’d rather do it myself” is a common approach to studies.
The Gifted and Talented Cohorts
The G&T’ pupils are highlighted on the main register and identified by the teachers and inclusion team through subject nominations and predictive data across a full spectrum of subjects. These students cannot be removed from the register as they progress through the school.
Recognition:
Pupils are identified at key points throughout the academic year using assessments internal ,external data and teacher nominations. This periodic identification process gives greater accuracy and allows time for a variety of assessments and tasks to take place in classrooms to allow students to display their potential. Teachers receive a informal assessment yearly through department representatives / leaders to assist with this procedure. Talents are recognized at any time throughout their school career.
Responsibilities:
Senior Leadership team
• Provide teachers with access to suitable data in order to inform and optimise their lesson designs.
• Analyze the progress of this group against the performance of others.
• SLT will work with the G&T Leader to oversee the process and activity.
• To engage with governors to monitor the success of this policy on an annual basis.
Subject Leaders
• Have strategies for the school’s Core G&T cohort.
• Design suitable curriculum experiences for the most able students and provide enrichment/extension material for identified students.
• Ensure relevant staff training needs are identified and met.
• Help subject G&T representatives to forward new names to the G&T Leader & the data team.
• Guide the G&T representatives to monitor and share good practice.
G &T Leader
• To prepare, from prior attainment and predictive data, a register of the G&T students of each cohort.
• To use clear classification methodology and ensure that current definitions are communicated well to all staff.
• To maintain the register and keep colleagues informed.
• To provide opportunities for G&T students to work on enrichment activities.
• To monitor the progress of G&T students and analyze the progress of this group.
• To liaise with parents of Gifted and Talented students.
• To identify appropriate resources including the use of ICT.
• To raise staff awareness of the needs of Gifted and Talented students and opportunities for meeting their needs.
• To plan relevant training for staff in consultation with SLT.
• To evaluate the progress and provision on an annual basis.
All Teaching Staff
• Work to meet the needs of G&T students in their subject as well as the G&T group across the school.
• Use a range of teaching strategies including questioning techniques to design different challenging tasks within lessons.
• Be aware of positive strategies for working with G&T students.
• Identify and put forward nominations to the Subject Leader from clear defined criteria.
Provision for G&T Students includes:
• Extension material within schemes of work. Each Head of Subject/Subject Co-coordinator regularly reviews schemes of work and lesson plans to ensure G&T students are being stretched and challenged.
• General approaches in the classroom: With subject teachers leading emphasis will be placed on the planning, student organization, differentiation, questioning techniques using thinking skills, study skills, activities and use of resources to embed stretch and challenge in the classroom.
• Award Scheme and involvement in Aim Higher activities.
• Extra-curricular activities. These are organized by members of the school staff and cover various areas, such as school activities.
• G&T students are given the opportunity to lead activities and programmes.
• Subject activities. These are organized by individual departments are supported by G&T.
Monitoring
Provision for Gifted and Talented students will be monitored regularly focusing on the following areas:
• Whole school tracking, results & reporting .
• Intervention through Subject Departments .
• Informal assessment
• Schemes of Work
• Progress For All and Learning and Teaching Groups
• classroom observations of teaching and learning,
• Feedback from students and parents