AIMS

Beulah Junior School is committed to providing an environment which encourages all pupils to maximise their potential and personal achievements and this includes pupils who display some form of gift or talent.  In order to fulfil this commitment we provide all children with opportunities to develop specific skills and talents.

We also aim to maintain an ethos where it is ok to be bright and where children feel confident in celebrating their own achievements and abilities as well as supporting others.

Beulah Junior School are considering calling the Gifted & Talented Programme, the Aim Higher Programme, to ensure that other children who may not ‘fit’ into this cohort will work towards aiming higher in their lessons.

DEFINITION

According to National Guidelines, Gifted and Talented pupils are those pupils who “achieve, or have the ability to achieve, at least a level significantly in advance of the average for their year group”.  This is nationally expected to be between 5 – 10 % of each year group.

The following areas have been identified as being the main areas of ability and are based on the Howard Gardner seven intelligences.  Categories A and B includes those who are “gifted” and C, D and E those who are “talented”.

• Linguistic

Children with this kind of intelligence enjoy writing, reading, telling stories or doing word puzzles.

• Logical / Mathematical

Children with lots of logical intelligence are interested in patterns, categories and relationships. They are drawn to arithmetic problems, strategy games, problem solving and experiments.

• Physical / Kinaesthetic

Children who are good at games, athletics, dancing or other sports, as well as children who are good at fine motor skills work such as sewing and handwriting.

• Creative

Including both spatial and musical intelligences. Children may show particular artistic flair, through both drawing and sculptures, or are especially musical, always singing or drumming to themselves. They are usually quite aware of sounds others may miss.

• Social

Including both interpersonal and intrapersonal intelligences.  Children who are leaders among their peers, good at communicating and have a strong sense of empathy possess interpersonal intelligence while children who are quiet, very aware of their own feelings, organised and self-motivated possess intrapersonal intelligence.

IDENTIFICATION

In the first instance, the class teacher identifies children who they believe are Gifted or Talented in one of the 5 areas defined.  A variety of methods can be used, including:

• Teacher assessments
• Optional SATs and other test scores
• Observations of class and playground behaviour
• Consultations with parents and carers
• Work samples
• Consultation with pupils about themselves and peers

There is a particular need to identify Gifted and Talented children who are underachieving; signs of underachievement include – but are not limited to – low self esteem, academic avoidance, poor behaviour, lack of concentration and lack of motivation.  Using a range of evidence when identifying Gifted and Talented children, including unexpected, one-off achievements, information provided by parents and peer opinion, will ensure that underachieving children are not overlooked.

The nomination should then be discussed with an appropriate subject co-ordinator to confirm the gift or talent as well as to ensure appropriate provision and enrichment is provided for their needs.

Appropriate subject co-ordinators for each of the 5 gifts and talents defined could be:

1. Linguistic – Literacy Co-ordinator
2. Logical / Mathematical – Numeracy Co-ordinator, Science Co-ordinator
3. Physical / Kinaesthetic – PE Co-ordinator
4. Creative – Art & DT Co-ordinator, Music Co-ordinator
5. Social – PSHE and Healthy Schools Co-ordinator, RE Co-ordinator

A child who has been identified will be put on the school Gifted and Talented register and the area of ability will be recorded.  The register is not fixed and will be reviewed twice a year: at the beginning of the Spring term and at the end of the Summer term.

PROVISION

Curriculum provision in Beulah Junior School aims to enable all children to achieve their maximum potential; therefore much of the provision for Gifted and Talented children will benefit other children in the school as well.

Classroom Provision (accessible by all pupils):

• Teachers have high expectations in all lessons
• Differentiation is shown on planning, including planned enrichment opportunities as well as open ended tasks.
• Questioning is used effectively during whole class teaching
• “Big Writing” lessons encourage children to take responsibility for their learning and to challenge and extend themselves beyond age related expectations.
• Maths classes are set according to ability, enabling more able children to be challenged to a greater extent
• Learning Intentions are designed to take into account levels of existing knowledge, skills and understanding, drawing on later key stages or higher levels of study if appropriate.
• Teaching strategies are varied, involving kinaesthetic, visual and auditory methods to suit all learning styles.
• Opportunities are provided for developing thinking skills
• Senior teachers mentor children who are not making expected progress, regardless of attainment levels.
• Extra-curricular clubs are provided: e.g. recorder lessons, a variety of sports clubs, maths club, choir, lunchtime library visits, Good News club, ICT, DT, New paper club.
• Performance and competition opportunities are provided: e.g. music and singing concerts both in and out of school, annual year group productions and celebrations of events such as Black History Week, Poetry Competition.
• Whole school topic weeks: eg Science week, Anti-Bullying week, Multi-cultural week, Black History week, Reading week
• Visits from specialists to motivate and inspire: eg Tiny Giants performance group, Mad Science
• Sports Day held to enable all children to compete and achieve in sporting activities.
• Weekly Celebration assemblies to recognise and praise outstanding achievement

Additional Provision (accessible by more able pupils, but not necessarily limited to those on the Gifted and Talented register):

• Gifted and Talented days for specific subjects held half termly by subject Co-ordinators
• ICT Gifted and Talented club to extend specific ICT skills.
• Involvement in opportunities arranged and held by outside agencies and local schools: eg Whitgift School; Crystal Palace Study Centre; Norbury Manor; Park Hill Junior School, inter-schools sports matches & tournaments
• Workshops arranged and held in school, but led by experts from outside school: eg Mad Science

Partnership with Parents

Parents will be informed when their children are on the Gifted and Talented register during parent consultations.  They will be informed of the area in which their child has been identified and how this identification was reached.  Ways in which the parent can support their child’s development at home in the relevant areas will then be discussed.

Role of the Gifted and Talented Co-ordinator

• Maintain the Gifted and Talented register
• Ensure on-going monitoring of Gifted and Talented pupils’ progress
• Facilitate transfer of records at the end of each school year
• Monitor and facilitate the school’s provision for Gifted and Talented pupils