Godolphin&Latymer
Gifted and Talented Policy
Reviewer: AC and SK / reviewed June 2012; next review date July 2013
Gifted and Talented Policy We recognise that all students at The Godolphin and Latymer School can be described as “Gifted and Talented”. Not only have they have been selected by a very academic school, but a majority of our students have a MidYIS score on entry which is above the level (125) generally used to define “mentally gifted” in the population as a whole. Most of our students are very talented across a wide range of curricular and extra-‐curricular activities. The DCSF defines students supported by the National Programme for Gifted & Talented education as “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 these abilities.” In 2006 state schools were encouraged to identify the top 5% of 11 – 19 year-‐olds nationally for registration at the National Academy for Gifted and Talented, with the aim of ensuring that these children were enabled to reach their full potential. The current UIII cohort have a mean MidYIS score of 124.9 with a range of scores from 106 – 144; the average over the last five years has been between 124.9 and 127.4. Given that a score of 125 or higher would identify a student as being in the top 5% nationally, we believe that it would be invidious to try to define and single out a group of pupils at this school as ‘gifted and talented’. There will, however, be a wide range of abilities in any given class and individual pupils’ abilities will vary across subjects, topics and tasks. It is vital that we differentiate fully within this ability range in order to ensure that each girl is given the opportunity to reach her full potential. However, it is important for us as teachers to identify our most able students early in their school careers so that we are able to ensure that they are challenged appropriately across all areas of the curriculum. High ability students are recognised as having particular educational needs; they may underachieve unless those needs are met. Some gifted students do not readily make the effort needed for high achievement, particularly in the early years of secondary school. By identifying such pupils we can act to meet those needs and help them reach their potential. The following are seen as indicators of high ability and are fostered in all students where possible: • • • • • • • •
an ability to apply concepts to novel material and to make connections between ideas an independent, curious, questioning approach to learning the ability to think creatively and with originality the ability to think abstractly and analytically persistence, insightfulness and resourcefulness in solving problems strong evaluative skills, high quality reasoning a willingness to speculate and make hypotheses to extend understanding domain-‐specific talents (physical coordination, musical aptitude, ‘ear’ for languages, etc)
It is recognised that all students are not equally able in all areas. For example, it is recognised that oral and literacy skills may not be equally well-‐developed and efforts are made to acknowledge and reward the former as well as the latter. Where pupils experience difficulty in specific areas, efforts are made to harness strengths to compensate for relative weaknesses. Long-‐term expectations are high.
Pupils with specific learning differences are recognised as needing the same level of cognitive challenge as other pupils, even where tasks may need to be differentiated for access. Prior knowledge may vary among pupils. This may be accommodated through structural means (eg French bilinguals receive separate tuition) or through differentiation. Teaching for Challenge: within the classroom: We aim to present challenge to our learners at all levels. This is done by: • • • • • • • • •
use of open-‐ended tasks, enabling all learners to respond at their own level encouraging evaluation and analysis and avoiding over-‐emphasis on right/wrong answers open-‐ended questioning ; asking girls to justify their answers and respond in greater depth problem-‐solving activities of varying levels of difficulty encouraging self-‐assessment and target setting focusing on process rather than outcome to encourage risk-‐taking group work where the more able explain what they are doing to weaker students differentiated homework tasks developing cross-‐curricular awareness
We offer extra challenges for our most able students within the curriculum as follows: • • •
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the option to study Greek with Latin in UIV separate lessons for bilingual French students in the LIV and UIV a ‘fast track’ modern foreign languages option in LV/UV, in which able linguists may take two language GCSEs within the core curriculum instead of one. Each language is studied on 80% of the time allocated to other option subjects early IGCSE in Mathematics for the top division, followed by the Free Standing Mathematics Qualification (OCR) in June of the UV
In all areas of the curriculum the emphasis is on encouraging students to think for themselves. We feel that depth of knowledge and good learning habits, which equip students for sixth form study and beyond, are more important than accelerated learning and the acquisition of a host of GCSEs. Outside the classroom: Multiple opportunities are presented to the girls for involvement in challenging activities outside the classroom. These include: • • • •
school-‐based extra-‐curricular activities e.g. debating, design competitions, music and drama activities, mathematics competitions and national challenges out-‐of-‐school activities e.g. Duke of Edinburgh Award, Model United Nations, mock trial, MACE/ESU debating/public speaking, inter-‐schools maths competitions nationally run competitions which are publicised e.g. poetry, History essay, etc leadership opportunities such as form representative, sports leadership award, social services, pupil-‐directed societies and activities e.g. Sixth form play, UIII pantomime directed by LVI, dance and fashion shows produced and directed by sixth formers.
The use of baseline data to help identify the most able students: The ‘Developed Abilities’ tests offered by the CEM centre at Durham University offer a meaningful way of quantifying (some aspects of) pupils’ abilities and are recognised as being suitable for identifying gifted students. Scores of 130 and above place pupils in the top two percent nationally. MidYIS, taken by a large number of state and independent schools at the beginning of year 7 (our UIII), is a useful ‘baseline’ indicator of high ability, though it is recognised that it is not definitive or infallible since able girls may under-‐perform on the day and not all types of high ability are sampled by these tests. All Year 7 pupils sit MidYIS in their first term, which gives an approximate ‘snap-‐shot’ indication of their ability. The adaptive nature of the computer-‐based MidYIS makes this a more sensitive measure than previously, although it is acknowledged that it may not give a fully accurate picture that can be generalised to overall ability due to (i) individual circumstantial factors and (ii) the limited nature of the skills tested. The correlation between MidYIS scores and attainment in English and mathematics appears moderate, but clearly much stronger in the latter than the former. From September 2009 staff have been able to access MidYIS scores for all girls and given guidelines of how to interpret these scores. Staff are encouraged to bear high MidYIS scores (130+) in mind when teaching these girls, particularly where their attainments are relatively low. Staff are asked to ensure that these girls in particular are stretched and challenged and have high expectations of themselves. All girls should be encouraged to take on a challenge without fear of failure. Girls and parents are not informed of MidYIS results as we do not wish to foster a view of ability as ‘fixed’. Since the academic year 2010/11 we have also entered all pupils for two more CEM tests: INSIGHT (May of UIV year) and ALIS for sixth form. These tests enable us to have more up-‐to-‐date scores for the girls we teach, and to track progress more effectively. The curriculum tests (in Reading Maths and Science) which are part of INSIGHT also give us further information to triangulate with performance in school examinations, thus helping to ensure that divisioning in maths and science is not overly influenced by conscientious learning for examinations, and that bright girls who are less conscientious are appropriately placed to be challenged.