Gifted and Talented Students

With gifted and talented students, we provide customised enhancements and challenges designed to build on the identified student strengths. The systems and can be summarised as:

1. Base-lining potential and achievement
2. Using student tracking to identify high performers and fast-progression
3. Training and requiring teachers to identify high performers
4. Requiring subject leaders to design schemes of work which include differentiated opportunities, enhancements and extensions
5. Good communication with parents
6. Twice-yearly monitoring and evaluation

The key components in engaging parents of children with special educational needs, and forging a strong partnership, are:

1. Initial communication to share questions, issues, information or concerns
2. Agreement on diagnostics and on processes for clarifying needs and potential remedies
3. Sharing of diagnostic feedback
4. Cooperation and consultation in decision-making which the parent can control
5. Familiarization of parents with all the individuals, experts and responsibility-holders involved
6. Clarity of plans about interventions and tiers of support
7. Clarity about any short-term or broader resource implications for the parents
8. Sign-off of agreed ways forward and of how to communicate this to the child
9. Agreement concerning home support that is required
10. Monitoring of progress and regular informal feedback
11. Use of milestone feedback points to facilitate evaluation and review, and the cycle renews

In all these steps, a culture of clarity, communication, kindness, trust and respect is crucial. Parents are shown how to communicate their concerns, if they have any.