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.

All pupils have individual needs, which puts personalised learning at the heart of our teaching and learning.

Clyst St Mary Primary School is committed to providing a sufficiently challenging curriculum for all its pupils. In addition, we will provide opportunities to identify and in turn, nurture those who are Gifted & Talented.

Definition

What does Gifted and talented mean?

Gifted and talented pupils are those considered by educational systems to have a particular talent in specific areas and gifted pupils will be identified by the class teacher, through teacher assessment.

Some or all of the following will be used to support Gifted and Talented pupils:

• Differentiated planning – stimulus, resources, tasks, outcome, response
• Providing appropriate challenge – high-quality tasks for enrichment and extension.
• These will develop from the themes being studied by the whole class
• Ability grouping for Literacy and Numeracy
• Varied and flexible grouping when necessary e.g. mixed ability, individual, acceleration
• Appropriate pace identified in planning
• Medium term planning and individual lesson plans will identify extension tasks for gifted and talented pupils
• Lesson planning that caters for different learning styles
• Setting appropriate targets for reading, writing and maths
• Setting appropriate homework tasks when relevant
• Setting a termly home/school challenge in discussion with pupils and parents
• Development of thinking skills
• Fostering creativity within appropriate challenges
• Supporting liaison beyond the school e.g. music tuition, sports coaches etc
• Seeking enrichment opportunities both within and outside of schools

The strategies used will be reviewed regularly and will vary according to the needs of the pupils.

Monitoring

Once a child has been identified and their details have been added to the database, their abilities will be continuously monitored. The child will remain on the database for as long as it is appropriate. There may be occasions where a child is removed from the database if their ability, gift or talent no longer exceeds that of their peers. The progress of gifted and talented students will be monitored by:

• Teacher assessment
• Parent / teacher consultations
• The school management team
• The school governors
• Liaisons with external clubs
• The Gifted and Talented Co-ordinator

Able Pupils

Only those children who show exceptionally high ability will be considered gifted and talented. Children who do not meet this criteria but are working above age expectations are considered to be more able. These pupils should be identified and provided for within the classroom and may access extra curricular opportunities.