More Able Children

More Able Children

At Bushmead, we believe that children can be Academically More Able or Talented at subjects we cover in school or indeed activities that children take part in out of school. In line with our school ethos, we recognise and value children’s individual development in all areas and work with them and their parents to help them reach their potential. We have developed the following 2 simple definitions for our work with talented and academically more able children.

Academically More Able children: At Bushmead, academically more able children are those who perform consistently in a range of, subjects above national expectations. They will regularly show an ability to master the skills being taught and show an understanding to a greater depth than would typically be expected from a child of their age.
 

Talented children: Talented children are those with one or more non academic abilities developed to a level which is significantly ahead of that which would normally be expected of their peer group nationally.

At the beginning of every academic year, we review all children in school to identify those who are Academically More Able and separately those we would identify as Talented. This process is carried out collaboratively between staff, parents and children. We, as a staff team, use the above definitions to identify children for the more academic subjects and let parents and children know how we will support them through the year.

At this initial stage, we write to all parents seeking any information that they may have that would identify their child which school would be unaware of, for example a sport outside of the curriculum. Staff throughout school will use the resulting list to ensure children are challenged and stretched with additional opportunities being offered and incorporated into the curriculum, meeting individual children’s needs. Parents are offered the opportunity to book a slot with the school Inclusion Manager, who has responsibility for More Able children, at every parents evening to discuss their child’s needs. In order to take into consideration the children’s thoughts and opinions around the subject of the More Able we include questions in the annual children’s survey.

We do not have a set list of the activities that support Academically More able and Talented children as we aim to be creative in meeting their individual needs, however below are some typical ways in which children’s needs can be met.

• Quality first teaching, ensuring that teaching and activities in lessons is matched  to children’s needs.
• Small group work in lesson time with a teach
• Individual pupil challenge work in lesson time
• Invitation to Maths master classes
• Small focused groups with staff, focused on higher order thinking skills