Able and Talented policy.    (Draft)

******** is committed to providing a sufficiently challenging curriculum for all its pupils. We will provide opportunities for all our pupils to develop their full potential, be that intellectual, physical, aesthetic, creative, emotional, spiritual or social. In addition we will provide opportunities to identify and in turn nurture those who are able and or talented. These are pupils who may show exceptional talent in various curriculum areas such as mathematics, art, music or sport, but may also include other talents such as leadership, creative imagination or social maturity.

The 2003 Ofsted Handbook states:

• Gifted and talented pupils.

Gifted and talented pupils should be identified in EiC schools. Between 5% and 10% of each cohort may be so identified and of these:

 Two thirds may be gifted in one or more subjects (other than art, music or PE)

Others will be identified as talented in the creative arts, music or PE and sport.

The school should have a policy and teaching programme for these pupils. Inspectors should evaluate the effectiveness of the school's strategy in motivating gifted and talented pupils and ensuring that they achieve as well as they can both in lessons and extra-curricular activities.

Some definitions of the term "able and talented"

 For the purposes of this Policy pupils who are "able and talented" may include pupils who:

1.       Have a specific academic aptitude and affinity for any curriculum area, subject or aspect of a subject

2.        Show evidence of high attainment across a wide range of subjects, or demonstrate high levels of attainment in particular subjects or aspects of their work

3.       May demonstrate ability in music, PE and the creative arts.

4.       May be particularly creative in other aspects of their learning.

5.       They may be outstanding leaders or team members, or possess outstanding personal skills.

6.       Are underachieving and their potential for high attainment may be masked by other factors that are not be immediately recognised.

·         Whilst we would expect that at Five Ways to have the country’s most able 5-10%, we are still required to identify our own 5-10% Able and Talented (compared to their peers). However there is no reason why we should not identify up to 20%.

·         We need to communicate, to staff in particular, the differences between the definitions of Able and that of Talented.

·         We also need to establish an effective means of identifying the Able. This could be done by using a data base containing various results. (see below).

·          We need to raise teachers’ awareness and ability to identify and respond to pupils who are more, able and talented.

·         Identifying the Talented can be much more subjective and may well rely on Heads of Departments making a selection after consulting members of their department.

·         Subject teachers should be provided with an able and talented policy within their subject policies and personal targets for able and talented pupils set.

·         There should be an effective means to provide staff awareness of these pupils.

·          A programme of provision and support for gifted and talented pupils outside school should be in place.

·          A monitoring and tracking system should be established, keeping a register of such pupils so that their progress can be regularly monitored, evaluated and reviewed.

·         Do we need an Acceleration of Exceptionally and Very Able Pupils programme?  

·         Underachieving Able and Talented pupils should be identified and support for them established.

·         A school ethos that encourages teachers to meet the needs of able and talented pupils should be encouraged.

·         Specialist schools are eligible for community focus funding which can be spent on study support activities for gifted and talented. (Does this still apply?)

·         Enhance the provision for the more able and talented pupils through joint work with other schools and partnership with other groups and providers.

·         Identify parents who can help with the Able and Talented provision.

·         The school should ensure that parents are aware of the school’s policy for more able and talented pupils.

·         Evaluation of enrichment activities and use of extra curricular clubs etc. should be ongoing.

·         Involvement and use of outside agencies.

·         Look at the possibility of allowing subject teachers to consider providing additional homework for the able and talented.

·         The A+T cohort should have the opportunity of attending various master classes and summer schools.

Identification of the Able and Talented.

There is a range of possible identification methods.

These may include:

• Information from primary/middle schools

• NC tests/SATs

• Standardised tests eg. MIDYIS,YELLIS, CAT tests etc.

• Internal school tests and exams

• Teacher assessment and nomination

• Classroom observation

• Peer-nomination and self-nomination

• Parental nomination

Identification of the Able.

A database needs to be established that would automatically identify the Able cohort and this information would be then published for staff to refer to.

1.       Introduce A+ or A* grades into Key stage 3 both for coursework and examinations.

2.       Publish lists of those pupils with Level 8/EP (or equivalent) in SATS and end of Key Stage 3 teacher assessments.

For the 16-19 cohort the following could be used:

3.       Pupils’ A* results at GCSE. (a minimum number of four perhaps).

4.       A/S grades in the upper grade A band.

5.       Advanced Extension Awards.

Identification of the Talented.

Perhaps we need a full Audit of special abilities (formal or informal), for example not only using pupils’ work as a means of identification but also their participation in a range of activities including music, art, drama, sport etc.

Objective tests are generally unsatisfactory as a way of identifying the full extent and range of talents among a group of people for a number of reasons:

1.       Latent talent or ‘potential’ may go unrecorded.

2.       Some talented people may perform poorly in tests for various reasons.

3.       Talent may be something that is difficult to measure and test accurately.

There should be a discussion to establish the definition of Talented and agree on a basic set of criteria in order to identify this cohort. We then may consider adding this information to the proposed data base. Subject teachers/HODs could then enter a 10% A+T element for their subject.

This should then provide a more satisfactory picture of the Talented cohort within the school.