It's my first time posting in this section, so hello!
I have lurked and read quite a lot, and have noticed that quite a few people, unsurprisingly, have problems regarding school and their very able children.
Our DS will start reception next autumn, so we are choosing a school now, and I am hoping for some advice from people who have had bright kids in school already. Have got to say that DP and I both grew up abroad, so we struggle a bit to correctly interpret things we read about schools.
DS is August born so will only just be 4.
DS is clearly bright, and ticks lots of the boxes on the 'potential plus' information sheet, though I wouldn't call him a genius, nor necessarily 'gifted', as he is just too 'normal'. He is very good at sitting and concentrating, when something catches his interest. Now at 3.3 he is teaching himself to read (has known the alphabet since age 2 but was until now not interested in reading. He is bilingual and the other language has a mostly phonetic alphabet which he learned initially and is now working out how this applies in English, i.e. pretty much what phonics is). He can add to 10, using props such as fingers, and loves doing it. So clearly not super-bright like some kids I have read about here, but still, if he continues learning as he has been, I expect him to be way ahead of average by the time he starts school.
Emotionally, he is in some ways a typical 3yo who can be very shy but also very boisterous, particularly on his 'home territory'. He gets along well with one other child, but when there are two or more same-age children around, he goes off and does his own thing. He tries to get others interested in what he is doing but these attempts often fail.
What I would like is for a school to recognise his abilities insofar as that his school experience doesn't quash his enthusiasm for learning. I would also like him to be stretched and challenged at school, as I definitely do not want to have to fill out-of-school time with extending stuff, out-of-school should be for play and mucking around in the dirt and falling off his bicycle. Mostly, I really would like him to be happy at school, as he will be spending a lot of time there!
I realise that he might turn out to be completely average, or 'just' bright and perfectly happy in any school, but I don't know that yet. So, going on what is only an assumption, that he will be quite a bit above average at least initially, we are thinking about which school might suit him.
Now we have three very different schools we are considering (we have good chances of getting into each of them), each with its specific advantages and disadvantages, and I can't make my mind up which criteria matter most!
School 1 is a very small school. It has 20 intake, YR-Y4, a total of 100 kids. It is very intimate and personal, and offers high flexibility, as the kids are in age-mixed classes anyway. However, there are not too many resources, e.g. the G&T kids go to a Maths club which is at a different school, quite a distance away. There probably would be no other kids from our town at the school, so I worry a bit about the social side.
School 2 is a smallish faith school. 30 intake, YR-Y6, i.e. 210 kids. It has outstanding academic achievements, with 60-80% of kids achieving L5 or more, depending on subject, which I take to mean that being brainy is seen as a good thing. It seems that kids are very happy there too. Though I do worry about how well the school might deal with unusual kids, and the headteacher is new (less than 12 months) so there are some worries there too.
School 3 is the local community school, 60 intake, YR-Y6, i.e. 420 kids. It achieves way above national and county averages, but not as well as school 2. It sees itself as a 'pushy' school. It is well resourced (e.g. two dedicated SENCOs) and due to size would be able to offer more. However its size also worries me: I feel it would be very easy for an individual child with individual needs to be overlooked, and I just can't get a positive gut feeling about it.
I would appreciate any thoughts, or experiences of bright kids in different types of schools!
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Choosing the right school for bright child
9 replies
Meita · 20/11/2013 14:20
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