anyone had experience with testing for G&T?

[kbd]

Our school has asked us to get our child tested for G&T if we want him to be allowed to move ahead in the curriculum or to be challenged beyond the basics of the year 2 course. They have given him a practice SAT level 3 in English which he got a perfect on, and is well beyond the year 2 maths, but they insist that without testing he must do the curriculum at the same pace as the other kids. We have just started at this British school, after years of very successful Montessori education. Is this typical of the British system (we are ignorant Americans trying a British school in Germany)? And, has anyone found this testing to be useful either for their family or for dealing with schools?

[hana]

sounds like they are being quite difficult. don't think you can 'test' for this sort of thing - most schools just recognise the fact and differentiate accordingly. good luck

[coppertop]

It sounds to me as though they are just fobbing you off. At our school if a child is at a different level then they are given work at that level, regardless of their age.

[seeker]

What sort of testing do they mean? Have they said? At our school the children are all given differentiated work by this age - I think it's government policy that they should be.

Have you had a leaflet from the school saying what is going to be covered in year 2? I ask because I know some schools start off gently at the beginning of the year then up the pace once everybody's got used to i

[cory]

At our school they sort the children in different sets according to ability- but you don't get to do work beyond top set iyswim, however bright. (Never felt this was a problem tbh, there is a public library down the road and dd can read whatever she likes after 3.20.)

It would be unusual (I think) if they had no differentiation between the kids in year 2 in maths and literacy, so that might be something to take up with the school.

On the other hand, children may not necessarily be set this early in the term; a lot of it at this stage is assessing and revising so that is going to seem a bit dull to the brighter ones (but equally important; I know some highly intelligent adults who are shaky on their time tables because they were never made to go back and revise them once they had showed the teacher that they knew them).

[fembear]

kbd: why are the school asking you to pay to have your DC assessed? Are they not capable of doing it themselves - after all, part of SATs is teacher assessment!

It sounds like your school is one of those that doesn't like the G&T agenda. You could waste your time banging your head against a brick wall or, alternatively, you could spend the money (that you don't spend on assessment) on enrichment activities elsewhere. I know which I would do.

[sayithowitis]

Don't know how it would work in Germany, but here in Britain, the teachers should be able to identify G&T children from their own assessments and knowledge of the child. If there is a real possibility of exceptional giftedness, they can get an educational psychologist to assess ( this was done for my son when he was in the juniors) and they can then advise school re: the curriculum etc. It is in the best interest of the scool to do this because if a child is genuinely gifted and they are not stimulated and challenged by the work they are given, they can end up having behaviour issues. I work in SEN in a primary school and it is amazing how often this happens, so many children ( especially boys) are sent to us by teachers because they have behaviour problems and after working with them for a while we realise they are actually incredibly bright, but bored! Many times, once they are given appropriately challenging work, the behaviour problems disappear!
I would ask the school why they can't arrange this and if they really can't, how do you do it and who pays?

[kbd]

Thanks for all the input. As we are in Germany, and there are no educational standards here (international British schools are not regulated as they are inside Britain), there isn't much we can do to get differentiation in the classes. We are told that our DS must work on the same thing as his peer (there are only 2 kids year 2, and the other is the kid of the teacher for the R-2 class). They also feel it is parental intrusion on their teaching to request a curriculum, or atleast some comment on depth and breadth within the curriculum. This is a cultural barrier that cannot be broken. As for getting him assessed at the school, it is too tiny and they do not have the resources. I can't even get them to do a basic maths assessment for his level, much less his intellect. We would have to fly to London and pay for a private assessment just to get them to differentiate in the classroom. As yet, he has no behavior issues. As we plan to move to London next summer, is this worth doing, or is it really unnecessary, as these issues really aren't issues within schools back in England?

[mimsum]

tbh if he's going to be going into KS2 in London next year then I wouldn't bother, but just do lots of (fun) stuff with him at home so he doesn't switch off completely

most schools over here are much better at differentiating work whether children have got G&T status or not - eg ds2 is in Y4, no idea if he's on any list, but his teacher has told me he'll be doing Y6 maths, most of the others will be doing Y4 stuff, some won't be at that level yet so will be doing stuff appropriate for them