John Boaler, as Head of Learning Support, also has a whole school responsibility for gifted and talented pupils helping staff to identify these pupils and provide for their needs.
At Sheldon we acknowledge the potential of each individual pupil and therefore seek to support the gifted and talented pupils within our school through a broad range of opportunities.
We seek to be inclusive in our approach and sensitive to the potential impact of labelling a group of pupils as 'gifted and talented'.
In the pursuit of school-wide excellence we aim to provide opportunities for all our pupils to reveal, display and extend their abilities. We believe that supporting the needs of gifted and talented pupils is a factor in raising the achievement of all.
We use the DfES term 'Gifted and Talented'. 'Gifted' refers to pupils who achieve or have the ability to achieve at a level significantly in advance of their year group within our school, in one or more academic subjects. 'Talented' refers to pupils who have this ability or potential in art, music, PE, sport or creative arts.
A variety of methods is used to identify these pupils ( SATs scores, Cognitive Ability Tests (CATs) and internal tests/examination results. To help teachers with their initial identification, checklists are used which are both general and/or subject specific. We use teachers' professional judgment and experience, through observation of pupils; rates of progress in acquiring relevant knowledge, skills and understanding.
John Boaler consults with teachers and senior management to monitor the needs and progress of identified pupils. He draws up an annual register, which is published to all faculties who are encouraged to identify extension activities in schemes of work; to provide differentiated work/resources; and opportunities for open-ended homeworks. A range of extra curricular activities are provided to encourage talent to flourish, e.g. through sports teams, music, dance and drama performances; residential courses; school competitions; assemblies.
A separate Policy for Gifted and Talented Pupils is available from school or can be downloaded from here.
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