What do primary schools do for more advanced kids?

[liora]

Hi,

We will be moving to Wellington with two boys, will be in years 5 and 8. They are both very advanced in literacy and math, a couple of grades at least more than their age. Could you tell me if the schools generally know how to challenge and place kids like these? Or will they be bored as they are here in America?

Thank you!

[nickiware]

Some schools have GATE programs, Gifted and Talented Education, I guess you would need to ask at the individual school. My son is in the program and loves it. The school assesses whether or not they can participate. The intermediate and colleges near us have whole classes which push these children. There are also ICAS exams which any children can take.

[Familyofmonkeys]

This very much depends upon the school, and even skills of the individual class teacher. There is a GATE programme which children from my kids school can participate in, but in our area it's not run by the individual schools and it's not free so we can't afford it without cutting out other activities. Also, the school require that the parents pay for their child to have a private assessment with a developmental psychologist (expensive) before they'll refer them. I do believe there is also a bit of a gap where kids are advanced but not exceptional, and often don't get the individual attention they need.

Ultimately I think you need to look around schools to find those that have strategies for developing advanced children. At my kids previous school my daughter was moved up a year, which was exactly what she needed, and being a small school with kids from all age groups socialising together, there were no social issues with being in a class with older kids. At their current school (much larger) there is a policy of keeping kids with their own age group, which initally left my daughter pretty bored and unchallenged, despite us discussing our concerns with the school several times. Finally, however, after some formal testing and a track-record at the school, her current teacher is allowing her to work at the appropriate level for the things she is good at, and with the rest of the class in areas which aren't her strong points. This is working for now, although it does require a lot of time on my part to find suitable materials and provide support with the stuff that can't be covered in the school day. Ultimately though, I anticipate that this will become less of an issue as they get older because motivated kids eventually become capable of self-directed learning and ask for what they want or need.

[dharder]

On the whole, I don't think they are any better or worse off in that particular are than in other countries. There are lots and lots of threads discussing schooling and different schools for gifted and/or talented children in gifted kids forums.

It varies from school to school, there is some private possibility (One Day School) that you pay for, and another pull out programme (Gifted Kids School) that is free, but the school gets to decide who goes. Both of these are for a school day, but the content is not curriculum related, so it will not be the same topics as in regular school just more advanced.

I would not expect the school to scream 'hurrah' and welcome you with open arms when you introduce your children as 'advanced.' But I believe that is a universal thing as well, not just an NZ one.

Good luck,

Daniela

[Mamee & Co]

In my experience, and from discussing it with friends who are teachers, it is difficult for teachers to extend the more able kids when they have a class of 30 to teach. There is a certain syllabus and they try to ensure that children reach the minimum level.

Unfortunately this means that more able children get bored, although they try to compensate by expecting more sums done, more pages written to a higher standard etc. etc.

This I would say probably has not changed since I was at school and is a joy for a more able pupil....not!

To try to address this problem in maths in the boys school there is a certain level of streaming within maths in the year5/6 group so that the more able pupils work together etc. to try to counteract this.

[Janey]

My Sons school they have mixed year groups even though its a large school and stream the children depending on ability if the child is ready they push and set more challenging work

[dharder]

It varies from school to school,

Quoting myself here, but just meant to add that one of my son's school streams the children in different ability classes from Year 7 onwards. That is for all subjects, they stay in that class unit for the entire year. Get reshuffled for Year 8.

At my other son's school, they do have different ability groups within a class context, and also (I believe for maths) ability groups across the different classes (but within the same year).

How this works for the individual child may vary, of course.

Daniela

[peebles16]

My kids school have mixed year classes so for instance my son is currently Year 5 in a Year 5/6 class and doing Year 6 work in literacy and maths as he's a bit ahead in those areas. My understanding is that there are 'extension' programmes that stretch those brighter kids from Year 6 on and likely that eldest son will move into those for some subjects. Opportunities to attend these extension programmes also available at high school as is the ability to sit exams at earlier age

I wouldn't class my children as gifted cos don't really like labelling them but academically they are well ahead of their peers in some areas and I feel that they are challenged to keep that up and teachers do well in differentiating the curriculum to accommodate that However, I would also echo what Daniela and others have said that this very much depends on the individual school

Best of luck

Karen

[liora]

Thank you for all the answers! One more question- here in America the kids get shuffled every year and it makes it very challenging to make long term friends. Are kids there allowed to stay in the same class with the same group of kids all 6 or 8 years of primary school?

[dharder]

Thank you for all the answers! One more question- here in America the kids get shuffled every year and it makes it very challenging to make long term friends. Are kids there allowed to stay in the same class with the same group of kids all 6 or 8 years of primary school?

No, they get shuffled every year as well, at least in the schools I know.

Daniela