Able, Gifted and Talented Policy 2018

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1 Introduction Able, Gifted and Talented Policy 2018 At St Leonard s Church of England Primary School, we aim to produce a happy, safe and secure environment based on our vision: For all our School Family to actively live out each day through our deep Christian Faith, demonstrating knowledge, understanding and respect of all religions and cultures around the World. We will do this through our Mission. Mission Statement: A Journey In Faith, Love and Learning We seek to develop in each child the Christian values which encourage and reinforce good behaviour. Our Christian Aims Faith *To be giving of ourselves in serving God and each other. *To ensure that God is at the centre of our journey through life. *To follow the teachings of Jesus in all we say and do. Love *To accept our uniqueness. *To treat each other with respect. *To encourage each other to achieve. Learning *To set ourselves goals to achieve our full potential. *To have the confidence and belief that we can succeed together. *To learn about the world and through our knowledge and understanding be the best that we can be. Our Christian Values: 1. Truthfulness- we will be honest. 2. Trust- we will trust one another and allow others to trust them. 3. Forgiveness- we will forgive others and ask for forgiveness. 4. Courage- we will have the courage to make the right choices. 5. Justice- we will live out their lives fairly 6. Friendship- we will show kindness and gentleness 7. Respect- we will treat all they meet with respect. 8. Thankfulness- we will be thankful for all that we have 9. Generosity- we will be kind in all aspects of their life 10. Perseverance- we will try our best and not give up when things are difficult. 11. Compassion- we will think of others 12. Service- we will use the talents we have to help others

2 Learning is well supported when pupils are aware of what they are trying to achieve, in particular pieces of work and when, through careful marking, they have a clear picture about what they have done well, and where they need to do better next time. (OFSTED) At St Leonard s CE Primary School it is our vision for every child to reach their full potential, be that intellectual, physical, aesthetic, creative, emotional, spiritual or social, in a caring and considerate environment that supports and challenges children to extend and develop their skills. We have high expectations in learning, behaviour and teaching which is reflected in our school community spirit. St Leonard s is an inclusive school that provides a well structured learning environment for all children. We understand that all children are unique individuals who have their own strengths and weaknesses, gifts and talents. Within this range are children who are more intellectually able than their peers and children who are particularly talented in specific areas. St Leonard s is committed to providing opportunities to identify and nurture those who are gifted and/or talented; we are working together for everyone to reach towards their aspirations and dreams. Aims This policy is intended to support and nurture those identified as more able. *To ensure that all staff can successfully identify able, gifted or talented children as early as possible *To implement procedures and strategies that will address the needs of an identified cohort of more able pupils. *To ensure that more able pupils are motivated to achieve to the best of their ability. *To provide opportunities for more able pupils to work at high cognitive levels. *To develop the children s thinking skills through extended and enriched learning activities *To be concerned not only for children s academic development, but also for their social, moral, spiritual and emotional development *To involve and encourage parents in meeting the needs of their able, gifted or talented children Definitions Able, gifted and talented pupils are those who achieve, or who have the ability to achieve, in advance of the average for their year group in our school. *Able children are those identified as having above average academic ability in their class (working above year group expectations) *Gifted children achieve significantly above average (compared with the attainment of other able children in their year group) in one or more of the National Curriculum subjects other than art, performing arts or physical education *Talented children are those with a particular ability in art, music, physical education or the performing arts. These children only account for a very small minority of pupils and care must be taken to ensure that children are only deemed as being gifted and/or talented if they truly are. Such children may be intellectually able but also on the Special Educational Needs register. At St Leonard s we recognise that those pupils who are gifted and/or talented do not always show their abilities and that these pupils may have hidden potential.

3 Identification It is important to identify such children in order to provide an appropriately challenging curriculum that will inspire and enable pupils to reach their full potential. No one method of identification can be entirely accurate since specific subject criteria will develop and the abilities of gifted and/or talented children will vary. Therefore, we endeavour to obtain as much information about individual pupils as possible, using a wide range of strategies to identify gifted and/or talented pupils by making a judgement and analysis from various sources of information including: Quantitative data, such as National Curriculum assessments and other in-class testing Teacher observations and assessments Background knowledge from parents/ carers, teachers and previous settings Pupil response to higher level and extended tasks Discussions with other adults in school Achievements and progress in activities outside school Specialist support, advice or/ and assessments An able, gifted and talented register is regularly updated and kept within school in order to carefully monitor this group of children and to ensure that their learning is being catered for. Identification can be challenging and especially so when considering those children in the Foundation Stage and Year one, as each young child s development is unique and may suddenly show great progress, level out or slow down. In these year groups, alongside the assessments carried out, the teacher will also begin to identify children who have the potential to be able/gifted/talented. It is important to note that children can also be removed from the AGT record if criteria are not met on a sustained basis. Provision for the gifted/talented St Leonard s is an inclusive school and each child is provided with activities that start from their current abilities. Provision for those children who are able/gifted and/or talented is in a variety of forms and builds on thinking skills, problem solving, questioning, creativity and team work. We actively encourage these children to take risks and dare to extend themselves and their learning through making mistakes and reaching new levels of understanding. In-class strategies: Effective class teaching and learning that responds to the needs of able, gifted and talented children may involve strategies such as: *Challenge providing activities and experiences which stimulate thought and action at a high level *Enrichment adding breadth and range to a child s attainment and progress through activities and experiences which consolidate and widen the child s knowledge, skills and understanding *Extension providing opportunities for children to increase the depth of their knowledge, skills and understanding *Differentiation modifying the learning experiences of able, gifted and talented children so as to promote the opportunities for them to engage primarily in higher-order thinking

4 *Greater Depth ensuring AGT children have regular access to greater depth activities to broaden and deepen children s understanding *Provide opportunities for pupils to work on higher order skills *Using their initiative to solve problems and seeks alternative answers including allowing pupils to organise their own work, to carry out tasks unaided, evaluate their work and become self-critical. Out of class activities: Out of class teaching that responds to the needs of able, gifted and talented children may involve strategies such as: *Extra-curricular clubs *Music or sports practice and performance, or competition opportunities *Special events e.g. field trips, residential Responsibilities Teachers and Subject Leaders: *To ensure Quality First Teaching for all pupils throughout the school. This includes catering for different learning styles. *To track the progress of all children through the use of assessment, APP and the class tracker using this assessment to ensure that each child has access to a broad and balanced exciting curriculum which both supports and challenges learners. *To report any children who are within the classification of gifted and/or talented to the Gifted and Talented Leader. *To ensure that evidence is collected on an ongoing basis to support any identification and to successfully track the progress of these children. Leader for Gifted and Talented Pupils: *To set up and maintain the Gifted and Talented Register *To monitor the progress of those on the register through Pupil Progress Meetings *To liaise with class teachers to support provision for gifted and talented pupils, increasing the awareness of the needs of gifted and talented pupils *To establish and develop effective links with receiving secondary schools or other Primary Schools and ensure the transfer of relevant information *To carry out lesson observations and learning walks *To scrutinise books and planning *To analyse data to monitor progress of pupils with AGT *To seek the views of parents and pupils Headteacher: *To ensure that appropriate time and resources are made available for effective management of the needs of Gifted and Talented children within the school. *To ensure that there is appropriate curriculum flexibility to meet the needs of Gifted and Talented children. Pupil Premium Every teacher is aware of the children who receive Pupil Premium funding in their class. We recognise that not all pupils who receive free school meals will be socially disadvantaged. Through all subjects, we seek to ensure that teaching and learning opportunities meet the needs of all of the pupils and appropriate provision is made for

5 pupils who belong to vulnerable groups. This includes ensuring that the needs of Pupil Premium children are adequately catered for and provision is put in place where needed. Equal opportunities It is the responsibility of all teachers to ensure that all pupils, irrespective of gender, ability, including able and gifted children, ethnicity and social circumstance, have access to the curriculum and make the greatest progress possible. The use of differentiation by outcome allows children to respond to the work presented to them at the appropriate level. This policy will be reviewed every three years. Signed: Date: