Category Archives: Gifted

Brilliant activities for stretching your More Able children in the typical classroom setting

Organising and preparing additional classroom activities for your More Able pupils, on top of those that have been organised for the whole class, can take up a considerable amount of time that you and your colleagues quite simply don’t have.

Which is why we have produced Brilliant Activities for Stretching Gifted and Talented Children – to support you in providing provisions for your More Able pupils in the typical classroom setting.

Brilliant Activities for Stretching Gifted and Talented Children contains refreshing, motivating activities, based on the latest theories and research, to stretch your More Able pupils’ analytical, creative, and evaluative skills.

The 100+ activities in the volume range from quick warm-ups and brainteasers to maths-focussed activities and entertaining, open-ended exercises for pupils to complete independently.

Activities can be easily photocopied and issued to your pupils when they require additional work. And whilst they’ve been created for More Able pupils up to the age of 11, the resource presents approaches and insights that can be applied to any pupil and teaching situation.

You can order Brilliant Activities for Stretching Gifted and Talented Children in a variety of ways, including:

  • By visiting the website
  • By phone on 01449 766629
  • By fax on 01449 768047
  • By email to orders@tradecounter.co.uk
  • Or by post to Brilliant Publications, Mendlesham Industrial Estate, Norwich Road, Mendlesham, Suffolk, IP14 5ND.

Brilliant Publications,
Mendlesham Industrial Estate,
Norwich Road,
Mendlesham,
Suffolk,
IP14 5ND.

website: www.brilliantpublications.co.uk
email: orders@tradecounter.co.uk

phone: 01449 766629
fax: 01449 768047

How can you provide for the most able child in a year group when the other 119 take all your energy?

For the most able children, it can be lonely at the top. However academic the school, there will always be some children whose interests and abilities are beyond those of their peers. They may hide those abilities in order not to be seen as “weird”, or display them and suffer a social penalty.

Even for those with the social confidence to be themselves at school, there’s not much space in a crowded curriculum for their interests to flourish. Teachers overwhelmed by the pressure of getting the bulk of children exam-ready struggle to provide the individual attention they need.

The best resource for exceptionally able children is… other exceptionally able children. Extra-curricular initiatives such as philosophy clubs or occasional trips can allow such children to enjoy one another’s company, but these are still limited to those within the same school and often year group.

At GIFT, we’ve been providing opportunities for exceptionally able children to meet and learn for over 20 years. The residential weekends and Easter and Summer schools provide a whole new, aspirational peer group for bright secondary students, and lifelong friendships are formed.

Each day, students work in small groups on a whole-day project chosen from three or four options. Projects are “an inch wide and a mile deep”, exploring an unusual area in depth and with space for sustained endeavour and creativity. Each group is led by an experienced G&T specialist, and the atmosphere is more informal and “adult” than is usually possible in school. There are substantial breaks when students can socialise, and further activities in the evenings which many GIFTers use to try something different, challenging any narrow views they have about where their talents lie.

“I’ve been meaning to write that my daughter absolutely loved the Easter residential course.  She really enjoyed the entire week and enjoyed being with the other students. She has a real longing to return.  Although she’s not one that lacks friends, she said she realises now what it means to really bond with others.  She said, ‘there ARE people just like me.’   I have honestly never heard her so genuinely happy.  Many thanks for offering these retreats for our kids.”

At the 2016 Easter School, some of the projects on offer are around philosophy & roleplay, Shakespeare’s mysterious double life, the engineering challenge of the Dambusters’ bouncing bomb,  improv comedy and Homer’s Odyssey. On the May residential weekend, there’s time travel, Kandinsky, Colditz and the challenge of being Chancellor of the Exchequer battling the deficit.

Each place on the Easter school or May Residential booked through this offer comes with a free copy of “The Philosophy Files” by Stephen Law, one of my favourite books for gifted teens. You can see full details of the courses at: www.giftcourses.co.uk/hamiltonhouseoffer

Jason Buckley, Director of Studies