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ST. PAUL'S WAY COMMUNITY SCHOOL
POLICY DOCUMENT: SUPPORTING MORE ABLE students
October 1999 (Revised November 2003)
Person(s) Responsible:
Ms. S. Wild (Assistant Headteacher)
Ms. S. Hill (Gifted & Talented School Co-ordinator)
Aims:
• To recognise the needs of more able students in a comprehensive school, within a framework of equal opportunity and mixed ability teaching.
• To implement procedures and strategies that will address the needs of an identified cohort of more able students.
• To ensure that more able students are motivated to achieve to the best of their ability and set standards of excellence as an example for others to follow.
• To provide opportunities for more able students to work at high cognitive levels and/or to develop specific skills or talents.
Rationale:
All children need encouragement and support just as much as other
children. All pupils should receive the education they need and if they
need specialised or extra help because of a gift or talent they should
have the same entitlement as pupils who find learning difficult.
All students are individuals with their own special needs and requirements. More able students need to be identified, targeted, supported and challenged. Strategies need to be devised and implemented, and student progress needs to be monitored (in much the same way as statemented students and students with learning difficulties/Special Educational Needs). This is not to say that more able students are more worthy of individual attention than other students - rather that, within a framework of equal opportunity, they are entitled to have their needs recognised and addressed.
"Talent alone does not guarantee success and able students may need special support to realise their potential for a number of reasons:
•
Talent can easily be wasted without appropriate knowledge and skills to direct it. Advice and support may be crucial in this respect.
• Ability may go unrecognised in the absence of a programme specifically designed to identify it. In some cases, the talent may be latent.
• Without appropriate Schemes of Work and recognition for their efforts, able students may be discouraged.
• Talent may require constant stimulation if it is to continue to develop rather than stagnate and perhaps decline.
• Able students may need emotional and/or psychological support in special respects."
Dr Mike Kirby.
Identification:
The More Able student Cohort (MAPC) will be identified using a variety of data: LRT scores, Primary School Records, other Secondary School Records, KS2 and KS3 SATs, NFER CATs, PROST Reports, teacher identification,
student / parent identification. Only after consideration of all available evidence, (based on previous performance and potential) should students be identified as "more able".
students who are performing above average for their age group in
norm-referenced / criterion-referenced tasks could be considered as "more able". Departments should be aware of the indicators of under-achieving students when identifying the "more able"; the best in the class are not necessarily the "more able".
"More able" students are generally considered to possess the following
characteristics:
•
"Great intellectual curiosity.
• Ability to learn easily and readily.
• Initiative and originality in intellectual work.
• Ability to memorise quickly.
• Superior powers of reasoning."
DES Checklist, 1979.
"Gifted" learners as those who have
abilities in one or more subjects in the statutory school curriculum other
than art and design, music and PE;
"Talented" learners as those who have
abilities in art and design, music, PE or performing arts such as dance
and drama.
Recent studies into the nature of intelligence suggest that there is no single form of intelligence to be measured. Professor Howard Gardner has posited a wider view of intelligence, expressed in his theory of Multiple Intelligences. He identifies seven types of intelligence: linguistic, logical-mathematical, spatial, musical, bodily-kinaesthetic, interpersonal and intrapersonal (only two of which fall within the usual definitions of
"intelligence").
Notwithstanding these views, we must guard against confusing "ability" with "intelligence". We might be better served by disregarding altogether the concept of "intelligence" and focusing instead on "aptitude".
The top end of the ability range will, in percentage terms, probably mirror that of the bottom end.
(viz. About 2% who are "highly or exceptionally able" - reflecting the 2% who are statemented – and a further 18% who are "more able" – reflecting the 18% who are on the SEN Register. These figures are, of course, nominal and fluctuate from school to school and year to year. It is important to use these figures only as a general guide).
Teaching Strategies and Classroom Organisation:
Teaching styles for the more able student should be more open-ended and flexible. More able students tend not to respond well to more 'directed' teaching and rigid learning structures. There is a need to allow the more able student opportunities to 'take risks' in their learning, and effective teaching for them will reflect this. All students, but particularly more able students, ought to be encouraged and given opportunities to think creatively and divergently.
Provision for more able students ought to include the following:
Enrichment
Enrichment relates to breadth of study and experience. It involves
offering learners a wide variety of opportunities, both within and outside
the curriculum, and exposing them to experiences not usually encountered
as part of the standard curriculum.
Extension
Extension (also referred to as enrichment through depth), involves
children and young people following the standard curriculum but developing
a deeper understanding through encountering more complex resources and
materials, tackling more challenging questions and tasks, demonstrating
higher levels of thinking, and presenting increasingly sophisticated
responses.
Acceleration
Involves fast tracking more able pupils in some subjects through the
curriculum and through specialised study support, this;
• increases their pace of learning.
• adds challenge.
• increases their motivation.
• raises the expectations of pupils, teachers and parents.
• can add flexibility to the curriculum creating space for new deeper or
enhanced learning
GCSE Maths, Statistics
GNVQ Intermediate Art/Textiles/Photography
GNVQ and AVCE performing arts
National Sports, Music and Art competitions
In class approach:
• enrichment/extension.
• working with others of like ability.
• differentiation/acceleration.
• challenge within subject areas.
• differentiated homework.
• independent learning opportunities.
Out of class approach:
• working with older students/peer mentoring.
• enhancement/additionality.
• Out of School Hours/Study Support (including lunchtime clubs, homework clubs, after school/weekend/holiday clubs).
• enrichment days/visits/outings/residentials.
• musical, sporting opportunities.
• business mentoring.
• PSHE/responsibilities.
The Role of Senior Management:
1. To provide adequate resources to ensure that more able students receive a high quality education that meets their needs within a comprehensive framework.
2. To develop appropriate, accessible database systems for collecting, disseminating and recording information about more able students.
3. To monitor and evaluate the development of the policy in each and every curriculum area to ensure that more able students are correctly identified, that adequate provision is made for them and that their progress is regularly monitored.
4. To ensure that HODs and HOYs fulfil their responsibilities towards more able students by regular monitoring and evaluation (on a termly basis).
5. To provide opportunities for staff development, as required, in order to raise awareness and develop skills in identifying, developing teaching and learning strategies and providing resources for more able students.
The Role of Middle Management - HODs:
1. To develop Departmental Policy, within the framework of the Whole School Policy, for inclusion in Departmental Handbooks and Schemes of Work.
2. To establish a standardised system and criteria for identifying more able students and ensure that they are adhered to by all members of the Department.
3. To liaise with HOYs over the list of more able students and ensure that HOYs are kept informed of changes/amendments.
4. To ensure that Departmental Schemes of Work and Lesson Plans show differentiation to cater for the varying levels of ability within each class and promote a variety of teaching and learning strategies.
5. To monitor the achievement/attainment of more able students to check that they are on target.
6. To organise INSET and set aside regular departmental time to discuss new ideas, share materials, develop teaching strategies and extension activities and make links with other curriculum areas and appropriate outside agencies.
The Role of Middle
Management - HOYs:
1. To develop Pastoral Policy, within the framework of the Whole School Policy, for inclusion in the Staff Handbook.
2. To liaise with HODs over the list of more able students and ensure that Tutors are kept informed of changes/amendments.
3. To monitor the achievement/attainment of more able students, in conjunction with Tutors, (as part of the general monitoring of academic progress contained in the generic job description in the Staff Handbook) to check that they are on target in all identified areas of the curriculum.
4. To liaise with parents, in conjunction with Tutors, over any concerns about under-achievement.
The Role of the Classroom Teacher:
1. To ensure that Lesson Plans reflect the Whole School Policy and Departmental Schemes of Work and contain class and homework activities that are differentiated to meet the needs of all students (including more able students).
2. To provide students with opportunities to extend their talents/skills by regularly promoting problem solving, open ended and investigative activities.
3. To recognise that setting more work for students is not necessarily beneficial. More able students are more inclined to respond to higher level work that is more challenging, rather than more work of a similar level that is likely to be resented.
4. To incorporate opportunities within their subject discipline to make use of ICT, including use of the Internet.
Use of Information and Communications Technology (ICT):
All students, but particularly more able students, should benefit from opportunities to have access to computers before, during and after school. Developing skills in the use of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) can make an important contribution to the student's sense of self as an independent learner. Broadly speaking, ICT has three main areas of use:
1. the organisation and presentation of information – e.g. word processing, spreadsheets, databases;
2. programmes which facilitate processing information – e.g. learning packages such as Integrated Learning Systems, Global English, Global Maths, Successmaker, Plato;
3. access to information – e.g. CD ROMs, Internet websites e.g. www.nrich.maths.org.uk, the National Grid for Learning (NGfL).
The availability of rooms and resources out of school hours is of paramount importance to enable students to work on topics of interest at times convenient for them. For the more able student, such opportunities for self-directed learning are vital. students should be encouraged to keep a log in order to facilitate monitoring and to enable target-setting, where appropriate.
Useful Organisations:
The National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC)
www.nagc.org
The National Association for Able Children in Education (NACE)
www.nace.org
National Academy for Gifted and Talented Youth
In addition to making use of the above organisations, further support for
enhancement / additionality will need to be obtained. Both local and national organisations will be used, as and when deemed appropriate. After
school / weekend / holiday classes will be organised, in conjunction with other schools, when suitable/convenient.
A list of suitable organisations will be compiled and will include expertise from a variety of backgrounds, including the arts (both visual and performing), media and sports - as well as organisations that promote learning about humanities, mathematics, science and technology. Other organisations that promote thinking and discussion of topical, philosophical and moral issues, such as SAPERE, also have a distinct contribution to make towards the personal and social development of students.
Such activities will require careful consideration and planning, including budgeting, to ensure high quality provision.
The following government website contains much useful information:
www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/excellence/policies/GiftedAndTalented
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