Prep School Curriculum Gifted & Talented
Gifted & Talented
Gifted, talented and very able pupils are identified through assessments, teacher, parent or pupil nomination or external reports. We believe that all pupils have potential to be successful in one or more areas of the wider school curriculum. This may be academic, sports, music, art, drama or even citizenship. However some pupils have greater ability which needs to be nurtured.
There are many opportunities to develop this potential at Clayesmore. It is recognised that some pupils on the GTA register may also have Specific Learning Difficulties.
There are a wide range of sports available with pupils competing at county and national levels in one or more fields and specialist music tuition in many instruments is a strength of the school as is the choir. There are many opportunities to develop and demonstrate musical skills with master classes, competitions and tours abroad. Drama classes and theatre performances allow pupils to achieve great success and there are many additional specialist art classes to inspire our creative pupils.
We are members of local and national organisations for Gifted, Talented and Able pupils and are currently working towards the NACE challenge award – advanced teaching: inspiring able learners every day.
In the classroom all teachers differentiate lessons, extending able pupils with higher level thinking activities and critical research projects. Several members of staff offer coaching sessions to extend pupils further in lunch time clubs, especially when exams are imminent.
Special ‘G & T days’ are organised each year to inspire, enthuse and extend our pupils and other Gifted and Talented pupils from local schools are invited to join us so that as many children as possible may benefit from exchanging ideas and views with a wider range of able pupils.
Recent days have included visits from Henry VIII and Albert Einstein, the Planetarium, Liquid Nitrogen Show, visiting authors, artists, potters, and a blacksmith. Future plans include a master class in story writing and a Film Making day which will include script writing, set design and construction, acting and directing, as well as filming.