At Smith’s Wood Community Primary Academy we shall aim to:

• help our able and talented pupils to develop their personalities, skills and abilities, intellectually and socially; regardless of ethnic origin, gender or disability.
• create opportunities  which will aim to help children to develop their desire to learn to work at higher cognitive levels.
• provide teaching which makes learning challenging and enjoyable and enables our able and talented pupils to achieve their potential.

We will aim to provide good quality learning experiences for our Able and Talented pupils through the following approaches;

1. Within the School
2. Within the classroom
3. Beyond the School
    

1. The Whole School Approach

Our aims…

• a climate of encouraging achievement within the school that ensures pupils feel good about achieving high standards.

• agreed identification and monitoring strategies, reviewing individual progress regularly. (Pupil’s inclusion on the Able and Talented register will be regularly reviewed by the relevant staff and discussed with the pupil’s parents).

• appoint a named teacher responsible for co-ordinating and monitoring our school policy and attending/providing INSET as necessary.
• to produce/update a register of all Able and Talented pupils identified or nominated by teachers, parents or pupils.
• to achieve open communication and partnership with parents of children on the register of Able and Talented pupils.
• the inclusion of subject specific guidance in subject policies.
• the provision of general and subject specific resources/materials for Able and talented pupils
• to ensure successive class teachers/secondary schools are advised of a pupil’s inclusion on the Able and Talented register.

 

2. Within the classroom

Our aim is to provide good quality learning experiences for all our pupils.

This is not about extra provision for a few select pupils but a whole school issue. Extra programmes and enrichment are only part of the provision – it is what happens everyday, within the classroom, that is most important. We believe that effective provision for able, talented children is one facet of effective provision for all pupils within a school. Provision must include access to appropriate opportunities whether they are provided in, or beyond, school. We aim to create opportunities for all pupils to demonstrate their potential talent or ability.

Provision for our able and talented pupils should be considered in the following areas:

i) Whole school approach

There is a general positive climate of high expectation and extended provision, it is ‘cool’ to succeed and high achievement is promoted. At Smith’s Wood Community Primary Academy we celebrate achievement in many ways including Celebration Assembly, Pupil of the Week, Star of the Day…

ii) Within the classroom

All pupils respond better in a positive supportive learning environment. We believe provision in the classroom is key to the effective identification of AG& T children. At Smith’s Wood Community Primary Academy provision for AG&T pupils in the classroom includes;

1) Different forms of differentiation e.g. by outcome, resource, task, dialogue, support, pace, content, self i.e. adapting a task to make it more complex, create challenge and make it more sophisticated, etc.

2) Teaching and learning programme – enrichment (breadth), acceleration (pace), extension (depth), avoiding ‘more of the same’.

3) Differentiated homework with opportunities for open ended investigation and research tasks.

4) Links with other subjects, children are encouraged to use their skills to make connections across the curriculum.

5) Questioning, explaining and challenging to extend thinking.

6) Inclusion of higher order thinking skills i.e. synthesis, analysis, evaluation and providing activities to develop investigative and exploratory approaches. Examples of such activities include; group problem solving, Thinking Skills Starters/Morning Tasks and Challenge activities.

7) Grouping/setting.

8) Target setting, targets are agreed with the child and set at a sufficiently high level to extend and challenge pupils and to avoid repetition.

9) Opportunities to develop own interests and learning strategies (metacognition), enabling pupils to become more independent participants in their learning.

10) Classroom environment - development and promotion of high achievement; empowering a community of learners with permission to fail, take risks etc.

11) Provision of creative, open ended or abstract tasks.

12) Access to high quality, challenging resources.

13) Use of TA – for example to deliver Extension Activities to small groups of children.

14) Encouraging the use of A&T pupils as lead learners.

 

NB We will use the Classroom Quality Standards to monitor our provision
 

3. Beyond the School

Provision at our school includes:

1) Use of the wider community i.e. governors, parents etc.

2) Extension and enrichment opportunities – extension groups; extra-curricular clubs/activities …

3) Master classes, Summer Schools etc

4) Residential experiences

6) LEA support and organised activities

7) SW Gate/Excellence Hub workshops

8) Specialist sports coaching after school

9) Inter school and city wide sports competitions

10) Sports festivals –School Sports Coordinators scheme

10) Mfl courses

 

N.B. All provision for pupils identified as able and talented is embedded in the overall practice of the school, and is not viewed as a ‘bolt-on’ activity.