The national curriculum

When planning for gifted and talented pupils, schools can take advantage of the flexibility allowed by the national curriculum.

Within the requirement to provide a broad and balanced curriculum, schools may put particular emphases on some subjects or approaches in the curriculum for some pupils. There are no nationally prescribed time allowances for national curriculum subjects. For example:

• One school enhances modern foreign languages for some pupils in year 7 so that it can introduce a second foreign language in year 8.
• A primary school emphasises the arts throughout years 4 and 5 by using wide-ranging projects, often community-based, to develop pupils' creative thinking, confidence in taking initiative, basic skills and aspects of subject-specific learning.

Programmes of study set out what the majority of pupils should be taught by the end of the key stage. It is not necessary for pupils to study all national curriculum subjects each week, term or year. A school may decide to concentrate on particular subjects or aspects of the curriculum during a particular term or year. As long as the full programme of study is covered by the end of the key stage, it is up to the school to decide the time weighting in any particular term or year. For example:

• Pupils completing the key stage 1 programme of study early may join the science activities of older classes or work with a classroom assistant or volunteer on independent investigations individually or as a small group.
• A school teaches history as a relatively small part of an integrated or modular humanities programme in year 7, and follows this with a more substantial history focus in year 8, in conjunction with a local museum.
• A group of pupils work intensively over a period with an artist-in-residence to produce a sculpture, or take part in geography fieldwork involving a visit to the coast (perhaps with a residential element).

When a key stage programme of study has been taught in full, pupils can progress beyond its requirements or take other subjects. For example:

• Pupils completing the key stage 3 programme of study for science at the end of year 8 begin a broader, enriched science programme leading to Physics, Chemistry and Biology GCSEs at the end of year 11.
• Pupils completing the design and technology programme of study halfway through year nine undertake a Young Enterprise challenge before moving on to GCSE courses in year 10.
• Pupils who gain GCSE Mathematics at the end of year 10 either progress to AS Mathematics in year 11 or begin a new area of learning, such as a course leading to AS Critical Thinking.

National curriculum programmes of study are not prescriptive. Schools are free to teach material in subject areas that go beyond the programme of study to some or all pupils. For example:

• Year 6 and 7 pupils work together on a project exploring language in their community. This involves observation;
• recording;
• analysing and displaying written language in the community; interviewing peers and other community members about spoken language;
• investigating the cross-fertilisation of languages; and presenting their findings to older students and community members.

The national testing system provides opportunities for recognising and reporting the achievements of gifted and talented pupils.

From 2003, extension tests will no longer be available. The most able and gifted pupils will have followed a curriculum that blends faster pace and more breadth with greater depth in a subject. They will be assessed in a range of ways, including through:

• optional tasks that teachers can use to support their assessment judgements;
• early entry for the end of key stage tests, if they have completed the programme of study for that key stage and are about to move on to the next key stage's programme of study;
• taking an optional end-of-year test early;
• taking the tests for the end of the next key stage (if they are on an accelerated programme);
• taking the world class tests in mathematics and problem solving.

Further information on these is available at World Class Arena.

There are no statutory assessment requirements at key stage 4. However, schools must ensure that, where appropriate, students' learning is assessed and recognised through national qualifications. There is a direct link between national curriculum programmes of study and GCSE specifications, but schools may incorporate the programmes of study into a course leading to any qualification approved for pre-16 students. For example:

• The design and technology programme of study is built into an enhanced course leading to a GCSE in ICT, with a far greater focus on design and control applications.
• The modern foreign languages programme of study is met by a carefully planned course leading to Applied Business GCSE double award and the GNVQ language units, taught through Spanish.

Students may embark on courses leading to AS levels in science, modern foreign languages and design and technology from the start of year 10, bypassing the GCSE. The AS levels go significantly beyond key stage 4 programmes of study in some areas, but do not meet the programmes of study in full. Schools are permitted to meet statutory national curriculum requirements through these courses.

Further specific flexibility is available at key stage 4, permitting the disapplication of modern foreign languages and/or design and technology to enable a student to emphasise another curriculum area. Guidance on disapplication for specific purposes at key stage 4 is available on the DfES website.

For example a talented musician who has already achieved grade 8 in her music examinations takes Performing Arts GNVQ during key stage 4, enhanced by a link with a community theatre project at a neighbouring sixth-form college. To generate time for the course, modern foreign languages is disapplied. The implications of the disapplication are explored -- in this case, the school and the student and parents/carers agree that she has learnt enough in two languages at key stage 3 to be able to take them up again post-16 if she wishes.

Chapter 5: Pace and progression in the Green Paper (14-19: Extending opportunities, raising standards) has implications for curricular flexibility and provision for this cohort of pupils, notably the creation of accelerated groups in some subjects and increased early entry for public examinations.

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The 14 to 19 curriculum

The Government's vision for the 14 to 19 phase in the Green Paper (see above) and subsequent White Paper (14-19: Opportunity and excellence) is one of flexible, individualised provision that matches and develops young people's interests, needs and aspirations. Young people will be able to choose from a diverse range of opportunities -- general, vocational and work-based -- all of which have been planned to offer coherence and to secure progression routes. Provision for the gifted and talented can be tailored to their specific needs, at this and other stages of their learning, through variations in:

• learning approaches and styles;
• areas, scope and volume of opportunities to specialise;
• contexts and settings for learning;
• assessment methods and match to national qualifications;
• rates of progression through learning and towards qualifications;
• the range of adults other than teachers who contribute to extending learning.

Increasing flexibility within the curriculum requirement and the range of qualifications available to 14 to 19-year-olds enables schools and colleges to differentiate more effectively. A school or college may wish to provide opportunities for gifted and talented students to do some, or all, of the following.

1. Emphasise or specialise in a particular area

For example:

• Key stage 4 students plan, with their teachers, GCSE PE programmes that link to their sporting activities. Some use a second option block to coach younger students in the school, working towards the Junior Sports Leadership Award and the BGA Certificate in Assistant Coaching.
• School students taking GCSE or A level History are able to join an AS course in Archaeology at a local sixth-form college, including visits and participation in excavations.

2. Experience additional challenge in courses and programmes, beyond the requirements of qualifications

For example:

• A specialist arts school's BTEC National Diploma course in Performing Arts has an established link with the Dance and Drama Foundation courses at a neighbouring FE college. Students join workshops with practising artists, choreographers, directors and designers.
• A school sixth form provides courses in 'minority' subjects, designed to complement and extend learning in a range of advanced level courses. Latin, for example, has proved popular for science, history, English and modern foreign language students.

3. Work towards higher-level qualifications in some subjects or aspects of a programme

For example:

• An FE college runs twilight classes leading to the three-unit vocational AS levels in Business and ICT for key stage 4 students at neighbouring schools. The classes are also open to the college's own students.
• Students taking a range of different subjects, who have taken AS Critical Thinking at the end of year 12, form a 'self-help group' to pool their knowledge and experience. Drawing on the awarding body's website guidance, they discuss how to approach the AEA in Critical Thinking that they take at the end of year 13.

4. Experience new settings and engage with adults in a range of employment, professional and other formal contexts

For example:

• Students who attain well across the curriculum are linked with business mentors, with a particular focus on extending and supporting their skills in working with others, problem solving and leadership. Mentoring takes place on the business premises and sessions are sometimes extended by opportunities to observe meetings, discussions and activities.

5. Tackle qualifications earlier than their peers and progress to higher-level qualifications or broader learning opportunities at the same level

For example:

• Most students in a top mathematics set take GCSE at the end of year 10. In year 11, they work towards AS Mathematics. They join a school-based master class one evening a week and all take the AS level at the end of the year. Some choose to move on to the A2 post-16, while others apply their mathematics learning in a range of advanced level courses.
• Key stage 4 students who have taken a short course GCSE Religious Studies at the end of year 10 work towards units of AS Philosophy in year 11.

6. Plan learning opportunities for themselves or for peers

For example:

• Within a school's community participation programme, a group of students elect to take responsibility for monitoring key areas of the curriculum from the learner's perspective, leading to student/teacher review groups.
• Pairs of students select an aspect of a subject specification and, in consultation with their teacher, prepare and deliver a series of lessons for their class.

7. Pursue their programme with a number of providers working in partnership to optimise learning opportunities, challenge or relevance to further education and career aspirations

For example:

• A student who is working towards a double award vocational A level in Engineering and aiming for an Advanced Modern Apprenticeship undertakes a weekly work placement as part of a student apprenticeship scheme. The placement, supported by periods of employment during holidays, will lead to a level 2 NVQ in Performing Engineering Operations.
• Year 9 and 10 students from a number of schools take part in a range of challenges that extend their mathematics, science and geography work. These are set, supported and evaluated by a partnership that includes local employers, universities and a range of community organisations involved in master classes and other curriculum enrichment.

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