How successful is your policy for gifted pupils?

A policy for gifted and talented pupils needs to be integrated into whole-school planning. At key stages 1 and 2, this may be part of general curriculum planning. At secondary level, additional specific provision related to English will be appropriate. At all key stages, the policy should set out principles for identifying very able pupils in English and how their work is to be monitored both by teachers and by the pupils themselves. The policy may include guidance on assessing the relative strengths of pupils (for example those who are very quiet or very vocal), examples of high attainment and ways to extend work in English in other subjects. Record-keeping is important, particularly at points of transition, so that teachers can build on exceptional achievement.

Gifted pupils' engagement with the planned work of the class may require special management. For example, it can be helpful to give very able pupils opportunities to:

work together

take special roles in mixed-ability groups

engage older pupils as their talking or reading partners

use classroom assistants to give them special attention and support.

It is important to ensure a careful balance between the provision of special opportunities for individual pupils and their inclusion in the mainstream academic and social life of a class.

In order to make principled policy decisions about adapting the curriculum for the special needs of the most able pupils, it is important to keep in mind some specific ways in which adaptations can be made. These might include:

setting harder work for some pupils, such as reading a more difficult book or taking major responsibility for an oral report

encouraging a more reflective approach to the work, by posing open-ended 'What if?' questions for which deeper answers are sought

broadening the range of pupils' knowledge by suggesting wider reading of texts on the same themes, by the same author, or through a study of other versions of the main text(s)

promoting more independent lines of enquiry among pupils so that they are able to follow their own ideas in fruitful ways, such as finding out more about the subject matter of books they read, making their own choices about writing tasks, or investigating differences in English usage now and in the past.

When looking across medium- and long-term plans, principles such as these could be referred to and adapted as a method for checking that differentiation is occurring systematically and for helping to ensure that the most able pupils are making progress in English.

School and subject policies in the general guidance

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