• The House of Commons, WAG,ACCAC and Estyn have focused attention on the needs of More Able and Talented children as part of the national inclusion agenda.

• The professional challenge is to ensure that this group has its needs identified and addres

• Caerphilly’s policy for More Able and Talented children reflects its commitment to equal opportunities and to quality provision for all learners.

• All learners will have access to opportunities which enable them to develop as successful learners and to value the achievements of others.

• The key focus is to meet the needs of children who challenge, surprise and make demands on our knowledge, expertise and resources.

• We recognise that although learning may come more easily in certain subjects for More Able and Talented children, they do not always have an easy passage through school. Their abilities make them vulnerable to pressures at home and at school. Together these pressures often contribute to underachievement by this group of young people.

• Children in each school excel in one or more of the areas listed under Definitions overleaf. In Caerphilly we identify these children as the More Able and Talented and include them on an authority- wide register.

• Caerphilly has been proactive in meeting the needs of its More Able and Talented children by setting a consultative group made up of school, advisory service and LEA staff.

• The consultative group has formulated the authority’s policy on More Able and Talented children.

• This group will help create a Primary and Secondary starter resource pack as well as an administration pack. This will be bilingual as far as possible and the latter will be available on CD Rom

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• physical talent;
• artistic talent;
• practical ability;
• leadership;
• academic thinking;
• creativity

• good all-rounders;
• high achievers in one area;
• of high ability but with low motivation;
• of good verbal ability but poor writing skills;
• very able with short attention span;
• very able with poor social skills;
• keen to disguise their ability.

• use a range of suitable identification and assessment procedures to ensure that the needs of this group of children are known and understood;

• develop and implement strategies to meet the learning needs of these children through differentiated provision, extended and enriched lessons and through organisational arrangements which support children’ learning and development.

• recognise and address underachievement and, in doing so, raise the standards of all children;

• enable children to be actively involved in the development of their own talents;

• work in partnership with parents / carers to develop their children’s talents;

• form productive links with external agencies.

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• develop a policy on provision for the More Able and Talented, embracing this area within the Inclusion agenda;

• establish manageable systems for identifying children who perform, or have the potential to perform, at a level well above that of their peers;

• further develop teaching and learning strategies so as to provide these children with an appropriate level of challenge;

• explore opportunities beyond the school, through links with other schools, community groups, business and industry to enhance these children’ learning experiences;

• work in partnership with parents / carers to ensure that their views and concerns are taken in to account in planning and making arrangements for their child;

• ensure children are actively involved in setting their own goals;

• monitor and evaluate the quality of provision;

• report on their strategies to their governing bodies and to parents through their Annual Report on how they identify and meet the needs of More Able and Talented children.

• provide IAPs for the Most Able and Talented where additional and different provision is required;

• enable these children to deal with peer pressure;

• liaise with parents to develop a healthy, balanced attitude towards the skill or talent;

• to transfer information from one phase to another effectively;

• access a range of resources and sources of advice from external agencies;

• contact and inform parents in an appropriate, supportive way.

• nominate a person responsible for More Able and Talented children who will:

• set in place a register of More Able and Talented children; the LEA will then aim to establish its own authority-wide register;

• lead staff discussion and raise awareness through effective INSET provision

• Liaise with class teachers, subject leaders, ARR coordinator and the Since

• Set up and manage a whole school resource facility to inform on recent materials, specialist facilities and share good practice

• To give advice and guidance on extending opportunities and linking to other agencies

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The LEA will:

• Designate a member of the School Effectiveness Unit (SEU) to co-ordinate, in liaison with the consultative group, the implementation and development of the authority’s policy on More Able and Talented children;

• Provide quality in-service training for teachers, governors and other school staff on provision for More Able and Talented children;

• Support schools through the dissemination of good quality learning materials and practice. It will do this through the Caerphilly Learning Forum, the SENCO Forum and other quality network initiatives;

• Develop partnership projects with the authority’s arts, music and sports development officers and with other external partners, eg. UWIC and ACCAC;Ynys Hywel etc

• publish a list of internet sites containing differentiated and extension materials for More Able and Talented children;

• provide operational guidance to support schools in meeting the needs of their More Able and Talented children
  

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Identification:

A More Able and Talented child is identified through teacher assessment and judgement, liaising with parents whenever possible.This professional assessment is carried out through:

• analysis of attainment data;
• discussion of children with colleagues;
• teacher observation and nomination;
• discussion with the child;
• consultation with parents / carers;
• on-going assessment using open / differentiated tasks;

Special Ability Scales (Hodder and Stoughton) may prove a useful aide-memoire to assist teachers in the identification of More Able and Talented children.

It is important to remember that the abilities of some More Able and Talented children cannot be measured by standardised assessments. In addition, research indicates that More Able and Talented children sometimes choose not to do well in assessments so as not to stand out amongst their peers. We must be sensitive in our identification and in the expectations we make of these young people.It is vital that this information is passed on  when children transfer from class to class and from one phase to another.

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 Monitoring and Evaluation:

The LEA’s policy and support for schools will be monitored and evaluated through:

• analysis of the LEA’s attainment by comparison with its targets;
• reviewing the range and quality of in-service training provided;
• discussion with schools’ teaching staff, parents / carers and governing bodies;
• the annual school review and development programme;
• analysis of Estyn inspection reports on the LEA and its schools;
• an annual report to the cabinet.