✕

Important update from TheSchoolRun

For the past 13 years, TheSchoolRun has been run by a small team of mums working from home, dedicated to providing quality educational resources to primary school parents. Unfortunately, rising supplier costs and falling revenue have made it impossible for us to continue operating, and we’ve had to make the difficult decision to close. The good news: We’ve arranged for another educational provider to take over many of our resources. These will be hosted on a new portal, where the content will be updated and expanded to support your child’s learning.

What this means for subscribers:

  • Your subscription is still active, and for now, you can keep using the website as normal — just log in with your usual details to access all our articles and resources*.
  • In a few months, all resources will move to the new portal. You’ll continue to have access there until your subscription ends. We’ll send you full details nearer the time.
  • As a thank you for your support, we’ll also be sending you 16 primary school eBooks (worth £108.84) to download and keep.

A few changes to be aware of:

  • The Learning Journey weekly email has ended, but your child’s plan will still be updated on your dashboard each Monday. Just log in to see the recommended worksheets.
  • The 11+ weekly emails have now ended. We sent you all the remaining emails in the series at the end of March — please check your inbox (and spam folder) if you haven’t seen them. You can also follow the full programme here: 11+ Learning Journey.

If you have any questions, please contact us at [email protected]. Thank you for being part of our journey it’s been a privilege to support your family’s learning.

*If you need to reset your password, it will still work as usual. Please check your spam folder if the reset email doesn’t appear in your inbox.

Could your child be gifted?

Boy looking through a magnifying glass
Does your child excel in academic subjects, on the sports field or with a musical instrument? We take a look at how to tell if they are exceptionally able – or just bright.

Every child is special and each has their own set of strengths – but some children stand out from the crowd and show exceptional skills, reaching developmental milestones way before other children their age.

“A bright but normal child will probably be above average in the classroom in all or a few of their subjects,” says psychologist Professor Joan Freeman, who specialises in the study and assessment of gifted children.

“A gifted child, however, usually has a certain quality – perhaps curiosity, a keen desire in creative work, a dedication to a subject of their choice, or maybe a powerful laser-like intelligence – which is obvious.”

Identifying a gifted learner

Historically, the term 'gifted' referred to children who excelled in some or all academic subjects, while 'talented' was used to describe those who had a flair for a non-academic area, like music, sport, drama or art.

Now, 'gifted and talented' is less widely used, but there's no single term to describe children who would have been labelled G&T. Some of the terms you might hear include:

 

  • High/higher/highest achiever
  • High ability
  • More/most able
  • High learning potential

There isn’t a set of government standards that your child has to meet to be considered gifted. However, some of the characteristics of an exceptionally able child are:

  • Being a good reader
  • Being very articulate or verbally fluent for their age
  • Giving quick verbal responses (which can appear cheeky)
  • Having a wide general knowledge
  • Learning quickly
  • Being interested in topics which one might associate with an older child
  • Communicating well with adults – often better than with their peer group
  • Having a range of interests, some of which are almost obsessions
  • Showing unusual and original responses to problem-solving activities
  • Preferring verbal to written activities
  • Being logical
  • Being self-taught in their own interest areas
  • Having an ability to work things out in their head very quickly
  • Having a good memory that they can access easily
  • Being artistic
  • Being musical
  • Excelling at sport
  • Having strong views and opinions
  • Having a lively and original imagination/sense of humour
  • Being very sensitive and aware
  • Focusing on their own interests rather than on what is being taught
  • Being socially adept
  • Appearing arrogant or socially inept
  • Becoming easily bored by what they perceive as routine tasks
  • Showing a strong sense of leadership
  • Not necessarily being well-behaved or well-liked by others

No child will have all of these characteristics; in fact, some contradict each other. 

If you feel you have an exceptionally able child on your hands, talk to their teacher about their abilities and how they compare to others in their class.

You may also want to have an assessment done, such as an IQ test with MENSA (only available to children aged 10.5 and over) or a full assessment with Potential Plus UK (for children aged 4.5 and over).

As well as confirming your own beliefs in your child's ability, their results might help you discuss the matter with their school to ensure they're receiving a quality of education that fits their needs.