Extended Learning Programme


 

 “It is not enough to have a good mind; the main thing is to use it well.” – Rene Descartes

 

There have always been children with an insatiable demand for knowledge, who work far harder and for far longer than anyone else, and who seem to know a great deal more than most about all kinds of subjects. This description generally describes some of our gifted children. There are some others, too whose academic results might not be exceptional, but who are very intelligent. These students often need extra stimulation to keep them focused and actively involved in the learning process. For these students we have a special ELP (Extended Learning Programme) in Primary, and programme in the Secondary School that we refer to as Gifted and Talented (GnT).

 

It has never been easy to provide these gifted and talented children with fully differentiated tasks that recognise their abilities, but there has been a growing awareness in more recent times that their needs are not being met sufficiently in many schools. IBSB is a school looking to develop its programme in this area to find new interesting and dynamic ways to challenge intelligent young evolving minds to develop academically, creatively, and socially.

 

To be successful working with gifted and talented children, we first need to understand what skill set and knowledge base a gifted and talented person might possess, and then to look for ways to build on that current knowledge and skill set: in general, such children have a wide vocabulary, ask lots of questions, learn more quickly than others, have a very retentive memory, are extremely curious and able to concentrate for long periods on subjects that they are interested in, have a wide general knowledge and an interest in the world, enjoy problem solving, have an unusual and vivid imagination, express strong feelings and opinions, have an odd sense of humour, set high standards for themselves, are often perfectionists, and lose interest easily when asked to do more of the same.

 

No GnT child will display all these sorts of behaviour, but most GnT children will show a significant number of them. They may also fail to appear on our radar simply through assessing and looking for high test scores, because they may not put any effort into the tests due to the fact that they do not see or value their relevance or importance.

 

Gifted and talented children usually have a great thirst for knowledge and, like all children; it is very easy to destroy their self-confidence: their experiences with their teachers and their peers in the classroom are critical.

 

At IBSB our teachers are encouraged to plan effectively in order to differentiate within a class to extend all students. In addition to the school differentiation policy, there is a weekly G&T class in Secondary, and a weekly ELP class in Primary, during which students work on their communication, social, and emotional skills. The students work on their personal needs, the curriculum is flexible and the whole atmosphere is open and relaxed. This is an educational climate that definitely helps ourspecial students grow.  

 

In a typical GnT/ELP session the types of activities that we are likely to work on include debates on different topics, interviews, individual and group work, project based activities, and essays, etc.
Activities provide students the opportunity to extend learning in research and reference, communication and technology, and defining personal learning goals and monitoring progress toward achieving them. Materials and equipment are selected to meet the sequential and developmental needs of gifted students. Annual gifted programme review and evaluation helps maintain program effectiveness.