Michael has been bringing home books to read aloud that are very easy for him. I thought I would chat to his teachers about it, just to make sure they were aware he could be reading slightly harder things. Michael has two home teachers, who job share.
I asked Mrs Howearth yesterday, and she said yes, she was aware of his reading, in fact based on his PIPS test (stands for Performance Indicators in Primary Schools , given to all prep kids at the start of the year) he was possibly the top student in his year in Southern Tasmania! Mrs Harrington followed it up today saying that she would like to do another assessment just to establish better what his levels are so they can give him extension activities. She said he is the most gifted child she has taught.
Of course this is all sweet music to the ears of doting parents. However it reinforces our happiness with how well the local state school has appreciated both of our boys' talents and abilities. They both have many years of school stretching ahead of them, and we think it's crucial that they are still finding it interesting and fun when they have to start making post-compulsory choices.
The Gifted groups, in our limited experience, are probably great for parents who haven't been as lucky as we have with their kids' school and teachers. They can get together and apply pressure for a better deal and more resources for their kids. They seem to be all about solving a problem that we don't have. They don't seem to offer much in the way of fun get-togethers for the little physicists, atsronomers or paleo-linguists of the future
I hope as time passes our boys will find what it is that they want to do, and will have the talent, application and tenacity to follow where it leads.
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