Able, Gifted and Talented

Introduction
The motto of the school, ‘Love as Brethren’, obliges us to serve the needs of all pupils. We acknowledge the importance of addressing the particular needs of very able pupils. Indeed this work can be a catalyst for whole school benefit, as noted by Mike Tomlinson (former Director of OFSTED) in 2002; “If you are willing to deal effectively with the needs of able pupils you will raise the achievement of all pupils.” In essence our approach to gifted & talented provision is encapsulated in the NACE (National Association for Able Children in Education) mission statement; “…provide for pupils with high abilities whilst enabling all pupils to flourish.”

Provision
Our Able, Gifted & Talented model has five elements:

Scheduled – routine challenge: differentiated activities for Able, Gifted & Talented pupils during lessons, across all key stages.
Extension – amplified challenge: e.g. termly curriculum extension activities, Open University YASS modules, Villiers Park courses, etc.
Enrichment – deep challenge: e.g. Coopers’ CAT’s, links & exchanges with other schools, etc.
Excellence – exam challenge: e.g. weekly academic excellence sessions for KS4 pupils, etc.
Innovation – novel challenge: e.g. ‘Dilemma-based learning in the Humanities’ course for KS3 pupils, etc.

Developments
We have been designated as a G&T Lead School as part of our third specialism (Training School). This will allow us to share best practice with colleagues and pupils in other schools. Moreover, we intend to capitalise on these links to challenge and develop our practice and procedures. We are also working towards the NACE Challenge Award, which is the gold-standard vis-à-vis gifted & talented provision.
Finally, we are pleased to be institutional members of both NACE (National Association for Able Children in Education) and NAGC (National Association for Gifted Children).

News

Art:
• A clay specialist spent a day working with a large number of Talented Artists across all year groups. The workshop was based around the Fibonacci Sequence. Pupils thoroughly enjoyed the challenging activites and were full of praise for the day (January 2010).

Drama:
• Two talented Drama pupils in Year 9, Mert Hussein and Victor Nyambe, are currently representing Coopers and the UK at the Edered International Theatre Festival in Moscow - two of only eight young people from the whole of the UK! Ms Palmer from the Drama Department has also gone out with them, to lead workshops with other practitioners from across the world. • The Year 10 Talented Drama pupils are busy preparing for their "Romeo and Juliet" performance at the Kenneth More Theatre in Ilford on Thursday 1 October, where they will be performing alongside three other local schools. • Eleven Year 7 pupils participated in an exchange visit with pupils from St Martin’s School, Brentwood (June 2009). • Year 10 pupils will be involved in the ‘Shakespeare Schools Festival’. • Four Year 10 pupils have now won places with the National Youth Theatre. • “Carbaret Phasmatis” – Year 13 professional production (April 2009).

English:
• Twenty-five Year 10 pupils participated in the Jack Petchey ‘Speak Out’ public speaking competition. One of the pupils will compete in the final (June 2009). • Eleven Year 7 pupils participated in an exchange visit with pupils from St Martin’s School, Brentwood (March 2009).

Extension Activities:
• Autumn Term curriculum extension tasks for all subjects and year groups are now available on the VLE. Please access the Gifted and Talented 'room' for a full list of these activities.

Geography:
• 45 Year 10 G&T pupils from Havering schools particpated in a 'Climate Change Conference' at CCCS on December 9th 2009. This confernece was organised jointly by Mrs Reed and the Royal Geographical Society. It was a highly successful event - as Mrs Reed noted, "the whole day proved to be an exciting and thought-provoking experience for all those involved, dealing with a subject which is not only topical but also one of the greatest challenges of our times".

Havering Talented 30:
• Every year Havering Council and Havering College of Further Education recognise thirty of the borough’s most talented young people from across art, music, drama, dance and sport. • This year five of our pupils featured in the thirty: James Davis, Freddy Keefe,Georgie Lou Sales,Ryan Linham & Bethany Whalley. • Congratulation to the pupils and thanks to colleagues for the nominations.

History:
• Eleven Year 7 pupils participated in an exchange visit with pupils from St Martin’s School, Brentwood (June 2009). • Nine Year 13 pupils completed the Advanced Extension Award. Five achieved Distinctions, with the remaining four securing Merits.

KS3 Dilemmas course:
• Sessions will run on a Wednesday from 1.30pm to 2.10pm in room H22 • YEAR 8 - 14 October, 11 November, 2 December, 6 January, 27 January, 24 February, 17 March, 21 April, 12 May, 9th June, 30 June, 21 July. • YEAR 9 - 30 September, 21 October, 18 November, 9th December, 13 Januray, 3 February, 3 March, 24 March, 28 April, 19 May, 16 June, 7 July.

Maths:
• CCCS hosted the east London Maths Challenge, having won the event last year, with four Year 8 pupils performing very well against Years 9 to 10 pupils from other schools (July 2009). • Years 7 to 11 pupils participated in Leeds University’s ‘Maths Challenge’ (April 2009).

PE:
• CATs (Coopers’ Athletics Team) programme, designed for elite athletes, judged as “outstanding” by OFSTED (May 2009). • CCCS has been selected as one of 15 schools to receive funding from the Youth Sport Trust to develop an elite athlete squad running alongside the Coopers' CATS. This wil include attending two elite athlete performance days at Loughborough University led by elite athletes including Denise Lewis and Craig Heap.

RE:
• Visit to London Buddhist Centre (March 2009). • Visit to Woodside Park Synagogue (February 2009).
Science:
• Year 13 pupils participated in the British Biology Olympiad. One pupil was highly commended, with two others being commended (March 2009). • Eleven Year 7 pupils participated in an exchange visit with pupils from St Martin’s School, Brentwood (March 2009). • Dr Clare Roper, lead medical admissions tutor and interviewer at King's College, along with ten student ambassadors in their second and third year of medical school delivered two, two-hour sessions about applying to read Medicine at university to Key Stage 4 and 5 prospective medical students. In total about 70 students were involved. • Two year 9 pupils recently undertook courses with the Open Uuniversity (Astronomy and Life in the Oceans). These OU courses are aimed at sixth formers and give an insight into what university level study is like, as well as providing pupils with an opportunity to work independently. We were delighted to hear that both pupils not only passed their courses but did so with flying colours. Our warmest congratulations go to both of them (January 2010).

University:
• Twenty Year 9 pupils participated in an ‘Exploring Oxford’ visit to Keble College, Oxford. • Ten Y10 pupils participated in a a Challenge Day at Cambridge University. They were given an introduction to Higher Education in general and specifically to undergraduate study at Cambridge. Pupils had lunch at Newham College, with afternoon sessions on Forensic Archaeology and Education (January 2010).

YASS:
• We are the country’s largest provider of YASS, the Open University’s Sixth Form qualification, with over 120 students. • Two Year 9 pupils are studying Open University science modules.