The National Academy for Gifted and Talented Youth (NAGTY)

[snookhams]

Does anyone else have children that are involved in this, DS has just passed the tests for this and we are awaiting the information and prices for the courses (cos as with most things its not free!!!), and was really wondering what the courses are like.

 

[catherine]

Our eldest DD is a member. However she's only in her first year of high school, so she hasn't been involved in too much. The stuff that she did last summer and will be doing this summer has all been free! They even went on a trip to Paris as part of their studies and it didn't cost us a penny, apart from spending money.

 

[kkymmy]

I graduated from NAGTY last year and through it I did some amazing things!
On the subject of costs it really depends what level of support you're receiving. in some schools, the school handle all fo the costs to allow NAGTY kids to get the enrichment and extension they need, in some places the LEA will happily pay for extra curricular, but muggins here had to pay for everything.

If you are looking at summer schools, Warwick is about £900 for three weeks, all inclusive but obviously spending money on top.

Specialist two day courses (run by the likes of Royal Society of Chemistry, Royal Shakespeare Company, and other national organisations) will set you back about £100.

Day courses range from £10 to about £50

It is such a worthwhile thing to do for kids who have the motivation and the brainpower. It's so amazing to meet like minded young people who understand what it's like to be 'gifted' and who are sometimes (and sadly) bullied for their intelligence/talents. Contraray to popular belief we don't sit at the dinner table talking maths and science, we're just regular young people who will talk about music, boyfriends/girlfriends, shopping, computer games, tv....the ususal stuff kids talk about!

The lessons at the sumemr schools are immense, so hands on and it's not uncommon to find 7 and 8 year olds doing GCSE level science and maths with 10 year olds doing A Level politics and philosophy!

The tutors and senior residents are cool and its a brilliant place for young people to interact.

I was recently at a research seminar for NAGTY at Warwick uni where we were asked our thoughts and feelings about the courses we had attended and being labelled 'gifted'.

I have to say that the more involved your children are the more they will get out if it. Yes it can cost a lot but if you ARE paying for it yourselves it is always worth approaching school/the LEA to see if there is any support available. now that I've left, my old school have incorporated it into their education...and their courses and summer school are being paid for them! But in saying that I can say that I set the precedent, being the first student from my school to be involved way back when the scheme was just being widely publicised!

Ooops...bit of an essay there....sorry!

 

[catherine]

Thanks for posting that kkymmy. I just read it and my DD is very excited. At the moment she is only 12, so there's not a lot that she can get involved in. I think that a lot of the summer school activities are for older kids.

 

[kkymmy]

It depends which summer school you look at...I know that at least when i started the warwick summer school was for all ages within NAGTY but other universities were more geared towards older students.....

I know there's a lot of amazingly cool science based stuff for early high school age groups and she would have a fantastic time, especially if she goes to some of the more hands on ones. Just be prepared when she does start getting to summer school age and outreach courses age for her to start spouting stuff you dont understand...I often totally confused my parents!

This is the grounding for fantastic things when she gets to exam age. I was taking AS Level English Lit and was struggling immensely with some Shakespeare coursework (Othello)...I went on a two day course at Warwick run by the Royal Shakespeare Company specifically for A Level Othello students and I went from a D to a top B (and I hate writing coursework, I perform much better in exams).

Also the summer schools are great for helping DD learn about what university life is like, and gain some independence being away from home, and making new friends by herself....as well as friends of different ages.

If you want to know any more feel free to drop me a PM....and if you've got any questions i'll try and answer them! (im guessing it'll be DD that has the questions about the courses and stuff!)

 

[Frances999]

I help run some of the English Literature courses offered at Cambridge which are part of the NAGTY outreach programmes; we have a poetry programme starting this July. The students have lots of fun and there is an academically-stimulating environment with people from all walks of life. I know that some of the more popular events book-up early, so I would check the website to see if your DS is interested in any.

Which examination(s) did your DS take? I know that most children enter using their GCSE results or Maths Challenge. Some younger children use the midYIS test or other aptitude assessments.

Let me know if you have any questions - I hope your DS has a lot of fun and congratulations to him on his membership!

 

[Tinker74]

Hi...My Ds13 is in this. ...the school put him forward last yr when he was in year7 bases on his CAT scores or something.
He hasn't really got involved in anything yet...as a lot of the interesting courses are for age 14 and above. I asked him if he wanted to apply for summer school...but he said no way!! ...when hes a bit older he might be persuaded.
My ds..bless him ..is a bit of a "lazy" academic...though. He coasts througgh school...without much effort, and his grades are not what they should be for his CAT scores. ..Except for Maths ,which he has always excelled in.

He hates the label of gifted though...and he hates the pressure he feels he is under from the teachers just because he got amazing cat results.
Iam hoping its just his age though...his teachers tell me Boys normally figure out they have to do some work around the age of 14!

So hears hoping

 

[kkymmy]

This was a point that was made at the feedback sesh I went to with NAGTY last month. None of us that were there thought the label of 'gifted' was appropriate but it's very difficult to hand out any label of this nature without it being a point of contention. Whatever you call these exceptional young people they're not going to like it because it's a pass to more work/harder work/sometimes even bullying/being singled out...and generally at NAGTY age, kids wanna fit in more than ever before....but I found that being the only one at my school didn't make any difference,,,plus with going to a selective school we were all 'gifted' but my parents had decided to confirm it by asking me if I wanted to join NAGTY

 

[snookhams]

Thanks so much for all the replies, I spoke to DS (the swimmer below) and he wasn't sure who actually set the tests, there were 12 of them taking them, he took them about 2 weeks after sitting his SATS, we are now just waiting on the SATS results which I am sure will be O.K. ~ i jokingly told DS that I expected the same result in Maths as he got in Yr6 ~ 100% correct!!!!! The comments on bullying are so true, but I must add that since being at senior school this has not happened other than a teacher calling him names on account of his height (yr9 and 6'4" ~ and he thought it OK to call him Lanky and Beanpole etc when he refered to the others by name! ~ I contacted him and told him it was not to happen again!). He did however suffer terribly at junior school, both these are church schools but I am much happier with the senior school and can't wait until my youngest son progresses on there. DS is now quite excited after looking at the NAGTY website and we are eagerly awaiting the application forms and more information.

 

[Madjock]

Hi...My Ds13 is in this. ...the school put him forward last yr when he was in year7 bases on his CAT scores or something.
He hasn't really got involved in anything yet...as a lot of the interesting courses are for age 14 and above. I asked him if he wanted to apply for summer school...but he said no way!! ...when hes a bit older he might be persuaded.
My ds..bless him ..is a bit of a "lazy" academic...though. He coasts througgh school...without much effort, and his grades are not what they should be for his CAT scores. ..Except for Maths ,which he has always excelled in.

He hates the label of gifted though...and he hates the pressure he feels he is under from the teachers just because he got amazing cat results.
Iam hoping its just his age though...his teachers tell me Boys normally figure out they have to do some work around the age of 14!

So hears hoping

This sounds just like my 13 yr old DD. She was recognised as 'gifted' when she went to senior school but hates the title. She is still getting really good grades for the vast majority of her subjects but with very little effort. She has been to a couple of gifted and talented events but these have been during school time she won't go to anything out of school hours and wouldn't contemplate weekends. Part of this is because she is lazy and doesn't have to work at achieving good results and part of it is because none of her friends are in the programme so she sees it as 'uncool'.

The difficulty is how to get her to use and reach her full potential without putting her under too much pressure whether real or perceived

 

[kkymmy]

My big tip for all of you parents of 'giftees' would be to try and get them on summer school....there is a LOT of social time and more activities to choose from than can physically be done in the one, two or three weeks your child will be there. A big bonus is (if you can afford it) getting them to think of it as a holiday and reward for their hard work. Yes they will come back to you with "but I have to go to more lessons if I go and it's my summer holiday"...but you can point out that it's like being at university (which I must say is UBER cool), they would be away from home and being very grown up and independent.

Obviously you can't force them into it but I wouldn't hesitate in recommending it to anyone. They're also likely to make friends for life, because they can be 'gifted' together, and if they are called for it in their normal school environment you can guarantee it won't happen at summer school....

I don't know what else I can say to try and encourage your children to go to these events and residentials....and I realise that every child is different. Some don't enjoy being away from home or parents or siblings, and some just genuinely wont respond to out of school learning. But if you can get them to go on a day course just to test the water and see what it's like I think you'll be able to tell whether or not they enjoy it enough to go back...

 

[catherine]

DD went on a week of day courses during the summer holidays last year. She was still at primary school, but the classes were organised by the high school that she started in Sept and NAGTY. She thoroughly enjoyed herself and learned a lot. As they were doing language classes they went on a trip to Paris and she said it was a lot of fun. They are doing something similar this year. She has just recently joined one of the online creative writing classes ands is looking forward to that. Personally I wish that they had more classes and activities in this area or Manchester, but unfortunately the majority of day classes are too far us to travel to.

 

[jjpenguin]

It sounds fab, wish they had had that when I was young.. I would have loved it and it even might have motivated me. I just took the easy way out and went with the underachiever thing....