Initiatives
Gifted and Talented
At Bow we want to ensure all of our students make the most of the abilities they have. As a result we have a special programme of activities for those students who qualify for the Gifted and Talented register. This represents approximately ten per cent of the school roll and it is representative of every subject taught in the school.
To get a place on the register a student must have proven ability in at least one subject area, be it Mathematics, PE or History. They will show ability beyond that expected of a student their age and will be able to acquire skills with an ease that makes them exceptional students.
It should be understood that this is often unconnected with a student’s behaviour. Indeed it has occasionally been found that some Gifted and Talented students behave poorly because they are not challenged sufficiently in their lessons. We aim to provide an environment for all of our students to make the most of their abilities.
To help with this there are a number of events that take place in every year to help support the learning going on in the classroom. There are visits to Cambridge University in Year 7, the joint Activity Challenge holiday in Years 8 and 9 and the SHINE maths and Globe Education Projects in Year 10 to name but a few. You can find links to some of these and other projects on this page. We are also in the process of setting up a mentoring programme so that students of high ability can meet on a regular basis and get support from older pupils with similar interests and skills.
All of this comes together to provide a stimulating, challenging and aspirational programme for students of high ability here at Bow School. It will not only be them who benefit however as in schools where the Gifted and Talented strand is well-established, a positive trend has been the tendency of departments to formulate their own, subject-specific definitions of ability, which lead to improved provision within subject areas not only for gifted and talented pupils, but also for all students.