Those teachers are rare finds, but at the same time, the potential to be that exemplary teacher is within the grasp of most at least average teachers, if given the administrative backing and professional development supports to do so. Eagle Mum, the likelihood of your DS chancing upon a string of near-ideal teachers all the way through school is rather low...yet it happened. I would imagine that what actually occurred is that his first one or two teachers were unusually child-led and perceptive, allowed him just the right combination of freedom and support, and then created an expectation that each teacher communicated to subsequent teachers.
One of my sibs stayed in the same grade (at parent request) for multiple years because that teacher was willing to teach to the instructional needs of the student, whatever they were, and allowed a great deal of autonomy to a curious, autodidactic child.
I agree that whole-grade acceleration is not necessarily the perfect solution for any, let alone for every HG+ learner, which is partly why we have homeschooled each of our children for at least a few years, and addressed age-peer socialization outside of formal schooling. It (along with SSA) is, however, among the most practical solutions to balancing school resource constraints and HG+ learner needs under our current institutional models. Not without costs, obviously. It's just a question of what and where those costs are, and whether the tradeoffs are worth the benefits for this particular child and family, given the other options.
