Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy When would you consider a new school?

The educational psychologist we are seeing has suggested a different school might benefit HG DS. He is only in K and we have been working with his current school. He goes to year 1 for math and reading. I think we are building a good relationship with the school, and We really appreciate that they are trying to accommodate him, but I still don't think he is getting very much academic challenge. We are halfway through the year and The math worksheets he brings home seem to be stuff he knew going into K.

The school recommended by the educational psychologist has a gifted class from year 1 and I think that might be good for DS, but another educational consultant I asked about that school says they do have a great gifted stream, but offer little in the way of behaviour and academic support. DS is going pretty well at school, but we are looking into the possibility of ADHD.

Anyway I am torn. I feel like at least his current school is willing to work with us, but then it is possible they are underestimating his academic ability. And if behaviour issues do arise, we might question if it is because of a lack of academic fit or due to something else. They don't really have teachers or staff with specific training in gifted education.

I just want to do what is best for my son and our whole family, but it can be so hard to figure out what that is!

Also what do you think of size of schools. Our current school is quite small, and some of the schools we are looking at are twice the size. So 800 rather than 400 students. I like the small school feel, but a bigger school might mean a greater chance of meeting like minded peers and also being able to support a greater variety of services.

We changed schools mid way through 1st grade and it ended up being a great decision.
The deal breaker came when my son received advanced work without instruction- due to some maturity issues, he didn't know how to ask for help. I brought it up with the school, and they responded by pulling his advanced work.
I was also frustrated because his test scores came back very high (school's own test) and they didn't respond until I made some noise (from a school that advertises differentiation right on their website).
I'm no longer upset or even critical, these are just the facts. I expect that schools do underestimate highly gifted kids, because many of the kids on this site are the 99.9%. They are few and far between- it's understandable that instructors would default to the more common explanations for disengagement, disruption, inattentiveness, and all of the things kids may do when they are bored.

Proactively, I began looking more closely at the math and language arts curriculum. It was clear that graduating sixth graders would have ample math and writing skills, but it was nothing special. My DS hated the math curriculum and we wanted something better.
I worried about emotional issues with the change- in our case, it turned out fine, with a few rough patches. DS settled nicely when he was challenged and engaged throughout the day.
I would look closely at the new school- try to understand your child's needs and learning style as much as possible. Mine is self-motivated, intense, creative, and competitive. He was dying on the vine in a traditional classroom of phonics, uninteresting reading, and math facts. Montessori is working for him in these early grades.
We chose his new school because we felt they were nimble enough to respond to his academic needs now and down the road, and to help him manage perfectionism, social interactions, and anxiety.

Sorry no help but this made me laugh. My son's school has 440 and it is the biggest primary in the area. When you said small I thought less than 100. I can't imagine 800 but a lot does depend on the size and layout of the school itself.

I don't think I would change if progress is being made but then I haven't changed when no progress is being made because I know the other schools are worse.

It kind of sounds like 6 of one, half dozen of the other here. Both have strengths and weaknesses, but neither seems to outweigh the other in strengths. Knowing what I know about your situation, I think I would stay put and push for more differentiation. The first school is familiar to your child, he has friends there, he knows where everything is. That means something for sure. They are trying and working with you. That means a lot.
It's a difficult decision for sure!

In-class differentiation is usually a distinction without a difference.

Yeah-- what Puffin said.

Change when the calculus surrounding "least-worst" seems to change. It's really that simple. Well, and at the same time, that complex, I suppose, because of all of the various factors (some of them idiosyncratic) that go into the calculation, there.

We found it was wise to keep our eyes open to signals that things were slipping into a critically bad zone-- or, conversely, to pay sufficient attention to options previously dismissed, so that we were aware of shifts/changes in THOSE things, too.

That way you can always run a thumbnail calculation and have a sense of when it is wise to do a more thorough analysis.

Thanks everyone, I think I am leaning toward staying at least another year. I like the school he is in, and it is only K at the moment. If we go into year 1 with the next round of assessments, maybe we can start to get on track with his academic level. And I know there is more to school than academics, and that the other stuff gets a particular focus in K.

Haha puffin, actually I did think his school was relatively big until I started looking at some of the alternatives and realised it was on the smaller side. There is one school I have found that doesn't actually have a gifted stream as such, but has a good amount of discussion on gifted students needs and a principal with a postgraduate degree in gifted education. It's smaller too, 250 kids.

I guess lots of parents look into schools before their kids actually start. We just wanted to go with our local school. Anyway, we hadn't even considered a school move until the EdPsych mentioned it, so hopefully I can get back to not thinking about it for awhile longer if we do decide to give the current school another year.