Altrincham Grammar School for Girls

Gifted & Talented

As AGGS is a selective school, all our students are regarded as gifted because they have the potential to work at a higher level than expected measured against national standards.

'Gifted' describes students who have the ability (or potential) to excel academically in one or more subjects, such as English, French, Science or History.

'Talented' describes students who have the ability (or potential) to excel in practical skills such as artistic performance, sport or leadership.

As a Gifted and Talented Lead School, we aim to develop an inclusive and integrated whole-school approach to gifted and talented provision, with a focus on girls recognising their own unique strengths and areas for development. As such, we endeavour to stretch and challenge all individuals in a supportive and wide-ranging learning environment. Intelligence is not fixed and we encourage all girls to enhance their school experience through extension activities and enrichment opportunities. It is also our aim to develop independent learning in all our pupils by providing opportunities for them to take responsibility for their own learning.

We have a designated Gifted and Talented Coordinator, Dr Yong, who works closely with Dr Manley (Assistant Head, Teaching and Learning) to coordinate and oversee the gifted and talented provision at whole-school level.

We provide an excellent education which offers our pupils stretch and challenge on a day-to-day basis.

This is characterised by the following features:

• A classroom culture of high expectations and aspirations in which successes are recognised and celebrated.
• Schemes of work providing challenging activities and extension tasks for pupils to develop and extend their knowledge, skills and understanding of the curriculum.
• The use of varied teaching approaches to make learning an enjoyable and challenging experience, matching tasks to pupils' maturity and preferred learning styles.
• Comprehensive and informative feedback to foster swift progression.
• Lesson plans to maximise learning opportunities for independent research, and developing open-inquiry, higher-order thinking skills and leadership skills.
• Use of high-quality resources such as the Virtual Learning Environment well-chosen books and software.
• A wide range of extra-curricular activities and extension classes in and out of school.
• Enrichment activities such as educational visits, themed workshops, talks by invited speakers, competitions run locally and nationally and cross-curricular projects.

Gifted and Talented Breakfast Club

See the AGGS Gifted and Talented Blog on: http://aggsgandt.wordpress.com