At Southfields PrimarySchool we recognise that all pupils are individuals with their own strengths and weaknesses, gifts and talents and we are committed to supporting all our students: realising that all pupils need to be stretched and challenged. This academic year class teachers have been identifying and registering students who show a particular talent or flair for certain subject areas using subject specific criteria to help them make their judgments. This will usually result in ten per cent of pupils being identified in any one topic.

This diagram helps to clarify the concept of mastery and greater depth in the national curriculum:

What we do know for certain is that mastery is not:

• Mastery and greater depth – not working on content from the next year group.
• Mastery and greater depth in mathematics – not practising the same concept with bigger numbers.
• Mastery and greater depth in reading – not necessarily reading a more challenging text.

The Characteristics of mastery and greater depth in the national curriculum could therefore be summarised as:

Parents and students receive letters that inform them about the subjects in which the pupils have been identified.

Furthermore, at Southfields we aim to foster a love of learning and want pupils to become active learners. We are continuing to work hard to develop our Gifted and Talented provision available to students. These opportunities vary from differentiation and additional activities within the classroom to external trips, clubs and Master Classes and personalised intervention of promoting learning awareness in Gifted and Talented pupils through individual discussion sessions. We have a committed team of teachers involved in developing this provision.

We have named staff who oversee and develop Talented and Gifted provision in school please see co-ordinator list for more information and contact.

Please use the link below to access some of the current research and Government guidance on Talented and Gifted Pupils 

or you could use this information from the BBC site about supporting gifted and talented pupils 

We also use MENSA resources to support learning and projects please see this link

All children should have a deep learning of key ideas/constructs and opportunities for even deeper learning (growth mindset). For some learners they will be able to access, within a construct, even greater challenge to deepen their thinking further. Mastery learning is deep learning that sticks, can be recalled over time etc. It is necessary to have deep learning in order to meet the key objectives. In essence, in order to meet the objectives securely children need to have mastered them.

The Higher Learning Potential Policy is available here.