Headway School for Giftedness

Sir Ken Robinson, in a 2007  video,  makes a strong case for improving the way we look at children and learning. In particular, he says: "... by seeing our creative capacities for the richness that they are and seeing our children for the hope that they are. And our task is to educate their whole being so they can face this future." More of a conversation around the video (and the video itself) here.

In the UK, there's a  growing  recognition  in curriculum development of  the importance of  children’s personal, learning and thinking skills (PLTS).  According to a Futurelab handbook: Curriculum and teaching innovation Transforming classroom practice and personalisation",  These are seen as sets of core capacities and capabilities that children will need to develop to equip them for the world of work and citizenship beyond school. While subject expertise therefore remains of central importance to the curriculum, there has been more acknowledgement that this content knowledge must be supplemented with other competences.The PLTS framework is organised around six key areas:

+ independent enquiry
+ creative thinking
+ reflective learning
+ team work
+ self-management
+ effective participation.

Read the Futurelab paper  here.

In the Philippines,  Headway School for Giftedness  focuses  on what we call FROLIC. Let's see if it  maps nicely to PLTS.

+ resourcefulness
+ originality
+ loyalty
+ compassion
+ initiative
+ fortitude

For what that was worth.

Look for us there. Our username is  headwayschool. Thanks!

Look for headwayschool  here.

We thought we could embed YouTube video here. We were wrong. Here's the link anyway.

An article from brainy-child.com  identifies: " qualities and characteristics that are frequently found among gifted children, although no child will possess them all. One way that parents can tell if their children might be gifted is to focus on a range of behaviors that occur in the daily conversations, activities, and responses to learning opportunities." Quoting Smutny (2000), here is  a list of characteristics common in gifted four-, five-, and six-year olds (Smutny, 2000):

1. Express curiosity about many things
2. Ask thoughtful questions
3. Have extensive vocabularies and use complex sentence structure
4. Are able to express themselves well
5. Solve problems in unique ways
6. Have good memories
7. Exhibit unusual talent in art, music, or creative dramatics
8. Exhibit especially original imaginations
9. Use previously learned things in new contexts
10. Are unusually able to order things in logical sequence
11. Discuss and elaborate on ideas
12. Are fast learners
13. Desire to work independently and take initiative
14. Exhibit wit and humor
15. Have sustained attention spans and are willing to persist on challenging tasks
16. Are very observant
17. Show talent in making up stories and telling them
18. Are interested in reading.

Your child might not show all of them all the time, but it takes more than  a casual observation to find that out. Perhaps you might want to see us.  And we might be able to help.

HSG's 4th-6th grade  students paid a visit to  Philippine Science High School's YMSAT '09. We also believe that pictures speak reams of words (and phrases) so please check out some photos at Flickr.