Youth Sport Trust: Develop your own policy

Developing a policy

Develop your own policy

Develop your own policy Does your school need to develop its Gifted and Talented policy? The below will help guide you through the development process and give you ideas on what your policy should help your school to achieve.

Rationale

Why? (To raise standards of achievement within PE, to create sporting pathways, as part of pre-inspection self evaluation?)
Who will benefit, what outcomes are we waiting for?
Match with whole school policy G&T statements?
Is the current form of talent development meeting, or not meeting, expectations?

Aims

A challenging, stimulating and innovative environment;
Individually tailored talent development programme;
The holistic development of students using a multi-dimensional approach;
The opportunity to succeed, and experience reward, for exhibiting a range of abilities;
Lifelong participation in physical activity at their chosen level of involvement.

Definitions

Talented students in Physical Education demonstrate ability over and above that of their peers in the first instance through a high National Curriculum level and then within one or more specific abilities and perhaps across more than one activity area;
Talented students in sport demonstrate ability over and above that of their peers within the representative honours framework;
Some potentially talented students may be underachieving or failing to reach their potential as a result of certain issues that prevent their talent from being manifested;
Teaching students may bring exceptional skills from other areas of the curriculum that enhance their ability to succeed in Physical Education.

Group 1 - Rationale
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Identification systems

Auditing systems are employed to recognise and monitor out-of-school talent (for example, school sport survey);
Opportunities exist for self, peer and parental nomination;
Existing methods of assessment are used to enhance planned refinements to talent identification systems;
Student tracking profiles are established through means of a database that allow student progress to be assessed and monitored;
Standardisation of the identification process is conducted at regular intervals during the identification phase;
Curricular provision, including balance of content, duration of units of work and delivery style, is audited and monitored to assess the effectiveness of meeting talented students’ needs.

Identification strategies

What strategy(ies)?
Why?
With who?
When and where?
Are there any staffing issues?
Are there any resource issues?
Are there any whole-school issues?
What next?

Group 2 - Identification Systems
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Teaching and Support Systems

Do provision strategies that relate directly to the abilities identified;
Standardisation opportunities are organised frequently during the provision phase;
Assessment of current provision is conducted to identify opportunities for compatibility with proposed provision approach;
Evaluation of provision strategies is used to inform future provision;
Students are provided with opportunities for self-regulation through exercises such as mind mapping, action planning and assessments of time management;
Students are engaged in discussion to elaborate on the demands placed upon them as a result of being included on the talent development programme.

Teaching and Support Organisation

Opportunities are given to talented pupils to work with, and experience work normally given to pupils older than themselves in curricular and extra-curricular time;
Early examination is offered for talented pupils;
Where an acceleration strategy is adopted the social and emotional impact on the talented pupil is monitored.

Teaching and Support Mentoring

Mentors are appointed on a case-by-case basis for talented pupils in PE and sport;
Mentoring groups will be based on different ratios, ranging from one-to-one, to larger groups of talented pupils with a singe mentor;
Mentors will be drawn from a variety of sources;
For talented pupils in sport, the most significant focus for discussion with mentors is likely to be the maintenance of the work/sport/life balance;
For talented pupils in PE, mentors are used to direct and enhance their specific ability;

Teaching and Support Grouping

Grouping of pupils is conducted on a year-by-year and where necessary teaching group-by-teaching group basis;
Large scale grouping of pupils will be used (setting, streaming) where appropriate if it is recognised that talented pupils will be challenged more effectively by using this particular system;
Small scale grouping of pupils within a teaching group is used to match the needs of pupils with specific abilities.

Group 3 - Teaching and Support - Part 1
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Teaching and Support – Pedagogoic Responses

Short and medium term planning specifically targets provision for talented pupils;
Differentiation is used as the central focus of provision for talented pupils with specific reference to style of presentation, use of resources, teaching system, use of questioning and levels of challenge;
Self-regulation is advocated through the use of a learning portfolio maintained by the pupil and monitored by the teacher.

Teaching and Support – in school extra-curricular activities

Curricular planning and delivery suggests pathways for talented pupils in PE to enrich their ability through extracurricular activities;
Information is provided for all pupils through a dedicated display board;
Opportunities are offered for pupils with a range of abilities to extend their experiences with curricular PE;
There is enough flexibility to modify extracurricular activities to suit the needs of the current cohort of pupils.

Teaching and Support – out-of-school extra-curricular activities

Sports trips, residential visits and visits to higher education institutions are organised to enhance the experiences of talented pupils;
In liaison with a number of other local schools, cluster activities are organised at a central location;
Coaches involved in specific sports from organisations outside of school are invited into school to present information on local, regional and national opportunities for participation;
Communication between the PE department and sports organisations is instigated and frequently maintained by the PE G&T coordinator.

Group 4 Teaching and Support - Part 2
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Policy Development: Professional development

Policy Development: Professional development – ID and selection

Suggested agenda items:

Teaching strategies for talented pupils;
Defining talent in PE and sport – what are the differences?
Informing talented pupils and their parents about their talent;
The sensitive handling of entry onto, and exit from, the talented cohort;
School requirements for identification – compatibility with other subject areas G&T identification and whole-school policy guidelines.

Policy development: Professional development – Teaching and Support

Opportunities to ‘team teach’ talented pupils;
Shadowing teachers who are more experienced in providing for talented pupils in PE;
Exploring ways in which existing planning can be modified to cater for talented pupils more effectively;
Standarising evidence of talent with colleagues (video, records of assessment);
Exploring pathway development opportunities for talented pupils in PE to step into sport.

Group 5 - Professional Development