What do we mean by High Achieving, Highly Skilled ?

There is no such thing as a typical High Achieving, Highly Skilled student. All students are individuals and demonstrate widely differing patterns of behaviour, skills, aptitudes and attainments. High Achieving, Highly Skilled students in comparison with their peers, when engaged in their area of expertise, tend to:

· Show a passion for particular subjects and seek to pursue them

· Master the rules of a domain easily and transfer their insights to new problems

· Make connections between past and present learning

· Work at a level beyond that expected for their years

· Show intellectual maturity and enjoy engaging in depth with subject material

· Actively and enthusiastically engage in debate and discussion on a particular subject

· Produce original and creative responses to common problems

· Are aware of the skills needed to complete tasks and can demonstrate a wide range according to different situations 

High Achieving, Highly Skilled students are our cohort of students who may be traditionally ‘gifted’, ‘talented’, ‘more able’, ‘accelerated’ students in particular fields of expertise.

We use the term ‘achieving’ where other schools may use ’gifted’ to refer to pupils who have the potential to excel in one or more of the ‘academic’ subjects –English, Mathematics, Science, Humanities. We use the term ‘skilled’ where others may use ‘talented’ which tends to be used to refer to those children who have the potential to excel in Art, Music, Drama or Sport.

How does TES meet the High Achieving, Highly Skilled students?

TES aims to help learners of all abilities to reach their full potential, by carefully monitoring and tracking progress and attainment, and by setting appropriately challenging targets. High Achieving, Highly Skilled  students are given differentiated work and tasks in class, which will provide them with a greater level of complexity and challenge in their areas of strength. They may also be encouraged to work on individual projects and research based topics.

TES provides a wealth of enrichment opportunities, for example, Chess Club, Sports, Music Rehearsals, Debating society.  These take place at lunchtime or after school. This gives children opportunities to follow their interests and try new skills.

TES has networking arrangements with other local schools which provide additional opportunities for children to develop particular gifts and talents and try new activities through these networks or clusters. The teacher with responsibility for High Achieving, Highly Skilled students in our school will be able to inform you of the details of these activities.

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How do I support my HAHS child at home?

• Know which subjects your student is HAHS in, use the planner to help.
• All ILPs and Homeworks will have an HAHS task to complete.
• Talk to your childs subject teacher or tutor for up to date information.
• Try out these useful websites.
• See our 100 things to do if you are HAHS for great family days out.

On Wednesday 11 May, fifteen HAHS students went on an educational visit to Space Science laboratory in Oxford. They had an opportunity to meet leading scientists and engineers, find out about their fascinating work in space and look around their testing laboratories.

On Tuesday 29 March TES hosted the Lambeth Model United Nations Conference at the school.  This involved five of our HAHS students along with other students from eight Lambeth secondary schools taking part in debates and resolutions in the same way as the United Nations in New York.

On Thursday 3 March 30 HAHS year 8 and 10 students went on an accompanied walk around the City of London which included going  into the Bank of England and experiencing the  atmosphere of the ‘square mile’.  Students were encouraged to look at the opportunities available to them in the city by talking to insurers and lawyers.

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HAHS Things to do!

Calling everyone! We are looking for exciting extra curricula activities that you may have taken part in to be included in our top 100 things to do if you are HAHS.  This may include films you should see, must read books, attractions with an educational purpose or simply an activity you should check out.  See Ms Kempthorne or Mr Cerqueira to register your nomination.