At Longdean School, we believe that all students, whatever their abilities, are entitled to an education that will enable them to develop their full potential – intellectually, physically, creatively, emotionally, spiritually and socially. Each student has different learning needs and that’s why personalised learning is at the heart of our teaching and curriculum. In addition, we also provide opportunities to identify and, in turn, nurture those who are more or less able.
Our High-Performance Student policy
We have developed a High Performance policy to support high-performing students, who are defined as are those who have ”developed (or have the potential to develop) one or more abilities to a level significantly ahead of their year group”. While the quality of the school curriculum and programmes should enable the outstanding abilities of students to be recognised, for the initial identification of high-performance students, we look for students who:
- have cognitive ability test scores of 120 in one or more of the tests
- have the potential to achieve a grade 7+ in their GCSE examination. Departments draw up their own criteria for how they will judge this.
- demonstrate an exceptionally high ability in one or more sport, creative or practical subject.
The policy, which is reviewed regularly, aims to:
- successfully identify high-performance students
- ensure the school offers them a wide range of opportunities and a high level of challenge
- help high-performance students develop their skills and achieve at the highest possible levels
- support and enhance teaching and learning in the classrooms and outside of school
- create and promote an ethos that values high achievement across the whole school.
How we support high-performance students
At Longdean, we have activities and processes in place to support high-performance students to develop their abilities, skills and interests. These include:
- the opportunity to join our specialist Performing Arts or STEM pathways in Key Stage 3
- enrichment and extra-curricular activities, for example, summer schools, personal development and skills programmes with Villiers Park, the Social Mobility Foundation and the Sutton Trust, as well as the Cambridge shadowing scheme, Oxford Pathways, internships, higher project qualifications for Year 10 students, and international competitions.
- a high-performance champion in each department who liaises with the school's high-performance co-ordinator once a term. The co-ordinator is responsible for monitoring and evaluating the provision for high-performance students, informing staff of any student in need of support, and acting as a point of contact and information for high-performance students.
- teachers maintaining a record of high-performance students on their registers, and updating this and monitoring these students' progress regularly.
- teachers routinely planning differentiated lessons for the top 10 per cent in every class, with enrichment and extension activities to stretch and challenge high- performance students.
