As a Mum of a boy eligible for Selective High School, this is a question I have been considering long and hard.
It comes down to finding out all you can about the school:
- reputation wise from current students, recent ex-students and parents of current students
- by visiting
and then asking yourself:
- Does this school offer the wide range of extra-curricula activities you would expect a Selective High School to provide for its gifted and talented students?
- Is the school also strong in the Arts, Music and Drama?
- Is the school also strong in the sporting area?
If not, then I would be asking:
- What proportion of the student body has been coached to get to this school? Are the majority of the students at this school truly gifted OR have they been coached to be that way? Coached students will not necessarily have extra time for extra curricula because they are very busy being coached to keep up.
Rankings of schools mean nothing. A truly gifted and talented student needs to be enriched in all areas, not just the "academic subjects" of science and maths. Good Selective schools should be catering for the active minds of G&T students in all areas. If any of these are missing I would be asking why:
- "Academic" subjects (maths, science)
- "Humanities" subjects (English, language, HSIE)
- "Arts" subjects (drama, art, music)
- Sports
- Wide ranging extracurricula activities (outdoors, music, drama, indoors etc)
- Community service projects
- Special needs education (because even G&T students can have learning difficulties)
Good luck to all 2007 Year 6 students sitting Selective High Schools. Let's hope the system can pick the right ones.