Managing Expectations when Transitioning into Secondary School

Gifted students often look towards the start of secondary school with high expectations of themselves, particularly if they have been accepted into a gifted program such as GAT. Students who have been the top performer in their primary school may suddenly find that they are not the top of their secondary class, and then question whether they were ever gifted in the first place. This workshop will explore the common misconceptions gifted students and their parents may hold, and the importance of managing this transition positively. Teachers, parents and students alike often see secondary gifted programs as an extension of high performance in primary school, whereas high quality gifted programs instead are likely to focus on thinking skills, students understanding themselves as learners, high challenge and pace, and with an emphasis on abstract and complex thinking, developing personal resilience, and learning to manage risk-taking, perfectionism and perceived failure. This workshop will highlight the importance of shared and transparent understandings about what secondary gifted programs are and are not, with an aim to ensure students go into these programs with a high degree of resilience and realistic expectation, so that they are ultimately challenged and achieve success beyond immediate high academic performance. 

Target audience: Parents of Year 5 & 6 gifted students looking to enter secondary school in the next few years. Teachers who are likely to teach Year 7 gifted classes and students (e.g. GAT classes).

About the Presenter - Kylie Bice:

Kylie Bice is an experienced Education Consultant with Growing Up Greatness, specialising in gifted education, differentiation, thinking skills, and educating diverse student groups. Kylie is an award-winning teacher and scholar and was previously the Senior Inclusive and Gifted Education Consultant at the Association of Independent Schools of WA. Kylie has many years of experience working with gifted and talented students in government and non-government schools, and works with schools to examine and improve their practice, policies and processes in order to better support and challenge students of all abilities.