Gifted and Talented: Working Inside Out or Outside In?

Abstract

Brooke Weston City Technology College, Corby, UK, is a highly successful secondary school with outstanding examination results for pupils aged sixteen years. Its intake is deliberately balanced to ensure pupils of all abilities are admitted; the area has notable social disadvantages. This article examines the strategies used by the College to promote learning, strategies which maximise the performance of pupils so that value added means that an unexpectedly high proportion might be considered ‘gifted and talented’. The paper goes on to examine the underlying rationale of the Brooke Weston strategies, how they compare with those in most other schools, and what other educators might learn from the Brooke Weston practice and ethos.