The future’s bright

More than 2,000 Oldham youngsters ‘gifted’ or ‘talented’ says Government

MORE than 2,000 Oldham pupils are classed as gifted or talented, according to new figures.

A total of 1,704 secondary school pupils have been identified as gifted or talented — 10.6 per cent of the total number of pupils.

The figures put Oldham ahead of neighbouring Rochdale for talent with 1,350 pupils in the next borough, or 10.2 per cent of the total number of Rochdale secondary school pupils.

In total, there are 57,290 talented or gifted secondary school pupils across the North-West.

A gifted or talented pupil is someone who has one or more abilities developed to a level significantly ahead of their year group.

“Gifted” refers to those pupils who are capable of excelling in academic subjects, while “talented” describes practical abilities, such as in games and PE, drama, or art.

According to the figures compilled by the Government department for children, schools and families, there are a further 834 talented or gifted primary school pupils across the borough.

A spokesman for Oldham Council said: “One of the many successes of Gifted and Talented in Oldham is the network of enthusiastic and dedicated trained co-ordinators based in schools and colleges. In addition to the development of classroom strategies and school based activity, the Oldham Gifted and Talented network collaborates with other cultural, academic and sporting organisations to create challenging and innovating programmes to stretch pupils.

“Such activities, like summer schools, operate at a cross-borough level encouraging the development of pupils‚ allowing them to increase their awareness and broaden their life experiences.”

Nationally, there are 331,670 gifted or talented primary school pupils and 466,360 secondary school students.

Last year, Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced he was expanding the gifted and talented programme, which enables bright pupils to benefit from after-school, weekend and summer events, to one million pupils.