I run a tutoring service in Hamilton, and have qualifications in gifted education.
I am interested in hearing about the gaps in the system for gifted children in Hamilton, with a view to widening the services I offer.
Is there a need for a One Day School at Primary level? Is there a need for a Half Day School at Preschool level? Is there a need for special interest groups?
Please contact me with suggestions or expressions of interest. E-mail mail4mary@xtra.co.nz. Please put "gifted" somewhere in the subject line, as I do receive a lot of spam.
The last I had heard they were setting up (or perhaps even had set up) a One Day School in Hamilton.
There is also a co-operative called WAGC (Waikato Association Gifted Children) the President is Lisa Nicholson and if you wish I can forward on your details to her (or visa versa).
It is my understanding that there is no One Day School in Hamilton at present.
The George Parkyn Centre are coming to Hamilton in the future, and currently have some Hamilton children using their distance education option. I strongly recommend these people and the services they provide. One of my own children attended their One Day School when they used to operate in Hamilton some years ago.
However, they are not here yet, and I am very happy to offer something in the meanwhile if the need is there.
I am also interested in preschool services and special interest groups, and in filling gaps in the system in other ways. I would love to hear from anyone in or near Hamilton about their needs, and services they would like to see on offer.
I live in Hamilton and have a 4 year old son who I and his teachers believe is gifted but are not sure where to go in order to cater for his needs as I think at preschool he is having bad behaviour due to boredom. Unfortunately, as supportive as his preschool teachers are, they just don't have the money, time or resources to devote to this highly curious child. I would love to know of the Waikato Association of Gifted Children's contact ph number and also any schools that anyone knows of in Hamilton that offer gifted programmes.
I have sent you an e-mail with some contact details.
I posted something here, but it is lost in cyberspace. So here follows the condensed version:
Pukete is a wonderful school with a good gifted education programme. Southwell is awesome if one is also financially gifted. There are other good schools about. Consider zoning issues. Ask lots of questions.
I may be able to offer some support with your son's current situation, or WAGC may be able to.
Hi. My name is Arthur Yeo and I have been privileged to work with many gifted children at NumberWorks in Palmerston North, Wanganui and Hamilton for the past 9 years. I have been instrumental in helping parents identify their children as gifted and have provided appropriate learning support.
In Palmerston North, many of my gifted clients go to the "One Day School" and they seem to revel in what is being offered.
In my opinion, all children need to be appropriately challenged every day to stimulate optimal growth and development. I love it at NumberWorks because each child is taught on an individualised programme. They learn what they need to learn at the level that they need to learn it at.
I have a son who 6. He will be 7 at Xmas and appears to be gifted. He is our eldest so while we have always known he was bright we didn't think too much further about it.
One of his teachers at school has spoken to me and said that she thinks he is gifted. His kindergarten teachers also spoke of him being very advanced for his age.
He attends a small country school and is the youngest in an integrated class of 25 kids with seven and eight year olds. He is achieving several years above his chronological age in all curriculum areas. He is very happy at school and loves it. He has mentioned that he sometimes gets bored when he has finished his work.
He is like Edward Scissorhands when he gets home from school with paper,sellotape and staples flying everywhere while he makes stuff. He has made his own boardgame (with no help) and likes to make crossword puzzles for me to do. He is also an avid reader.
He has aways been a wakeful child and seems to have trouble turning his brain off at night so is often awake till 9- 9.30 at night (he goes to bed at 7.30). He is up and reading again at 6 in the morning. He can get very tired and grumpy.
I don't think he is at 'genius' end of the spectrum but I think he is probably gifted. All is going well presently and we don't want to push him too hard but I would like to be better informed. I am also a bit worried about next year and a lot worried about the one after as 'in theory' he will be remaining in his current class for another two years. Is he better off skipping ahead or staying with his friends and doing extra work? Should we get him assessed or is this unneccessary as he is doing well and has no behavour issues at the moment.
Is there a Waikato group I can get in touch with and how?
We live 15 minutes from Hamilton.
Any information would be appreciated
Thanks Kirsty
I am trying to find details of resources and programmes for gifted children in the Hamilton/Te Awamutu area. I have a 5 year old who has just started school and I think is gifted particularly in the maths area. The kids are counting to 20 in class and he is doing addition, subtraction, counting to 300, some multiplication and always astounding me. He loves card and board games. All the schools in the area told me that they do not extend children in year 1. He is very verbal and is consistently measuring his world in terms of kms, kg, hours, minutes, and avidly reading maps.
He is loud, boisterous, sensitive and prone to obnoxious behaviour when he is bored. I am rather worried that if he is bored in class he will be labelled a bad kid.
If someone could give me contacts to work out what he needs I would be most appreciative.
You could get in contact with WAGC (Waikato Association of Gifted Children) who have get togethers for both the parents and children (I can give you contact details).
There is also a ODS (One Day School) in Hamilton for gifted children.
What sort of programme or resources were you after?
i have a child who is nearly 4, although i do not believe he is gifted in one particular area i recently picked up an enrolment form for hukanui school which had attached to it a gifted child survey and i found that i ticked yes to most questions. he is a very bright and extremely articulate child and does find that he is often bored or frustrated at kindy and with the children of his own age. is there any pre school gifted programmes/playgroups?? i would really appreciate any information, we are in hamilton
many thanks
sara
There is WAGC, Waikato Association of Gifted Children. They have various get togethers for both the family, children and for parents alone. If you would like more details please email me.
We have an 11 year old daughter who is attending a small rural school in Huntly. She is in an integrated class of year 6-8 and is currently achieving at several years or more above her chronological age in all areas. At age 7 she was identified as "gifted" and an assessment showed her IQ to be somewhere between 135 and 151. Our problem is, that although very bright, we have had to battle each school she has attended to extend her learning to combat the boredom that seems to be a constant problem!! Consequently, she has in the last year lost somewhat the "love" of learning that she had and has become very mentally lazy and is now causing problems in the classroom with moody and uncooperative behaviour.
My husband and I are both desperate to curb this trend as we have a 7 year old son who appears to also be gifted, in fact, more so than his sister and we can see we are headed down the same path with him! We are seriously considering Homeschooling but know that the normal school curriculum subjects will not be enough. There appears to be plenty of extra help available but is any of this funded? We want to do the absolute best for our children and give them every opportunity but we are on a definate budget! We looked into the One Day School when we lived in Pukekohe but it was way beyond our means. Are there other families in this situation and how do you cope?
Sorry I took so long to reply. At the end of term one I have a clearer picture of what my son needs.
We received his portfolio book which outlined that he has been signed off Year 1 maths already. The outline for the maths programme in the portfolio shows me that I think he is up to Year 3-4 level but they haven't tested him further up yet. His teacher is in her sixties and tired. She always says she has got all these other children to deal with if I ever so much as mention maths.
He is coming home very sad some days because no one talks as much as him about everything. He is a very enthusiastic learner.
Yes I would like the details for the Waikato Association of Gifted Children please. How do I go about emailing you? I am new to online discussion forum protocol.
I also would like to get in touch with the gifted children association as both of my children are extremely fast with picking up languages and have been identified by experienced teachers from overseas to be of extremingly bright. We are in Hamilton and we have been thinking about moving our children overseas for better education as the care and school we have seen in Hamilton here are limited.
Hello Reed, Rachael, and others who will read this later,
Just e-mail me with "Gifted" somewhere in the title to get contact info for Waikato Association of Gifted Children (of which I am a member), for the One Day School (where I now teach three days per week), or for myself as a private tutor. There are great things going on in many Hamilton Schools, and I am sorry you have not had good experiences.
Where these posts say "Author" at the top, the name links to the e-mail address for the author of the post.
WAGC will have a website up sometime this term. All we are waiting for is a free weekend when I can organise two of our older gifted boys to write and upload it for us. Once it is up, I will put a link on this post. WAGC is a great first point of contact because you can talk to other parents who have tried a range of options for their gifted children. This is a great way to figure out what is going to meet your family's needs best.
Hi,
Our family is based in Te Awamutu. Our son turned three last week. He has always been a terrible sleeper, awake for hours at night, but over the last couple of months we have managed to improve that considerably, however now that he has a full and wonderful vocabulary we are now becoming aware of why he does not sleep. His brain won't turn off.
Even in REM he is semi conscious and verbally processes what he he learning about. We thought at one stage this was hullucinations but now we know better. At present we hear him reading in his room in the evenings sounding out the words in his books. (He goes to bed at 8pm and drifts off about 10pm.
He loves music as much as his reading. He started to show an interest in classical music. 1st night he was lulled to sleep. 2nd night he was sitting bolt upright in bed trying to figure out the instuments playing.
Last christmas his 5 year cousin received a xylophone. He picked it up immediately and started to drum out the rhythm of the wheels on the bus, but was frustrated at not being able to get the notes. He can copy basic rhythms no sweat.
Recently he has been working on his maths. He has been able to read 1-20 and the most of the 10's and has started to work on basic addition. I think he knows more than he is letting on as he doesn't lkike to show what he can do until he has mastered it, especialy if he can work it out on his own without us.
His knowledge is broad and deep and the most amazing facts seem to come out unexpectedly. Look Mum, thats a cabover truck. (I think I remember reading that once).I thought we were nearing an end with the resources at the local library. However I now see he is picking up his basic books again in the bid to read them. But is bored by basice, he wants to learn his words in context closer to his comprehension level. Another change I have noticed that has come with this is that he is looking at every single detail on the page and no longer wanting to know the parts and what they are for so much but instead focusing on other aspects such as what could happen next..."After they finish building the road they're going to build an airport for that plane to land on Mum".
We have been working towards transitioning our son into Kindy. I asked to see if they had any resources for our son who is so eager to read. The kindy teacher asked questions and I told her he started working on the phonics on Saturday and had them down by Wednesday. The response was you don't do enough other stuff. I told her he had spent no more than 1/2 hour an day working on them. (He was asking constantly for more.) The rest of the time we were playing with seeds and machines, biking, going to he park, reading books, baking...
She proceeded to tell me it was obvious we did too much stuff. He has plenty of quiet time and is quite happy having some time by himself. I am most dissapointed with the response and felt horrified that after 3 years of being advised we are bad parents because we cannot get our child into a healthy sleeping routine, that once again I got this response but for a completely different aspect of his life. I am frustrated and am not sure quite which direction to turn to find an appropriate pre-school/kindergarten for our son. He currently goes to daycare for social reasons as he an only child but he is bored there. He takes a long time to transition and I feel somewhat lost that I have spent months on transitioning him and now right before he is due to start I need to look elsewhere.
We are prepared to shift if this is what we absolutley have to but it will have to be somewhere he is zoned into a good primary and intermediate too as we won't be shifting again in that time!
Any help would be hugely appreciated. After several years of going down the medical track we feel we are finally starting to see why he responds the way he does. Although I'm not 100% we are any more clear on 'whats' going on in there!
Thank you for taking the time to read this.
I look forwad to reading your response.
Vanessa
You are responding to your son as he is, and giving him the intellectual stimulation he is driven to seek. You sound like the model parent of a gifted child to me! We parents of gifted children need to be a bit thick-skinned and support each other, because we have all had these negative and often contradictory commenst on our parenting.
Waikato Association of gifted children will be helpful to you in this way. E-mail me for their details. They will have a website up soon, and I will post a link on this page.
I am in the process of organising a group for four- and five-year-olds, hopefully to start at the beginning of next school term, and run on Fridays. I would want to get started before including any three-year-olds, but as your son is already starting to read he may fit in. Do get in touch and we will talk it over.
WELL IVE HEARD ABOUT YOUR KID AND I THINK THAT THE BEST THING TO DO IS JUST TO TELL THE SCHOOL THAT HE IS ATTENDING AT CURRENT AND ASK THEM TO PUT HIM UP A GRADE.
IF YOU DON'T FEEL COMFORTABLE ABOUT THIS THEN I SUGGEST YOU TAKE HIM TO A SPECIALIST IN HAMILTON. I BELIEVE THERE ARE THREE PLACES THAT ARE WELL KNOWN BY YOUR LOCAL GP.
"Re Gifted Children"
Hi,
My name is katie and I have a 4 year old grandson who may be gifted in drumming. He is constantly playing imagineary drums in the air, even whilst engaged in conversation. I'm wondering if there was a drumming tutor who could teach him and +get to know him on a full scale relationship. My grandson is a special needs boy and I'd love to hear from anyone who may be interested in forming a relationship with him. Many thanks.
Hi katieYour post interested me as I have two twice exceptional children, and have been a drummer ina pipe Band for many years. my Eldest son attends a special school in Auckland, and they have a great music therapy which includes a lot of drumming. star Jam (a charity that lets special children 'give back" to the community) runs drumming workshops for the children as well. drumming seems to be something the children take to at a primal level, as well as being a good outlet. my youngest does drumming at school, and can copy any rhythym the teacher does. this has also shown in him becomming a gifted piper. While I am unsure what there is in Hamilton, I know there is a pipe Band, and most do tutoring, although your grandson may be too young to start, you could give it a try. I would also maybe try the IHC and special schools to see if they have any programs like we have in Auckland. you couls get him a set of cheap 'Bongo'drums and some CD's to play along with he will have a Ball! Best of luck. Joanne
HI, I was wondering the same thing.....we are moving to the Waikato and I was trying to find info on Gifted Kids activities in the area.
Can anyone help?? Thanks :o)
Waikato Association for Gifted Children's Information Evenings for Parents are held every 4th Tuesday at the Hamilton Central Baptist Church, Charlemont Street, from 7.30 pm – parking and entry at Gate 3 (northern side of the complex).
Tuesday 28 September – For many, next week is the first week of the school holidays so we’ve planned an informal evening to share our ‘best books’ and ‘top websites’. Come along and pick up some tips on a wide variety of topics in giftedness, and some ideas on where to find practical things to do over the holidays. Bring along your own favourite books and other resources and join us for supper.
Tuesday 26 October – Creativity – does your child have special creative abilities? How do you know? What is creativity and how can it be nurtured? Share your own experiences and learn from practitioners in this field.
Tuesday 23 November – One of the best things we can teach our children is resilience. ”Gifted children are more sensitive to interpersonal conflicts and experience greater degrees of alienation and stress than do their peers… they need to be specifically taught skills that promote resilience, such as a positive and pro-active approach to daily life, flexibility, task persistence, divergent thinking and problem solving skills.” Our November information evening will focus on this critical aspect of growth and development.
To answer the queries above, yes there is still a group for preschoolers in the Waikato - contact me for more info about "Thinkers' Club" - and WAGC has a web presence at waikatogifted.wordpress.com.
Mary St George
07 849 4842
I am also fairly easy to find on Skype, Twitter and Facebook.
Hi there i have a 2 year old son who is extremely gifted and it has been brought to my attention via a teacher at his daycare that it would be of great benefit to my son and us a family to seek further information, i am very interested in the gifted children preschool.
His name is Dariyus he is 2 years and 4 months old, he knows all his abc's, counts to 10, knows all colours, shapes, animals, his vocab is that easily of a 5-6 year old.
He is so switched on and we have been told by many many people that he is truly gifted could you please email me some information on what is available for Dariyus and us as his family please?
Thanks for your time
Tina Inger
I no longer run a preschool group, being very fully occupied with my other work, also in the field of giftedness. WAGC is now the best port of call for parents of gifted preschoolers in the Waikato. See http://waikatogifted.wordpress.com/ and http://wagc.webs.com/
Hi, can you tell me please if WAGC is still around and if so their contact info? also if there are any other resources in or close to Hamilton .. I have a Gifted, bored son of 9 who I need to keep busy and foster his intellegance so he doesn't become a video game/couch potatoe or a troublesome kid in class!!!! (which has already started ...well in sk!)
Hi Mena,
There is currently a One Day School class for gifted students operating out of Hamilton West School in Hammond Street.
Here children spend one full school day each week with other children of the same age group who share similar interests and ways of thinking and learning. Both of my children have attended One Day School and we have found it invaluable in several ways - they have both made some very good friends there as they have met children that they feel they connect with, it relieves the boredom that they often face at regular school as they finish their work much quicker than many in their regular classrooms and don't need as much repitition to learn things, it really does extend their thinking and the conversations we have after school on One Day School days is remarkably different to "normal school days".
The One Day School are planning an open day sometime this term so your child can go and "have a go". Keep an eye on their website www.giftededucation.org.nz for details on this.
We have our One Day School class on Tuesdays at Hamilton West School. Please contact our Waikato coordinator for more information: Sue Brett - sue.brett@giftededucation.org.nz and you can also look at our website: www.giftededucation.org.nz Good luck!
I offer private tuition for children either individually or in small groups (4 is the maximum) aged between 4 and 13. However, if children are younger than 4 and are performing above their age I can easily individualise tuition especially for them.
I am a fully registered NZ teacher and have a Master of Education degree with distinction in special education so am well qualified and have been tutoring children with various needs for the past five years.
Please feel free to visit my website: www.advance-tuition.co.nz
Hi,
Is there anything available in South Waikato? We are about an hour out of Hamilton so not really in the position to attend anything there.
Haven't had my son tested, and would imagine if he was to be labeled gifted he would only just make the gifted label - early talker (never shuts up, almost compulsive verbalisation of everything), very keen on being outside and doing stuff, huge imagination, able to focus on something he's interested in for hours (to the point I've had to ask the Kindy to force him to stop long enough to eat on the days he's there) but honestly to me he's just a normal kid. To quantify that one of my older kids I thought was a bit slow was put into every GATE programme the school she was at had running, so I'm not a good judge!
We can't afford to have testing done and he will be attending a decile 1 school in a country area, which does seem to be able to cater for bright kids but still leaves me wondering if I should be doing something else?
Thanks!
