About Potential Plus UK and High Learning Potential

Who are Potential Plus UK?

For 55 years, the charity Potential Plus UK (formerly the National Association for Gifted Children) has supported children and young people with high learning potential (gifted / more able), their families and schools.

We believe that children and young adults of all ages and abilities, including those with high learning potential, should be given the best chance to succeed in life and to fulfil that potential.

What is High Learning Potential?

Terms like ‘More Able’, ‘Gifted’, ‘High Learning Potential’ are used to describe children who have an  advanced thinking ability. These terms are most often applied to children with abilities in the top 2-5% of the population.

Children with high learning potential often share similar characteristics, like an ability to understand information in depth, make quick analyses and learn quickly. If you think your child might have high learning potential, visit Potential Plus UK’s free, online questionnaire on our main website to see if your child matches these characteristics, or read our free advice sheet PA102 Characteristics of Children with High Learning Potential to go into those characteristics in more depth.

Why Do Children with High Learning Potential Need Help?

A common misconception is that “bright/gifted children” don’t need help. They “always get the top marks”, they “don’t struggle to understand things”, they can be “left to themselves to do things as they will succeed anyway”. Some children or young people with high learning potential do cope brilliantly with their gifts and develop their potential with the support of family, friends and school. However, others can struggle to cope, while their intelligence masks their genuine need for help.

Typical problems children may encounter include:

• they are bored at school (almost all of the time – they learned almost everything that they are being taught at school years before and in greater depth or pick everything up the first time that they are taught and then have to repeat it day after day)
• they don’t fit in socially (they lack playdates; aren’t invited to birthday parties; they’re bullied for being “geeks or nerds”; they wish they had just one friend that feels as passionately and deeply about things as they do)
• they dumb down their ability to fit in and never learn how to stretch themselves or how to make and recover from mistakes, or how to cope with issues like perfectionism
• they struggle to understand why they are different and develop anxiety or other mental health issues
• they have high intelligence which is coupled with a special education requirement or disability, known as Dual or Multiple Exceptionality (DME)
• they aren’t recognised as having Dual or Multiple Exceptionality, as their high ability compensates for the disability, or the disability masks their ability, making the child appear “average” to themselves or to those around them.

Understanding the needs of high potential learners and ensuring that their learning is encouraged and stimulated at both home and school is vital. Potential Plus UK works to bridge the gap. Striving to give children the resilience and support that is needed to meet their social and emotional needs. We work with families, schools and professionals to help them to understand how to support the child or young adult through their learning journey and we help children and young people to realise that their gift is exactly that – a gift.

What Now?

You’ve completed the questionnaire and read the characteristics and you are convinced that your child has high learning potential – where do you go from here?

Potential Plus UK is here to support families on their journey.

• Visit our main website to find out more about high learning potential, how to support and advocate for your child and about the services we offer, including events like this online festival. potentialplusuk.org
• Become a member of Potential Plus UK, download our advice sheets for free, receive our monthly members’ newsletter, join our members’ online community and book half-hour support telephone calls with an education advisor for free (£36 per half hour call for non-members). https://www.potentialplusuk.org/index.php/become-a-member/family-membership/
• Keep in touch with our social media platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube as we signpost the way to handy resources.
• Join our closed Facebook groups Parenting High Potential or Parenting Gifted Children UK for support from other parents of children with high learning potential.
• Enjoy our Events: We have online vPlus courses and individual workshops, both at the Festival and throughout the year. We also hold several in-person national events per year (when it is safe to do so) and local events in our volunteer parent-led explorer groups. https://community.potentialplusuk.org/events/event_list.asp
• Read our advice sheets (all advice sheets are free to members, some are free to non-members) https://www.potentialplusuk.org/index.php/parent-advice-sheets/
• Consider purchasing the Potential Spotter – which investigates your child’s abilities in core areas that have been shown to indicate high learning potential – or having an assessment of high learning potential with Potential Plus UK, to help you and your school understand your child’s profile, and support their educational, social and emotional needs https://www.potentialplusuk.org/index.php/families/assessments-for-children/