Gifted Children: Kent Damian Green To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what percentage of pupils at schools in Ashford constituency have participated in the gifted and talented programme in each of the last five years. Ms Diana R. Johnson The Department does not collect data about participation in gifted and talented programmes. Through the School Census, schools are asked to confirm the number of gifted and talented pupils they have identified. The following tables provide data on how many children were identified as gifted and talented in the January census between 2006, when the question was first asked, and 2009. 2006 records include secondary gifted and talented pupil data only. Otherwise, figures include primary1 and secondary1, 2 school data broken down by the number3 and percentage of gifted and talented pupils. -------------- | |Ashford| -------------- | |Number |Percentage| -------------- |2006|n/a |n/a| -------------- |2007|980 |10.1| -------------- |2008|1,170 |12.1| -------------- |2009|1,150 |11.8| -------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | |Ashford| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | |Number |Percentage| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |2006 |370 |5| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |2007 |1,070 |14.3| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |2008 |1,280 |16.9| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |2009 |1,950 |25.6| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |1 Includes middle schools as deemed.2 The number of gifted and talented pupils expressed as a percentage of the total number of pupils in the same cohort.3 Headcount of pupils.4 Excludes dual registrations.5 Includes CTCs and academies.| | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------