Starting next school year, Halton District School Board (HDSB) will offer a new gifted cluster in Grade 9 at Garth Webb Secondary School.
While the larger community welcomes the decision, some families with Grade 8 gifted students in the high school's catchment area worry about the "last-minute" changes.
Until the current school year, elementary students from Garth Webb's catchment area, starting with Grade 9, attend the secondary gifted cluster at Abbey Park H.S. if they chose to continue their placement.
The secondary gifted cluster is a group of students with an exceptionality of Intellectual Giftedness. Elementary students attending gifted classrooms in Oakville are clustered within the regular classrooms in the high schools if they choose to continue in secondary gifted placement.
According to HDSB staff, Garth Webb S.S. was selected "as a new site, given the number of students identified as gifted with Garth Webb as their home school."
At present, secondary gifted clusters are offered in Oakville at three other secondary schools:
- Oakville Trafalgar High School
- Iroquois Ridge High School
- Abbey Park High School
"Students are clustered in Grades 9 and 10 for core academic subjects such as Math, Language, Science, Geography and History, and as a student's timetable permits for grades 11 and 12," said HDSB's Senior Communications Officer, Jason Misner.
Misner also highlighted that although all students complete the Ontario curriculum and its evaluations, assignments and exams, students in the gifted cluster receive an opportunity to expand on the topics covered in the curriculum with a deeper focus.
"Moving kids to the school without trained teachers is not a good idea. So it's important that the teachers have specialized training to deliver instructions to gifted kids," said Sonia (name changed), a financial advisor and a mom to a grade-8 child staying in the catchment area of Garth Webb S.S., after attending the high school open house last week.
Many kids like Sonia's who attend elementary gifted placements at either W.H Morden or Pilgrim Wood are upset about the last-minute change and are now more than ever considering applying to other high schools with specialized offerings such as IB (International Baccalaureate) and I-STEM (Innovation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics).
"These last-minute changes impact the students' mental health because all these years they were prepared to attend Abbey Park H.S., eager to explore its specialized Advanced Placement (AP) program," added Sonia.
Some parents who attended a high school open house last week worried that Abbey Park High School has both a secondary gifted cluster and an AP program. In contrast, Garth Webb H.S. does not offer AP.
They also learned from the high school teachers at the open house that Abbey Park High School did not have an AP program when the gifted cluster was introduced years ago but started offering AP soon after.
In light of this concern, the HDSB spokesperson at the open house also explained that AP, I-STEM, IB and SHSM (Specialist High Skills Majors) are examples of several offerings available at a range of schools in Oakville and are separate from the secondary gifted cluster.
Another mom and teacher who attended the open house (and has her daughter graduating next year from Garth Webb S.S.) mentioned that though she had her share of doubts, she feels convinced about the expertise of the Garth Webb staff after talking to them.
"My son, who is currently in elementary gifted placement, would start grade 9 in Garth Webb S.S. next school year."
That being said, she confirmed that "last-minute changes" and lack of communication with the parent and student community well in advance make it harder for many of the students who thought all these years that they would go to Abbey Park H.S., considering many of the students are neurodivergent and have additional challenges with rigidity, executive functioning skills and anxiety.