Monitoring the progress of more able pupils

Understand your role in monitoring the progress of more able and most able pupils. See questions you can ask your senior leaders and examples of policies for gifted and talented pupils.

Last reviewed on 1 June 2022
School types: All · School phases: All
Ref: 3990
Contents
  1. Governors' role
  2. Check whether your school has a 'more able' policy
  3. Questions to ask 
  4. More able pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds

Note on terminology: in this article we refer to higher-achieving pupils as 'more able' pupils, but your school may use other terms, such as 'most able', 'gifted' or 'talented' pupils.

Governors' role

In the same way as you'd monitor pupil progress in general, your role involves:

  • Asking questions of your senior leaders (e.g. the 'more able' lead, if you have one) - see below for example questions
  • Looking at external and internal pupil progress data
  • Looking at pupils' books - this isn't essential, but can be a useful form of evidence

Take a look at our articles below for more detailed information about how to:

Your board might have a link governor or committee

This blog post from the National