Pre-schoolers take on maths

DEAN KOZANIC/The Press

ADVANCED LEARNING: Ellen Wong, 4, with mum Andrea, at Small Poppies, a preschool for gifted youngsters.

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Preschoolers are getting the chance to learn physics, geometry and languages as education for gifted under-fives expands across the country.

The Gifted Education Centre plans to roll out preschool sessions nationally, with centres opened this month in Nelson and Wellington and a relocated service in Christchurch.

Auckland has had a Small Poppies preschool for about 14 years, providing an "enrichment and extension" programme.

Lead teacher Sue Breen said gifted children learnt differently and were ready for sophisticated concepts much earlier than other children.

They could be identified through a range of characteristics, such as being early talkers and readers, having good recall, wild imaginations, little need for sleep and preferring the company of adults.

Prospective attendees at the special preschool needed to have a group session with an educational psychologist to formally assess their abilities.

Cashmere mother Andrea Wong, whose four-year-old daughter, Ellen, attends the Christchurch preschool one morning a week, said Ellen benefited from having her interests extended and from being with like-minded children.

Ellen, who was tested at or beyond age-five level when just three, was an early talker, speaking well before she was two. Her ability was picked up by teachers at her regular preschool.

Wong, who has become a co-ordinator for the centre, said that when her daughter was interested in something she liked to know everything about it. Her current interest, Eskimos, had extended to discussing how people living in such an environment could generate an income.

At preschool, Ellen was learning about molecular changes as solids morphed into liquids and gases.

Breen said identifying gifted children was not about pushy parents. "[Parents of gifted children] are reluctant quite often because they don't want their child to be different."

- © Fairfax NZ News