More Able and Talented            

Carlton has been awarded the NACE Challenge Award for excellence in whole-school provision

for more able learners since 2020.

What is NACE?

NACE is a UK-based organisation that supports schools in helping more able and high-potential children reach their full potential.

In simple terms, NACE works with teachers to improve how they challenge and inspire pupils who may need more advanced learning opportunities. They provide guidance, training, and resources so that these children stay engaged, motivated, and continue to grow academically and personally.

This means that a school working with NACE is making an extra effort to recognise and nurture children who show high ability or strong potential in their learning.

 

As of March 2026, Carlton Junior and Infants School has become a NACE Ambassador School,
only 1 of 9 in the entire country.  
What is a NACE Ambassador School?
 

A NACE Ambassador School is a school that has been recognised for doing an excellent job in supporting more able and high-potential pupils.

This means the school has already worked closely with NACE and has strong, proven practice in providing the right level of challenge for children who need it. It goes beyond meeting expectations — the school is seen as a leader in this area.

Being an Ambassador School also means:

  • The school shares its expertise with other schools, helping to improve provision more widely
  • Teachers are highly skilled in stretching and engaging more able learners
  • There is a strong focus on ensuring all children are challenged to think deeply and achieve their best
  • The school is committed to continuous improvement, not just maintaining standards

In simple terms, a NACE Ambassador School is one that not only supports its own pupils effectively, but also helps lead the way in ensuring high-quality education for more able learners across other schools too.

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Certificates

NameFormat
Files
Ambassador Certificate.pdf .pdf
Award Certificate.pdf .pdf

As part of our role as a NACE Ambassador School, our staff are always innovating different ways to challenge our children and share those ideas with other schools.

Here is a blogpost by one of our Deputy Heads - Misba Mir about a new curriculum we have created and embedded to to enhance our children's understanding and use of figurative language across the school.

Developing an “idiom curriculum” at Carlton Junior and Infant School

At Carlton, we have a ‘More able and talented’ (MA&T) policy to ensure that those who fall on our MA&T register are having their needs met in terms of being challenged in the classroom as well as providing opportunities to participate in extra learning opportunities both during and outside of school hours.

How do we support this?

At Carlton we adopt the following strategies and interventions to provide challenges and additional opportunities for our more able and talented pupils:

High-Quality Teaching:

In class, children are challenged through deeper learning activities and by working with peers of all abilities. Teachers can extend work for the more able pupils through the use of higher-level questioning and activities that are aimed at the top level of Bloom’s taxonomy model (see image below). Additionally, pupils who are more able also tutor and help others in the class to deepen their understanding and develop their explanatory skills. The Growth Mindset approach is also embedded throughout school so that children become confident, resilient and responsible individuals.

Targeted Support:

If a child needs extending over and above the support given in everyday high-quality teaching then group intervention support can be offered. Examples of groups we run for our more able pupils include…

Workshops:  Half or full-day workshops are run in school or at another local school, normally a high school, for pupils with guests and teachers that specialise in particular areas e.g. science, maths, authors etc.

Sports Coaching:  At Carlton, we have specialist sports teachers who provide lunchtime sports clubs throughout the year. Some of our pupils who are more able or have a skill in a particular sport can help out at these after school clubs and teach/coach other pupils alongside the teacher.

Art Development:  Identified pupils have worked with a local artist to create bespoke pieces of art that are now displayed in our school.

What else do we do?

Some pupils will need more personalised and individual plans/programmes to ensure that they are being encouraged to achieve to the best of their ability and are therefore provided with extra booster clubs before and after school.

We are also a mastery specialist school which uses the NCETM materials to support the teaching of maths. The mastery approach focuses on developing fluency and skills that enable children to make wider links and also see how mathematics is essential in the real world.

 What can you do?

If you believe that your child may have a particular talent in a subject or skill then please contact the school office for a form. We would love to know what your child might do outside school and provide them with support, activities and information on how to develop that talent further.

At Carlton, we challenge all children and that challenge is embedded throughout our entire curriculum, both core and wider.  Below are samples of Challenge work for each year group.

 

Early Years

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Year 1

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Year 2

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Year 3

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Year 4

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Year 5

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Year 6

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What Challenge Means to Me by Our Pupils

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KS1 Challenge Poster

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KS2 Challenge Poster

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