At the Vaughan we take the idea of boys fulfilling their absolute potential very seriously, and in practical terms this means far more than simply supporting our less able pupils.

 Those pupils whose intellects are not fully stretched by the courses they study, or whose great talents are not fully plumbed, also receive our special attention and we make it a priority to stretch and challenge our Gifted and Talented cohort to the full and considerable extent of their abilities.

The Gifted and Talented cohort of the Vaughan is regularly studied and updated so that pupil’s progress is constantly reviewed, allowing us to identify a large number of our pupils as particularly bright in one or several subjects. Once on our register, the possibilities are rich and varied, with every department in the school having their own dedicated activities, as well a number of external programmes in which we participate.

The scale and range of activities available for our Gifted and Talented students is incredible. Scientists, for example, have built telescopes in Astronomy club, our ICT and DT departments collaborated in helping students design and build working machines for robotics competitions, whilst our Gifted and Talented sportsmen are coached extensively at professional venues winning regular success in the last stages of various London and national cup competitions. This is to say nothing of our arts and humanities departments which run clubs, such as Historiography, competitions such as coast modelling, and an array of educational visits to theatres like the Globe and National, galleries including the National Portrait and Tate Modern, and the city’s large number of museums.

Music is particularly well catered for at the Vaughan, and our Gifted and Talented players and vocalists have access to a dozen musical ensembles with the chance to play alongside professionals in major orchestral and choral works at London’s great venues (Cadogan Hall, St James Spanish Place, Smith Square), and in locations around the world, with recent trips including Vienna, Rome and New York.

As students enter the Sixth Form at Cardinal Vaughan, Gifted and Talented opportunities are more numerous. Practically, this has resulted in students attending master-classes and summer schools in all subjects at UCL, LSE, Imperial College and Kings College to name a few. Within the school, professionals and scholars from the city’s leading financial (Goldman Sachs), legal (Landmark Barristers’ Chambers) and academic circles give up their time to meet and speak to our boys and girls in an effort to prepare them for the demanding inspection the country’s top universities inevitably perform through either the UCAS applications system or at interview. Every year, dozens of Sixth Form students leave the Vaughan to take up a place at Oxbridge or a Sutton Thirteen university.

Whilst support for all students is very correctly at the heart of Government policy in education, at the Vaughan we recognise the necessity of pushing our able with the same degree of commitment, and a combination of a dedicated Gifted and Talented budget and truly committed staff means that the activities described above only really scratch the surface of what the Vaughan offers our pupils.