How Helios Serves Gifted Learners
At Helios, we see gifted children for who they are right now, beyond their potential as high achievers on tests. For our children, learning fills a deep, emotional need, and this need is often combined with a heightened sensitivity and intensity in their interactions in the world. Helios is designed to work with those needs.
We understand that:
- Gifted children are most fulfilled when they are challenged and engaged.
- Gifted children are asynchronous learners and will have advanced cognitive abilities in some areas, but not necessarily in all.
- Gifted children thrive in environments that understand and meet their academic and social-emotional needs – where one size is not expected to fit all. Without this support, gifted children may act out, mask their abilities or lose motivation.
When we speak of authenticity in our mission, we mean fostering an environment where our learners grow comfortable with their authentic selves. This way, when they go off to high school and college they are strong and confident, still in love with learning.
What we found at Helios was a place where my child could be normal — unique, but normal. Surrounded by like-minded peers, he was no longer labeled as the ____ kid. Instead, he was seen by both teachers and students for his strengths, his challenges, his quirks, and his passions. “Fitting in” is an incredible gift for a child — one that typical kids find in typical schools and that gifted children find in a school like Helios.
Parent to 5th Grader