Here's what people have said about us:

I met people like myself who wanted to learn and did not tease me.  The workshops offered me new material that was exciting and stretching and the tutors were prepared to answer lots of questions even late at night!

I am writing to thank you again for running the GIFT summer school.  I can safely say it was the best event for gifted children I have ever been on.  My brother and I have both been on 'Gifted and Talented' events before in a school capacity, but I've always found them full of people who want to show off that they're 'in the club' or who are looking for a day off school.  In your dates for the summer school and lack of admissions criteria, you have found a way for people who just want to learn and enjoy learning to come together and have a good time.  Your school ('school' in the loosest sense of the word!) was educational, engaging and very, very fun.  I can see why the people that come to GIFT come year after year.  I don't think there's anything else like it in the country!  I hope to see you again at the next GIFT summer school, if not sooner at another event.

Thank you so much for putting on such a fantastic week of workshops on your summer school.  Please pass on to all your staff how wonderfully they were received and appreciated, being challenging, stimulating and fun.  My duaghter required a degree of persuasion to go to Grendon having sworn never to go on another school residential trip, finding them too uncomfortable and difficult.  The 'Philosophy for Elves' intrigued her and persuaded her this might be different and worthwhile although she still accepted with a degree of gritted teeth!  She has returned a child full of excitement, energy, joy, increased confidence and self-esteem - these all more importantly than any intellectual enhancements that are also there!  She herself used the term "it was so non-judgemental".  For once she did not feel the odd, wacky or weird one!  As a socially-isolated individual she broke through a number of barriers quite safely whilst not feeling the need to go too far to be acceptable.  These are great things to learn and she is already looking forward to her next opportunity to do more.  so thanks again for all your efforts.  I am sure the kids let you know thay are appreciated, but I wanted to give you some parental positive reinforcement as well.

At school GIFT courses provided a glimmer of hope - they make up an essential part of my studies giving me new subjects to think about and the realisation that I am not alone.

Apart from the fact that I spend a lot of time between courses looking forward to the next one, they have given me a lot more confidence to be able to socialise and to be able to study new subjects unaided.

They have made me realise that my dyslexia is not a hindrance to increasing my knowledge and they’ve allowed me to achieve without my writing problems getting in the way.  They’ve given me increased confidence and decreased isolation.

It’s an experience being with people bubbling out with ideas and enthusiasm for learning and having my brain stretched out right to the limit of what I could follow.

I cannot stress too strongly what a difference GIFT has made to my son’s life.  I daily give thanks that one of his teachers recommended we give them a try.

I will always have memories of the courses.  They have kept me learning and wanting to learn.  These things will carry on so they have made a difference.

It’s supportive, stretching, and, most importantly, regulated only by self-pressure.

However many times you go it never gets boring.

No words could express my gratitude to you and your dedicated team for your incredible input into my son Matthew’s life.  You have helped him not only to build his confidence but also contributed towards enabling him to experience joy and happiness.  Thank you so much.  May God bless you and keep you and cause you to prosper in all that you do.  Much love and gratitude.

The speed of learning was much faster, but because the courses are so specific, it is possible to look at things to a real depth - at which point subjects (which were boring things learnt to pass exams at school) suddenly come to life and make you want to find out more just for the sake of it.

I feel that the courses have made a lasting difference in the way that I look at the work that I do which makes it easier to do.

I am more confident and am willing to try anything.  Many of the people I have met over the years are still in contact with me.  I am sure my high GCSE results were because my interest in learning had been rekindled.

That one weekend was probably equivalent to a term of history and English and several weeks of art.

The GIFT courses were the only places where I felt I fitted in.

Educationally and personally there are enormous benefits.  Because I began learning at a higher level I became much more interested at school and about life in general, and much more confident.

GIFT made  a lasting difference in many ways.  It taught me many of the study skills I am utilising in work, for my degree and life in general.  I have much more confidence, am more outgoing, and much happier.

The GIFT courses furnished me with the sort of knowledge and approach to learning that goes into making a well-rounded individual as well as putting me at an advantage in school work.

I learned not just to believe whatever people say but to explore subjects from different angles.  There is more than one way of doing everything.

Learning at school means to answer the teacher’s questions and fulfil his wishes.  At GIFT each answer was right in its special way and every idea was respected.

Academically constantly-challenging work, flexible study, more discussion more tutor-student interaction, socially - the opportunity to interact with a wide variety of people.

GIFT helped me not to feel ashamed of wanting to learn and to do more than the bare minimum at school.  I’ve become more inquisitive and demanding of myself as a result.

There was no element of competition, no nastiness, and the equality between every member of the course created an adult atmosphere which made us respect each other.

We had to find out for ourselves.  I mean really!  Not just pretending to like at school in ‘investigations’.

The benefits? A greater awareness of their own abilities and the hard-working atmosphere of the day.  Enabling students to explore ideas in depth and to work with other year groups, in a smaller number than in a class.  The chance to express themselves and gain in confidence.

It makes a difference especially if they’re not conformist - they realise they are not freaks and that there are people out there who value them.

It is a much more relaxed atmosphere than at school.  This made people more enthusiastic, so more is achieved in a day there than in a day at school.

It is the challenge that makes the greatest lasting difference, even for the less outgoing student who can feel isolated in the mainstream school set-up.  It is the fact that during the course it is not exceptional to be intelligent - it is the norm.

It changed the way I looked at learning completely.  I’m about to begin a research M.Phil. at Cambridge and I don’t think I’d have ever been this enthusiastic without having experience of research type work at such an early age.

The experience of a different approach from that of a school with peers who respond quickly to ideas is invaluable.  The opportunity to study a topic in depth for several hours and at a consistently high level is a new experience, as is often the subject matter itself.  The difference from learning at school is that the whole approach can be and is more adult.  The pupils are more able to explore ideas, go off at a tangent and spend time developing their thoughts and perceptions.

I believe my success is mostly down to the help and support I’ve had from GIFT over the years.

An able child needs to be around able children and friendly adults some time.

I attended many GIFT courses, including residential ones, as a child, and was helped and encouraged greatly by them.  I am a second year Philosophy student at the University of St. Andrews.  GIFT's courses were, during my schooling, the only time I felt at all stretched, and part of a community.  I suspect other, current school pupils may feel similarly - unstretched, apart, different - perhaps it would be useful for them to know that people like me (us) have made it through school and found fulfilment in further study.  I was only able to do this with GIFT's safety net and the knowledge that there WERE other GIFTers around me.  Ignore their public face: schools are institutions, like prisons; GIFT was a sanctuary and we (lecturers and students) looked after each other.  I cannot find the words to explain the debt of gratitude I feel.

I just wanted to thank you again for your help in ensuring my daughter (Year 10) got to attend the workshop at Tate Britain on Saturday, and most importantly to tell you that she absolutely loved it!  When she came out she was buzzing and talked non-stop all the way home about everything she'd done and learnt, showed me all her sketches, etc.  When I asked her to rate the day out of 10 she said without hesitation - 10!  She can't wait to attend another one of your workshops.  Please pass this feedback on to the lecturers and everyone involved.             

Milly came home in a happy, positive, and confident frame of mind.  She was delighted with the work that she produced and with the new people she met.  It was refreshing for her to work with children at a similar ability level to herself and gave her new insights into the excitement and possibilities of engaging in a project over an extended period of time and into her skills, charm, and imagination.  Thank you for giving her this opportunity. 

Just wanted to thank you for all the amazing times at GIFT.  Totally lifechanging and am sure I would not be where I am today if not for GIFT.  Just graduated from Cambridge, by the way, and going back to uni in a year to do an M.Phil. in Political Thought and Intellectual History, and then a Ph.D.  Generally loving life! 

I am absolutely delighted to recommend GIFT Ltd to you and the students and parents of your school in the warmest possible way.  We are a mixed community school in East London with a culturally diverse and mainly socially-deprived intake of students and have been sending our more able students to GIFT for ten years now.  Over 80 of our students in Years 7 to 11 have enjoyed and been challenged by weekend and week-long residentials.I'm a passionate supporter of GIFT because of what the experience does for our students, opening doors to the enjoyment of learning in ways that are far removed from schooling and exams but true to the best traditions of an investigative and discursive exploration of ideas and creativity around anything from archaeology to rocket design or from surrealism to codebreaking.  By taking on an activity for a whole day they have time to reflect, share thoughts and construct a response.  In the beautiful rural surroundings of the residential centres they build friendships with other young people who are often from very different social and cultural backgrounds but who share a love of learning.Our students have responded to GIFT in many different ways.  Some have loved it from the start, returning again and again and becoming part of a GIFT community of young people that stay in touch: for them it's been a defining part of their childhood.  Others who find it hard to fit in at school or be understood by family have found GIFT to be a haven where they find like-minded teenagers who, like them, don't 'go with the flow' of dominant youth culture.  Some find it hard to adapt at first, feeling unsure without the structured certainties of schooling and taking time to relax and begin to flourish: I have known students out of their depth until the final day and then desperate to go back and make the most of a second visit.  Even the very few for whom it hasn't fully worked recognize later that the experience was worth it because it took them out of a world they were used to.  Recently I was talking with a girl who left us last year after GCSEs and had found it hard to wrench herself from incessant phone contact with friends and family when she was with GIFT in Year 8, as a result of which she had been detached from the rest of the group.  She now feels that experience was the start of her finding the confidence to be independent and her realisation that there was a wonderful world beyond the familiar.After our students have been away Julian e-mails me with a report on how things have gone.  We really value his insights as he sees our young people in a different concept without preconceptions and can offer a fresh perspective, often highlighting aspects of their character we don't see clearly in school.Finally but crucially, the GIFT instructors are not only excellent experienced teachers but have especial expertise in working with the exceptionally able and knowing how to help them develop intellectually, emotionally and creatively.  Some of our students are deeply fond of Julian and his team.  GIFT offers something East London can't and I'm an enthusiastic fan!

Thank you so much for giving my daughter such a great GIFT experience at Grendon Hall recently.  She came back having made loads of friends, having enjoyed herself thoroughly and been intellectually challenged and stimulated in the process!  A real success.  Thank you so much again.....one very happy customer!

I found that each course was ‘taught’ in a completely different way from the next.  Each course demonstrates new and exciting ways of teaching and learning which makes GIFT more fun and puts school into a whole different light.

School is full of peer pressure.  There is no stress on GIFT.  The lecturers are all so understanding, relaxed and friendly. They treat you with respect.  I meet different people, have loads of fun, and learn a lot.  It is very stressful going to school.  GIFT is just so different.  It makes me feel more confident, special, appreciated and optimistic about the future.

I've been meaning to write that my daughter absolutely loved the Easter residential course.  She really enjoyed the entire week and enjoyed being with the other students. She has a real longing to return.  Although she's not one that lacks friends, she said she realizes now what it means to really bond with others.  She said, "there ARE people just like me."    I have honestly never heard her so genuinely happy.  Many thanks for offering these retreats for our kids.

I wanted to meet other people who understood what I was saying.  I wanted the opportunity to be myself.  I can’t thank GIFT enough for everything.

I finally found a place I could fit in.