Young stars plan ahead

Nearly all of 417 students aged from 11 to 16 at the National Academy for Gifted and Talented Youth, based at Warwick University, are already committed to gaining a place at university, a survey has found. A conference at Warwick this week to launch a national development programme for teachers will hear how 42 per cent of the students surveyed had a career objective that had not changed for the past five years. The most ambitious among the students were from lower socioeconomic groups.