Some children are very, very good at things like a grown-up. These children are called child prodigies. They can do important work before they are ten years old. They are very talented in music, art, math, or chess. People sometimes call these children "wonder child." This name is for kids who are very successful when they are young. These smart children often remember things well and pay close attention to little details. If a child is really good at math, they might have a very high IQ. But if a child is really good at art, having a high IQ might not help as much. Let's talk about chess. Chess prodigies practice a lot. They learn chess early and work hard. They play chess a lot and get really good. But they need to practice the right way. All children are different. Some are more interested in chess than others. Children who are good at chess might also be very smart. They are good at thinking fast and seeing things in their mind. They can focus on small details. But talking about things might not be their strongest skill.

In school, we learn many things. How good we are at school is called "academic achievement." This means if we can do our school work well. We can show we are good by finishing big goals like graduating high school or college. Sometimes, we take tests to show how much we know. But people don't always agree on the best way to see if we are doing well in school. They also don't know why some students do better than others. Things like feeling scared about tests, where we study, how much we want to do well, and how we feel can make a difference. In a place called California, they look at how good schools are by using something called the Academic Performance Index. Why do some kids do better at school? It can be because they are very smart or they really want to do a good job. Being curious and wanting to learn new things can also help. When we are little, our parents help us learn at home. This is good for when we go to school. What our parents do and say can help us do better in school. They help us learn how to act, how to think about school, and how to use our skills.

Long ago, there was a special place for very smart kids. It was at a big school called the University of Warwick. It started in the year 2002 and stopped in the year 2007. Smart kids, aged 11 to 19, did extra fun learning things there. Any smart kid who was in the top 5% could join. There were four parts to this special place. One part helped the kids learn. Another part helped teachers learn how to teach smart kids. The third part helped other people who work with smart kids. The last part learned about the best ways to teach smart kids. After five years, the people who started this place decided to do something new. So, the people at the big school made a new place for the smart kids. It is a club where smart kids from all over the world between 13 and 18 can talk to each other. At first, to join the special place, kids had to show many things they did well, like awards or good work. But this changed over time.