IT'S 10 o'clock on a Saturday morning and a bunch of parents are sitting in the lobby of the Henry Grattan building in DCU. Some are reading papers. Some are working on laptops. Many are asleep. Meanwhile some of their children are shrieking in delight at the launch of a rocket, while in another room four dedicated seven-yearold 'vets' in full medical scrubs operate on a "rabbit" made out of a heap of clothes.

Once upon a time education was all about the three Rs . . .reading, writing and arithmetic. At the Centre for Talented Youth the three Rs are Robotics, Rocket Science and Roman Civilisation.

The children on the programme are in the top 5% academically in the country. The CTYI runs courses in Dublin, Cork, Letterkenny, Athlone and Limerick, and last year it taught almost 4,000 children. It offers an array of university-like subjects, from applied science to creative thinking, veterinary studies to astronomy. It has programmes for six- to seven-year olds, eight- to 13-year olds, as well as special intensive summer programmes for teenagers. "We found it too difficult to get teenagers out of bed at the weekends, " says academic coordinator Eleanor Cook.

Each semester the younger child can pick a course of their choice to study for two and half hours every Saturday for nine weeks. The nine-week Saturday courses cost 200 per child, but they also have special scholarship deals for children who might not be able to afford this. They also have another option in some locations running on Wednesday evenings.

"It started off in the early '90s because there was a really bright child who had done his leaving cert at 13 and he had applied for university in Dublin, " says Cook. "Although he may have been ready academically, socially it wouldn't have been the right environment for a child. He got in touch with the organisation in America and they organised a pilot scheme in Ireland for him, and it's gone from strength to strength ever since."

These children are smart. To get into the programme they're tested in abstract reasoning, reading and maths. Children have to qualify in one of the three subjects to be accepted, and two thirds of the applicants are accepted. "Many of the kids have been referred here by a teacher, " says Eleanor Cook. "Most of them do well in the test because they've already been identified as gifted."

Many of the dozing parents in the lobby are acutely aware that their children's advantages can easily turn to disadvantages if they're not nurtured. Belinda Grehan, an applied science teacher, who has just made something fizzy explode for a classroom of excited seven-year olds, agrees. "In this country there are a lot of resources for the children that have learning difficulties, " she says. "People wonder why you need a facility that caters for children that have exceptional ability. But often these kids end up having behavioural problems in school because they're bored and not being challenged. And that's what we're catering for here."

And some of these children have more challenges than others. About 10% of the children on the course are dual exceptional. This means that they may be very bright, but they also have a special need such as dyslexia or Asperger's syndrome.

"My child was assessed by an educational psychologist as being pretty severely dyslexic but very bright, " says one parent, who wishes to remain anonymous. "We found that if we encouraged him on the gifted side, then he worked harder on the reading side."

The focus at the CTYI is on the joy of learning, and Eleanor Cook is adamant that it is not a cramming school.

"We're not here to hothouse, " says Eleanor Cook. "If the child isn't good at maths, they don't come here to get good at maths.

That's not what we're about. We want the child to excel in their talent. A lot of them want to be marine biologists, or electrical engineers and we let them experience that and see if it's actually for them."

The most important thing, as far as Cook is concerned, is that the children enjoy themselves. "Kids make friends for life on our programmes, " she says. "They meet other children with similar interests. They often come back as teaching assistants or teachers. It's important that the experience is fun."

CLIONA MURPHY AND HER SON ANDY HOURIHAN, AGE 6, FROM CHARNWOOD, DUBLIN

CLIONA

I was a bit worried about Andy because he was very bored at school and was always complaining that he wasn't learning anything. I found the CTYI on the net.

Initially he was afraid of doing anything nerdy. So I couldn't tell him it was for bright kids. We were driving here for the assessment and he asked "What am I actually going for?" and I told him that he was going to college. That sold it to him. He thinks it's great that he's getting college out of the way now so that he can concentrate on his football career when he's older.

It's definitely filling a gap. And it's not too academic. It's terrible, but the worst thing in the world for a boy his age is to be considered a geek or a nerd. So it's great that he's actually accepted this. He says "I don't know if I'm learning a lot but I'm having fun" and that's the main thing as far as I'm concerned.

ANDY

What are you learning?

I'm studying about the Celts and Greece and the planets. I like the one about the Greeks best because it's more fun than the one about the planets.

Is it like school?

It's a bit different from school. The teachers are different from the teachers in school.

And school is a bit more boring, because there's not really that much to learn. History is my favourite subject in school.

What did you learn today?

That the Greeks thought the Celts were idiots. So did the Romans.

Aren't we the Celts?

No. Because they all had spiky blond hair.

MARK AND ERICA HUGHES, AGE 12, FROM NAVAN, CO MEATH

MARK

I suppose we were always aware of the CTYI because a few of our friends had children who were attending, but it was only when Erica's teachers suggested that it might be good for her that we seriously considered it.

Her teacher just thought that she might find the CTYI interesting . . . more challenging, perhaps more stimulating. Another girl and a boy from the school had also gone there in the past.

There are about 35 pupils in her class at school. So it's a mixed class and the emphasis in an average class in school is on the slower kids. There's help provided for them and that's the way it should be.

Equally, though, there are children in every class who wouldn't be fully challenged. And perhaps the educational system isn't doing as well as it should be for those kids, and they're not getting as good an opportunity to realise their full potential.

It's meant to be fun. It's not learning to pass exams. As long as she enjoys it we'll keep sending her and if she doesn't want to go, then she doesn't have to go. She's in sixth class now so next year she'll be in first year and she probably won't have the time then, in all honesty. But she got two good years out of it!

ERICA

Do you like it at the CTYI?

Yes. The subjects are very interesting. And the teachers aren't as cross.

What have you studied?

I did advertising last year. We did radio ads and we recorded them, and newspaper ads and we learned marketing.

And this year?

I'm doing forensic science. Forensic scientists solve different crimes . . . murders or kidnappings or robberies.

So what did you do in the last class?

We went to the labs and we were carrying out experiments with blood. We were doing blood splatter analysis. We were dropping it from different heights.

Is that not kind of weird?

It's not real blood.

PHYLLIS PITCHER BOLT AND HER SON TERRY, AGE 10, FROM CARLOW

PHYLLIS

Terry's already skipped two classes in school.

He's in sixth class at the moment and he's only 10. So I suppose there is a bit of a gap.

He goes to a small school and the teachers are very good. He's in mixed classes anyway.

He's in with fourth, fifth and sixth class. So he still plays with his own age group and he still has good friends his own age. But we'll be filling a year now before he goes onto secondary . . . travelling and doing courses and that kind of thing. There's only so much that schools can do.

We live in Hacketstown, Co Carlow, so it's a bit of trip . . . an hour and 40 minutes each way. I go for a cup of coffee and a walk in the park. Or I meet people for coffee. I'm from Dublin originally so that works out fine.

Overall it's been great. He has a lot of new friends and there's such a variety of subjects. His favourites have been medicine and imaginative writing. But he always loves what he's doing at the time which is a good sign. They have very good teachers who love their subject.

They're very approachable and helpful and very nice to the kids. They're also quite down to earth and there's nothing elitist about it really.

TERRY

Is this like school?

It is actually quite different to school. It's more difficult but it's a lot more fun. We don't have any text books and there's no homework. We just listen and pay attention and it's really fun. The teachers aren't as strict.

What have you studied so far?

I did 'science of tomorrow' and medicine.

My favourite subject was medicine. I'm planning to be a doctor. I'm doing zoology now and we're doing dissection at the moment. We were dissecting a fish the last day.

Is that not a bitf yuck?

A bit. The teacher was telling us what was what inside the fish. We were mostly looking for parasites. It was kind of disgusting.

But I didn't mind.

ABBEY WYNNE AND HER DAUGHTER MEGAN, AGE 6, FROM FIRHOUSE, DUBLIN

ABBEY

Megan could talk by the time she was one and she could read by the time she was three. Socially she's doing great but she should be about two classes ahead. So the headmistress recommended this. She took an exam. I didn't like that. But she did really well and they offered her a place.

We try not to make a big deal about it. I think giving kids a label like 'bright kids' is a danger because then they start wanting to be treated differently. And you don't want that. But she loves it. It's been the highlight of her week. She did creative thinking last term. She was asking all sorts of questions. 'What if you only had one arm?

What if you had three arms?'It really gets them thinking outside of the box.

My husband then did a series of lectures that CTYI did for parents about how to handle your child at home.

He got really interested in it and started working with the headmistress of our school.

They organised a CTYI person to come and teach the teachers in the school.

It's great. The first week after class Megan was colouring in the car, and I looked at what she was colouring and it was a picture of the brain. She was colouring in the frontal lobe . . . a bit different from colouring in a picture of a bunny. .

MEGAN

What classes are you doing?

Celtic studies and the planets. I learned about Mercury. It doesn't have an atmosphere.

Is it different from school?

These classes are shorter than my classes in school.

What else do you like doing?

I'm writing a story.

What's the story about?

It's about a fairy. And she has to find her pet zebra because it's lost.

SUZANNE SMITH AND HER SON COLIN, AGE 10, FROM CLOGHERHEAD, CO LOUTH

SUZANNE

We found the programme some time ago but we didn't apply until last year. Highlyable kids already feel like they stand out too much, and that's why we waited.

The main benefit is that he gets to be in a class with children like himself, who ask the kinds of questions that his peers in school might think are odd. When they're younger these kids are thinking about things in a more adult and analytical way. It makes them stand out and appear out of step with the other kids. At three he was saying he wanted to be a palaeontologist and most people didn't even know what a palaeontologist was!

Gifted kids need to have their desire to learn nurtured, but when you've got 30 kids in a class at the opposite ends of the special-needs spectrum, it's very hard for teachers to get the balance right. Most teachers and schools tend to view it from the point of view of . . . 'the bright kids'll be alright'. But what often happens is that the bright kids lose interest.

They stop wanting to learn and eventually they fall behind.

COLIN

What are you studying?

Astronomy. It's quite interesting. It's all about planets and nebulas and galaxies.

And it's very different from school. We don't cover much of this information in school and the teacher's very nice.

What did you learn today?

Today I learned that we don't know what's inside a black hole. And if we went into a black hole we wouldn't know what would be on the other side. We learn things like that.

What other subjects have you studied here?

I did engineering last time.

That was fun. I wanted to do it again this year. We made a cardboard car and we stuck a balloon at the end and let it go and it started running along the hall. I won one race and I lost the other. I'd like to be an engineer.