High Potential and Gifted Education
We promote engagement and challenge for every student, across intellectual, creative, social-emotional and physical domains. Our staff engage in ongoing professional development through The University of NSW (GERRIC), a leader in gifted education research and implementation.
Our teachers differentiate in many ways, including by content, process, product and learning environment. Here is an example of some students completing an assessment task by creating a movie for the Film By competition.
We provide differentiated learning opportunities to promote talent development and ensure that students reach their full potential.
High potential students
High potential students are those whose potential exceeds that of students of the same age in one or more domains. Their potential may be assessed as beyond the average range across any domain. They may benefit from an enriched or extended curriculum and learning opportunities beyond the typical level of students the same age.
Gifted students
Gifted students’ potential significantly exceeds that of students of the same age in one or more domains. Gagné and others commonly estimate 10% of students may be considered gifted. These students typically develop talent and achieve mastery notably faster than their age peers. They may benefit from an extended curriculum and learning opportunities significantly beyond the typical level of students the same age.
Highly gifted students
Highly gifted students’ potential vastly exceeds that of students of the same age in one or more domains. Highly gifted students have potential assessed in the top 1% or less of age peers. Highly gifted students may require specific and more significant curriculum adjustments to meet their learning and wellbeing needs.
How do we support our HP& G students?
Curriculum differentiation is the modification of the curriculum through adjustments to content, process, product and learning environment. It provides a planned, documented, challenging yet integrated curriculum that matches the ability of gifted students to learn at a faster rate, find and solve problems more readily and manipulate abstract ideas and make connections. Differentiation is available to every student in every classroom who demonstrates that he/she needs a different approach to teaching and learning to assist her academic development.
Differentiated programming is linked to ongoing class activities and units of inquiry, in ways that may include:
• high expectations for each student
• permitting a student to progress at his/her own pace
• curriculum compacting
• setting different questions or different activities within a class unit
• ability or cluster grouping
• the use of higher order thinking skills
• the study of more advanced concepts of academic work
• developing independent research skills
Acceleration is any arrangement that allows students to progress through the curriculum at a faster pace. Subject acceleration and Whole Grade acceleration are two forms that may be considered. Recommendations regarding acceleration are made carefully and the student’s academic ability, social and emotional wellbeing, and capacity to attend to classroom tasks and work output requirements, are considered prudently. Accelerated progression will be considered upon parent or teacher referral if a student demonstrates a level of knowledge and skills significantly above the Year level of his/her cohort.
Our students have the opportunity participate in a wide range of talent development activities such as Tournament of Minds, ICAS, PSSA, Maths Olympiad, Debating and Public Speaking.