High potential and gifted education

At Waitara Public School, we support every student to achieve their educational potential, regardless of background, through the provision of explicit teaching strategies and quality teaching in a supportive environment. We aim to provide learning environments which support the growth, engagement and wellbeing of high potential and gifted students, enabling them to thrive as resilient, life-long learners. We aim to optimise the growth and achievement of high potential and gifted students across all domains of potential, through evidence-based talent development opportunities and differentiated teaching and learning practices, to ensure that their specific learning and wellbeing needs are met.

At Waitara we have many programs and initiatives to optimise the growth and achievement for our High Performance and Gifted (HPGE) students in all 4 domains:

The intellectual domain of potential refers to natural abilities in processing, understanding, reasoning, and the transfer of learning.

The creative domain of potential refers to natural abilities in imagination, invention and originality.

The social-emotional domain of potential refers to natural abilities in self-management and relating to and interacting with others.

The physical domain of potential refers to natural abilities in muscular movement and motor control.

Why choose us for your high potential or gifted child?

Recognising potential and developing talent

Our teachers find potential and nurture our students to be the best they can be.

Tailored lessons

Each student has different abilities. Teachers respond to each student’s ability by providing extra challenges and extension activities to keep learning exciting and engaging.

Rich opportunities and activities

Students can take part in opportunities to develop their talent in the arts, sport, leadership and more.

Opening doors to wider experiences

Our students can participate in a wide range of state-wide opportunities that aim to extend and enrich student potential.

What is high potential and gifted education?

High potential and gifted education (HPGE) is how our school supports students with advanced learning needs.

We do this through:

effective teaching strategies like enrichment, extension and acceleration

tailored support during lessons that stretch, challenge and inspire

access to a wide range of opportunities both within and beyond our school.

Our high potential and gifted education opportunities

Our students engage with HPGE education in the classroom, in our school, and across NSW.

In our classroom

At Waitara we are committed to identifying the specific learning needs of HPG students across all domains of potential. Teachers work collaboratively with the Learning Support Team and HPG specialist staff to support the needs of HPG students. We apply evidence-based approaches that extend and challenge students beyond their current level of mastery. Teachers develop, design and teach differentiated learning programs and provide experiences that meet the advanced learning needs of HPG students.

Across our school and Beyond

At Waitara we have many programs and initiatives to optimise the growth and achievement of our High Performance and Gifted (HPGE) students in all 4 domains. These include:

· English Enrichment writing groups with extra opportunities across the school to enter various writing competitions

· Multi-Cultural Perspectives Public Speaking

· Year 5 Debating Club

· Premiers Debating Competition

· Premiers Reading Challenge

· Specialist Library Teacher

· Mathematics Enrichment Problem Solving groups

· APSMO Maths Olympiad, Maths Games and Maths Explorer (APSMO)

· Maths Challenge for Young Australians

· Project Based Learning

· Tournament of Minds

· Chess Club