High potential and gifted education

Some students learn faster and more easily than others. These students may shine in creativity, thinking, leadership or sport.

Our teachers at Gerogery School identify and support gifted and high potential students. Schools often use a combination of observations, assessments, and consultations to ensure they meet learners’ needs effectively. At our school, we recgnise and nurture these strengths early. We support advanced learners with great lessons and activities to help them grow and thrive.

Why choose us for your high potential or gifted child?

Recognising potential and developing talent

Broad Identification: Potential includes traits like curiosity, creativity, problem-solving skills, leadership ability, and persistence. These qualities might appear in academic work, social interactions, or extracurricular activities.
Multiple Indicators: Effective identification draws from various sources—teacher observations of classroom behaviour and learning style; parents’ knowledge of interests and strengths outside school; student self-assessment of their own preferences and challenges. This well-rounded approach captures a fuller picture of the student.
Growth Mindset Focus: Recognise students with the capacity to develop talents through effort, resilience, and adaptability. Some students may be “late bloomers” whose strengths emerge over time when given opportunities and challenge.
Cultural Responsiveness: Identification must respect cultural differences in expressing talent. Practices should be inclusive to avoid overlooking gifted students from Indigenous, culturally and linguistically diverse, or disadvantaged backgrounds, who might show potential differently than mainstream norms

Tailored lessons

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

including tailored lessons specially designed for high potential and gifted students:

Find Out What Students Know

Testing or checking what students already understand before starting a lesson.

Go Deeper into Topics

Instead of just learning the basics, help students explore subjects more deeply.
Ask questions that make them think carefully and understand more.

Give Different Levels of Work

Prepare tasks that have easier and harder parts.
Gifted students can do the harder tasks to keep them interested.
Give help when needed but let them decide how to explore their topic.
Include activities that ask students to analyse, judge, or create new ideas.
For example, problem-solving, debates, or making something new.

Rich opportunities and activities

Providing rich opportunities for high potential students means offering learning experiences that challenge, engage, and extend their abilities beyond the standard curriculum. Creating such opportunities as accelerating students through the curriculum at a faster pace, such as allowing them to work on content from higher grades.

Our school monitor students’ progress closely, adjusting challenges as needed and develop personalised learning goals and plans that reflect their strengths, interests, and areas to develop.

Fostering such academic growth nurtures motivation, creativity, resilience, and a lifelong love of learning in high potential students.

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 opportunities in the classroom focus on identifying and supporting students who demonstrate advanced abilities or talents beyond the typical curriculum. Our school has several effective strategies and opportunities to nurture these students.

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

Differentiated Instruction: Tailor learning activities to match students' readiness levels, interests, and learning profiles. Provide more challenging tasks or open-ended projects that encourage higher-order thinking.

Acceleration: Allow gifted students to move through the curriculum at a faster pace or skip grades/content areas where they demonstrate mastery.

Enrichment Activities: Offer activities that go beyond standard curriculum content, such as independent research projects, creative problem-solving tasks, or thematic units that encourage curiosity and exploration.

Across our school

Flexible Grouping: Opportunities for gifted students to work with peers who have similar abilities for collaborative learning and intellectual stimulation.

Inquiry-Based Learning: Encourage students to ask questions, engage in investigations, and explore topics deeply to build critical thinking and analytical skills.

Use of Technology: Our school provides technology tools that provide access to advanced content, simulations, and global expert collaboration.

Mentorship and Competitions: Connecting students with mentors, experts, or involve them in academic competitions, clubs, and societies related to their interests and talents.

Social-Emotional Support: Provide guidance to help gifted students manage perfectionism, social challenges, and the pressure of expectations.

Professional Development for Teachers: Ensure our educators are trained in identifying high potential and gifted learners and in implementing strategies that promote their growth.

Across NSW

External Competitions and Events

Students are encouraged to participate in external academic competitions like the Australian Mathematics Competition, Science Olympiads, and writing competitions.
The UNSW Academic Challenge and other university-led programs often provide enrichment opportunities.