High potential and gifted education

Rationale

At Liverpool Girls High School, we support every student to achieve their educational potential, regardless of background, through the provision of teaching strategies and high quality educational delivery in a supportive learning environment. We believe that every child has some degree of high potential in one or more aspects of giftedness, and every child will be encouraged to identify and build on their strengths.

Some students will have very definite strengths and will be considered to have particularly high potential. Through the identification process outlined below, differentiated learning opportunities will be offered. We aim to provide learning environments which support the social-emotional and wellbeing of all high potential and gifted students, enabling them to connect, succeed and thrive.

We aim to optimise the growth and achievement of high potential and gifted students across all domains of potential, through both talent development opportunities and differentiated teaching and learning practices, to ensure that their specific learning and wellbeing needs are met.

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

All teachers develop, design and implement differentiated learning programs with deliberate adjustments to content, process, product and learning environment, to meet the specific learning needs of HPGE students. Through ongoing formative assessment, teachers analyse and evaluate the effectiveness of differentiated programs and provisions.

The Differentiation Adjustment Tool (DAT) is used by teachers to inform their programming. Teachers use assessment data to implement flexible and purposeful teaching approaches and practices that align with the subject area and student cohort. Teachers are expected to offer differentiation to meet all student needs, including HPGE students with a disability.

Teachers are able to differentiate their classroom across all of the 9 differentiation adjustment areas; complexity, challenge, choice, creative/critical thinking, abstraction, higher order thinking, pace, authenticity and environment.

In order to achieve their best, all students need to be challenged to learn and master new skills and feel a sense of success, wellbeing and belonging in a supportive learning environment. Some HPG students may experience specific social challenges related to their advanced ability and development, and this too needs to be proactively addressed by all teachers in collaboration with parents and carers.

Across our school

The school implements programs, practices and procedures so that high potential and gifted students’ specific learning needs are identified and addressed. The school staff caters for high potential and gifted students across a range of domains. Included are a range of extracurricular opportunities such as Representative Sport, Student Leadership Council, Student Cultural Committee, Year Adviser Committee and whole school showcases. We also maintain two streams of student achievement and recognition, one academic, and one grounded in the school’s REACH values.

The school facilitates opportunities and encourages participation in programs across the school to provide opportunities for high potential and gifted learners in a range of domains. An extensive suite of learning opportunities support the needs of HPGE students. There is a strong focus across the school on promoting creative and critical thinking through rich and open-ended tasks, including the widespread use of inquiry, project and passion-based learning. This is particularly evident in the streamed Self Select classes that run across Stage 4, classes that provide a specialised learning environment that enhances and broadens the curriculum to cater to the specific learning and wellbeing needs of our HPGE students. Specialised elective options in stage 5, such as Critical Thinking, also provide avenues for students to continue their growth. The Integrated learning program that runs across all KLAs in year 7 also stands as an embedded exemplar, as is the extensive suite of opportunities and pathways open to our learners via the Careers and transition faculty. Interests and potential in areas as diverse as aviation, medicine, mining, beauty, nursing and hospitality are all catered for at LGHS.

Across NSW

The Premier’s Spelling Bee promotes our students’ vocabulary development and attention to detail in competitive settings.
The Premier’s Debating Challenge helps our students to build logical arguments and confidence in public speaking.
Our STEM Enrichment Partnerships with industry and universities deepen our students’ intellectual curiosity while developing innovation and collaboration.
Involvement in the Game Changer Challenge empowers our students to solve future-focused problems using design thinking.
The Schools Spectacular is an iconic performing arts event that celebrates the talents, diversity and creativity of students from across NSW public schools.
Participation in (state/regional) drama ensembles promotes character exploration, storytelling and expressive freedom for our Stage 5 high potential and gifted drama students.
Participation in music ensembles hones our students’ musical skills, discipline and ensemble awareness.
The Premier’s Sporting Challenge (PSC) promotes whole-school participation in physical activity with leadership pathways and professional learning.
The Representative School Sport Pathway and PSSA and CHSSA events enable our students to trial and compete in sports at regional, state and national levels, fostering discipline, commitment and collaboration.
Participation in state-wide dance ensembles develops our high potential and gifted Stage 5 dance students’ technical skills, performance presence and physical expressiveness.
Our mentoring programs connect our students with trusted adults including school alumni to build confidence, motivation, and interpersonal skills.