High potential and gifted education
Some students learn faster and more easily than others. These students may show natural abilities in creative, intellectual, physical, and/or social-emotional domains.
At Tumut Public School, we are proud to align our approach with the NSW Department of Education’s High Potential and Gifted Education (HPGE) policy, which recognises the diverse strengths and needs of gifted and high potential students.
Our approach focuses on four key domains:
- Creative Domain: We provide opportunities for students to develop innovative thinking and artistic expression, encouraging originality and problem-solving through diverse creative activities.
- Intellectual Domain: We challenge students with enriched learning experiences that promote higher-order thinking, deep inquiry, and advanced knowledge across the curriculum.
- Physical Domain: Recognising the importance of physical development, we support students in enhancing their coordination, health, and physical skills through targeted activities and sports.
- Social-Emotional Domain: We prioritise the emotional wellbeing and social development of gifted students, fostering resilience, self-awareness, and positive relationships to help them thrive within our school community.
Our school also partners with Aurora College to provide access to Opportunity Class (OC) offerings for students in Year 5 and 6.
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
We foster a culture of high expectations and equity in excellence, ensuring every student, regardless of background, has opportunities to develop their potential into talent.
At Tumut Public School, HPGE lives in everyday practice. Many students have high potential, and we help that potential to grow into something powerful.
- Teachers identify students' learning needs in the classroom and use evidence-informed teaching practices to challenge and extend students.
- Our supportive classroom environments promote a sense of belonging and encourage risk-taking, creativity and collaboration.
- Groups are flexible, students take lead roles, and feedback is strengths-based with clear goals and self-assessment.
- Our teachers engage in professional learning to support the diverse needs of all students, including our high potential and gifted learners.
Our school identifies and supports students with high potential through targeted enrichment, extension and extra-curricular opportunities such as:
- Debating
- Student leadership opportunities
- Public Speaking
- Tournament of Minds
- Technology Clubs
- Music Groups (Concert band, Rock band, Strings group, Choir)
- School Performances
- Chess Tournaments
- Garden club
- PSSA Sport
- External sporting opportunities
- Cultural activities
- Swim school
- Art exhibitions & competitions
- Science competitions
- Writing competitions
- Senior dance group
- Participation in whole-school inclusion and wellbeing initiatives
Our students participate in a wide range of statewide programs to extend and enrich student potential.
- 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.
- PSSA events enable our students to trial and compete in sports at regional, state and national levels, fostering discipline, commitment and collaboration.
Statewide/NSW Department of Education level support is available for our high potential and gifted students.
Tumut Public School proudly partners with Aurora College to deliver a virtual opportunity class (OC) that is accessible to students who may not otherwise be able to access a current OC provision in Year 5 and 6.
Students will connect with teachers and classmates from around NSW through a virtual learning environment. Delivery of face-to-face synchronous lessons using Adobe Connect and a range of communication and collaboration platforms are used to support learning. Unlike other schools, OC students remain at their current primary schools and engage in learning in collaboration with their home schools.
In Year 5 and 6 (Stage 3), students will study these subjects as part of the OC program.
- Mathematics
- Science and Technology
- STEM
Find our more about Aurora College
Sporting Opportunities
Through the Primary School Sports Association (PSSA) and external sporting offerings our students have many opportunities to join a variety of sporting teams. Supported by a team of dedicated teachers, students are encouraged to participate in numerous sporting events, fostering teamwork, skill development, and a love of physical activity. Tumut Public School proudly supports many students who reach state level in areas such as, Basketball, Netball, Swimming, Athletics and Cross Country.
Music Programs
Our school offers a range of music groups, supported by our specialist Creative Arts teacher Ms Nielsen, to develop the musical and singing talents of our students. Our school offers concert band, rock band, strings group and choir on a weekly basis. Students are nurtured to hone their skills through dedicated lessons and opportunities to engage with a range of regional and state music camps. Our students also have the opportunity to perform at a range of events including Tumut carols, Christmas luncheons and the Tumut Show.
Public Speaking
Our school's public speaking competition is a key opportunity that encourages students to develop confidence, critical thinking, and effective communication skills. This competition challenges students to craft and deliver compelling speeches, showcasing their creativity and intellect. Our gifted and talented students have the opportunity to participate in the Multicultural Public Speaking competition. Tumut Public School has proudly supported students at a regional and state level.
Tournament of Minds
Tournament of Minds is an exciting, team-based problem-solving competition that encourages creativity, critical thinking, and collaboration among students. Participants work together to tackle challenging tasks across various disciplines such as STEM, language arts, and social sciences. This enriching experience fosters resilience, innovation, and teamwork, helping students develop skills that extend beyond the classroom. Our school is proud to support and celebrate the enthusiasm and achievements of our Tournament of Minds teams each year.
Help for your high potential child
If your child shows signs of high potential, contact us. We can share how our HPGE support can guide their learning journey.
Student opportunities and activities
Discover the opportunities our students have at our school.
Learning
Find out about our approach to learning and supporting students to progress