High potential and gifted education
Some students learn faster and more easily than others. These students may shine in creativity, thinking, leadership or sport. At Undercliffe Public School, we recognise and nurture these strengths early and help students develop new skills, explore interest and engage them through great lessons and activities which help students to grow and thrive.
Why choose us for your high potential or gifted child?
Our School follows the NSW Department of Education’s High Potential and Gifted Education (HPGE) Policy. In NSW public schools, a student can be identified as being High Potential, Gifted or Highly Gifted in one or more of the following domains:
Intellectual, Social-Emotional, Physical or Creative.
If a student is identified as being HPGE, the classroom teacher works with the student and their parents/carers to develop a HPGE Individual Learning Plan. This plan outlines the adjustments and interventions the classroom teacher will implement at school to further develop the student’s potential or giftedness.
Recognising potential and developing talent
Our teachers find potential and nurture our students to be the best they can be. This is done through.
- Differentiated tasks that adjust pace, complexity and higher-order thinking.
- Formative assessment to monitor growth and adapt learning.
- Advanced learning pathways, including accelerated or compacted content.
- Explicit teaching of critical thinking and problem-solving strategies.
- Opportunities for abstraction, inquiry, and curriculum depth.
- Tasks that promote choice, authenticity, and critical and creative thinking including cross-curricular projects.
Tailored lessons
At our school, we teach the NSW curriculum and offer many different subjects to support each student’s learning. We know that development of skills in literacy and numeracy are the building blocks for learning and for everyday life. Our teachers use effective teaching strategies to help students achieve their goals.
Rich opportunities and activities
Our teachers are committed to identifying high potential in students by using objective, valid, and reliable measures as part of formative assessment to support and inform teaching and learning across the creative, intellectual, physical, and social–emotional domains.
Teachers actively assess and identify the specific learning needs of all high potential, gifted, and highly gifted students, ensuring that every student has access to tailored programs and support that meet their unique learning needs.
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.
Field of Mars Environmental Education Centre
Our students are provided with the opportunity to participate in excursions at Field of Mars. The Field of Mars Environmental Education Centre is one of twenty-four Environmental and Zoo Education Centres operated by the NSW Department of Education to help students and teachers with fieldwork, environmental education and education for sustainability.
Sporting opportunities
Alongside our schoolwide fitness program, our students are provided with many sporting opportunities which promote fitness, teamwork and sportsmanship.
Sport activities include:
- Weekly school sport program
- Swimming Carnival
- Athletics Carnival
- Cross Country Carnival
- PSSA - interschool team sport competition
- Premier's Sporting Challenge
- Zone and regional sporting opportunities and gala days
Creative arts and performing arts opportunities
Our students are provided with opportunities to grow in the area of creative arts through:
- School Choir
- Drama programs
- Visual arts specialist teacher
- Music programs
- School Creative Arts Showcase
- Class Performances
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.
In Our Classrooms:
At Undercliffe Public School, we recognise that high potential exists in many forms across all learners. Our approach to HPGE is embedded in everyday teaching and learning, guided by a strong focus on formative assessment, evidence-based practices, and effective differentiation to meet the unique needs of every student.
Here are some of the evidence based teaching strategies used in the classroom to support all students:
Use of Formative Assessment Tools
Teachers regularly use diagnostic assessments, observation checklists, and student self-assessments to identify strengths and areas for growth across multiple domains, providing timely data that informs lesson planning and differentiation to promote continuous student growth and engagement.
Differentiated Learning Tasks and Flexible Grouping
Learning activities are designed with varying complexity, allowing students to work individually, in pairs, or flexible groups based on interests or abilities, ensuring appropriate challenge, fostering collaboration, leadership, motivation, and social skills.
High Expectations Embedded in Lesson Planning
Teachers explicitly communicate high expectations by designing learning objectives that foster higher-order thinking, creativity, and problem-solving, encouraging students to set personal goals and reflect on their progress, which promotes a growth mindset, resilience, and self-efficacy, leading to deeper learning and higher achievement.
Student Leadership and Voice
Students take lead roles in projects, discussions, and school initiatives tied to their interests, and participate in setting goals and self-assessing, fostering ownership, motivation, and leadership skills.
Ongoing Professional Learning and Collaboration
Teachers regularly engage in professional development on HPGE strategies and collaborate to share best practices and design differentiated curriculum units, strengthening instructional quality and consistency to ensure all students benefit from effective talent development.
Across The School:
High Potential and Gifted Education forms a vital part of our core business. We recognise and nurture the unique talents of every student by providing flexible, diverse, and enriching opportunities that support growth across academic, creative, social, and physical domains.
Here are some of the opportunities available to support the talent development of students at Artarmon Public School:
- Music program
- Interschool sport competition
- Public speaking and debating
- Dance groups
- Choirs
- Chess
- School camp
- Year 6 performance
- Wellbeing programs
- Curriculum aligned excursions & incursions