High potential and gifted education

At Mount Kanwary 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. We are committed to providing an inclusive and supportive learning environment that challenges and extends all learners, ensuring they are engaged, motivated, and able to reach their full potential. Our programs are designed to identify and nurture giftedness across multiple domains, reflecting the Department’s emphasis on catering to the whole child. By embracing a broad view of giftedness, we aim to foster excellence not only academically but also creatively, physically, and socially, preparing students for lifelong success and wellbeing.

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.

At Mount Kanwary Public School, we are dedicated to implementing the NSW Department of Education’s HPGE policy by providing a comprehensive, student-centred approach that nurtures the potential of every learner across these four domains.

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 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 Mount Kanwary Public School, High Potential and Gifted Education (HPGE) is an integral part of our everyday teaching practice. Many of our students demonstrate high potential, and we are committed to nurturing that potential into meaningful achievement.

Our teachers carefully identify each student’s learning needs within the classroom and apply evidence-based teaching strategies to challenge and extend their abilities. We offer a range of learning pathways, including enrichment, extension programs, and opportunities for acceleration.

Our supportive classroom environments foster a strong sense of belonging and encourage students to take risks, be creative, and collaborate with their peers.

Groupings are flexible, students take on leadership roles, and feedback is focused on strengths, with clear goals and opportunities for self-assessment.

Our teaching staff engage in ongoing professional learning to effectively meet the diverse needs of all students, including those who are high potential and gifted learners.

Across our school

At Mount Kanwary Public 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.

Debating
Camps
Academic competitions
Lunchtime Special Interest Groups
Recycling & Gardening Club
Student leadership
Chess Club
Wellbeing programs
Curriculum aligned excursions & incursions
Sport training and gala days

Across NSW

Participatie in 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.