High potential and gifted education

Engadine Public School actively aligns our approach with the NSW Department of Education’s High Potential and Gifted Education (HPGE) Policy, which emphasises identifying and supporting high potential and gifted students to achieve their potential. We are committed to ensuring that students from all backgrounds have access to an inclusive learning environment that meets individual needs and ensures that all students are suitably challenged and extended to reach their full potential. We embrace a view of giftedness that focusses on the whole child, fostering excellence in academic, creative, physical, and social pursuits. This broad approach actively cultivates lifelong success and promotes positive wellbeing. At Engadine Public School, we are committed to delivering the HPGE policy through a comprehensive, student-centred approach that nurtures the potential of every learner across all four domains.

Creative Domain:
We offer students various opportunities to cultivate innovative thinking and creative expression, promoting originality and problem-solving through engaging artistic and creative activities.

Intellectual Domain:
We provide challenging and enriching learning experiences that encourage higher-order thinking, deep inquiry, and the development of advanced knowledge across all areas of the curriculum.

Physical Domain:
Recognising the importance of physical wellbeing, we support students in improving their coordination, fitness, and motor skills through purposeful physical activities and internal and external sports programs.

Social-Emotional Domain:
We are committed to supporting the social and emotional growth of our students by fostering resilience, self-awareness, and positive relationships, helping them to flourish within our school community.

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.

Our High Potential and gifted Opportunities

Our students engage in HPGE opportunities in the classroom, in our school, and across NSW.

At Engadine Public School, High Potential and Gifted Education (HPGE) is embedded within our daily learning experiences and extends across the school and broader NSW community. We recognise that some students demonstrate exceptional talents, and we are dedicated to fostering these strengths to achieve meaningful outcomes.

Our teachers carefully assess each student’s learning needs and implement evidence-based strategies to challenge and extend their abilities. We offer a range of pathways, including enrichment programs, extension activities, and acceleration opportunities where appropriate.

We provide diverse programs designed to support and enhance the growth of HPGE students, nurturing their abilities across multiple domains. These initiatives create valuable opportunities for students to thrive academically and engage in enriching experiences both within the school environment and beyond.

Creative

Students at our school actively engage in a variety of artistic and creative activities. These include the whole-school Visual Arts program, drawing club, choir group, and the Year 6 musical, supported by our dedicated student technology crew. We also offer an extracurricular dance program in partnership with Groove Nation, providing students with opportunities to develop their skills and perform at numerous venues throughout the year, including the Sutherland Shire Schools Music Festival.

Additionally, identified students have the opportunity to participate in specialised Visual Arts enrichment programs such as Inspired by Nature, Create NSW, and Sculpture by the Bay, fostering their artistic growth and creativity.

Intellectual

Our students develop their intellectual abilities through differentiated learning and extension tasks across a broad range of curriculum areas within the classroom. Selected students are also invited to participate in enrichment programs focused on literacy and mathematics. We also incorporate STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics), tasks within our classrooms and within our enrichment programs.

We offer a variety of extracurricular opportunities, including Public Speaking, the Premier’s Spelling Bee, Maths Olympiad, and the DoE WriteOn competitions. Additionally, students can enhance their skills through Language classes and our Chess Club.

For gifted, talented, and twice-exceptional students in Years 3 to 6, information about the GERRIC (Gifted Education Research, Resource and Information Centre) programs is available to support their unique learning needs.

Physical

We offer students a range of opportunities to participate in Primary School Sports Association (PSSA) teams, including soccer, netball, T-Ball, Oztag, and Touch Football. Our students also compete in swimming, cross country, and athletics carnivals, with successful finalists showcasing their sporting excellence at the zone, regional, and state levels.

We actively encourage students, including Stage 3, to pursue competitive sports beyond school by participating in trials for zone and regional representative teams through the Engadine Zone PSSA.

Social / Emotional

Students who demonstrate a strong commitment to their social and emotional development are often given opportunities to take on leadership roles, including School Captains, Vice Captains, Senior Leadership Team members, Sport Captains, Student Representative Council (SRC) members, and Peer Support leaders.

Additionally, selected students are encouraged to participate in social and emotional leadership programs and events within our community of schools, further enhancing their skills and contributions.