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 our school, we recognise and nurture these strengths early. We support advanced learners with great lessons and activities to help them grow and thrive.
At Gunning 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.
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.
At Gunning Public School, HPGE is evident in everyday practice. We challenge our students to think, create, lead and grow every day.
- Teachers identify students' learning needs in the classroom and use evidence-informed teaching practices to challenge and extend students. We provide learning pathways, including enrichment and extension programs and acceleration.
- Our supportive classroom environments promote a sense of belonging and encourage risk-taking, creativity and collaboration.
- We provide tasks that promote choice, authenticity, and critical and creative thinking.
- Our teachers engage in professional learning to support the diverse needs of all students, including our high potential and gifted learners
Gunning Public School students engage in a range of opportunities including:
- STEM and Virtual STEM Academy
- Brewongle Writers in the Environment Camp
- Film making workshop
- Dance Club
- Choir
- Whole class and individual music lessons with Hume Conservatorium of Music
- Southern Tablelands Dance Festival
- Premier's Spelling Bee
- Premier's Reading Challenge
- Inclusive School Sport
- Southern Tablelands Arts activities
- Peer Support
- Whole School Performance
- NSW Junior Chess League tournaments
- Student leadership (SRC)
- PSSA Sport and Carnivals
- Sporting Schools
- Todd Woodbridge Cup tennis
- Incursions with experts
- Excursions
- School Camp
Premier's Spelling Bee
Students from Stages 1 to 3 enthusiastically participated in the Premier's Spelling Bee 2025.
The Premier's Spelling Bee is an engaging way for NSW public school students to expand their vocabularies and improve their spelling.
The program includes activities that encourage students to become more confident users of language through broadening their vocabulary and promotes improved literacy skills in conjunction with the NSW English K to 10 syllabus.
Celebrating excellence in PSSA sports
Primary Schools Sports Association (PSSA) sports offer our students a fantastic opportunity to develop their skills, teamwork and sportsmanship while proudly representing our school and district. We are excited to celebrate the achievements of many of our students who have excelled in sport. Their dedication and success highlight the exceptional sporting opportunities available at Gunning Public School.
Music classes and performance
The Hume Conservatorium of Music provides whole class and individual music lessons for Gunning Public School students. They hone their skills with Lou, Wendy and Tony learning musical notation and concepts, vocal skill development, and skillfully playing the piano, guitar, boom whackers, ukuleles.
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