High potential and gifted education

At Palmers Island Public School, we are proud to follow the NSW Department of Education’s High Potential and Gifted Education (HPGE) policy. This policy understands that gifted and talented students have many different strengths and needs. We are dedicated to creating a welcoming and supportive school where all students are challenged and encouraged to do their best. Our programs help identify and support potential and giftedness in many areas, not just academics but also creativity, physical skills, and social abilities. By looking at a student's potential in a broad way, we strive to help every student succeed, grow, and be happy both now and in the future.

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 Palmers Island 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 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.

In our classroom

At Palmers Island Public School, High Potential and Gifted Education (HPGE) is woven into our everyday learning activities. Many of our students show outstanding talents, and we are dedicated to nurturing these abilities and turning them into meaningful successes.

Our teachers carefully assess each student’s learning needs in the classroom and use proven teaching methods to extend and challenge their skills. We offer various learning options such as enrichment programs, extension tasks, and acceleration when appropriate. Students are identified as having high potential or giftedness across cognitive, creative, physical, or social-emotional areas, based on teacher observations and family input, which is highly valued. This information is shared across the school to provide the best support for all learners.

We build supportive classroom environments where students feel included and are encouraged to be creative, take risks, and work together. Gifted students, especially in thinking skills, receive tailored instruction that matches their level of challenge. They participate in open-ended tasks and enrichment activities.

Our practices align with the NSW Department of Education’s HPGE policy, which highlights the importance of supporting giftedness across four essential domains:

Creative Domain: Supporting students to develop original ideas and express themselves through creative thinking, problem-solving, and artistic pursuits.
Intellectual (Cognitive) Domain: Offering challenging learning experiences that nurture advanced thinking, deep inquiry, and intellectual development.
Physical Domain: Encouraging physical growth and wellbeing through activities that improve coordination, health, and physical skills.
Social-Emotional Domain: Promoting emotional resilience, self-awareness, and positive social interactions to support the wellbeing of gifted learners.

At Palmers Island Public School, we are dedicated to fostering the whole child by recognising and nurturing each student’s potential across these four domains, ensuring every learner is empowered to succeed.

Across our school

At Palmers Island Public School, we provide a wide variety of opportunities to support and enrich our High Potential and Gifted Education (HPGE) students both at school and in the broader community. Our programs nurture talents across many areas, offering pathways for students to excel and participate beyond the classroom.

Students can join our Chess Team, which helps develop strategic thinking and problem-solving skills. We offer a range of Creative Arts activities, including dance groups, choir, and combined school and regional arts events, giving students a chance to grow their artistic abilities and collaborate with others.

For those interested in sports, we have school teams and pathways to representative sports, promoting physical growth and teamwork. Leadership skills are encouraged through Peer Support and various leadership programs like Grip Leadership and the Promoting Excellence in Achievement for the Clarence program (PEAC).

We also help students build their communication and critical thinking skills through Public Speaking and Debating competitions that challenge and extend their intellectual abilities.

Our commitment is to provide a rich and diverse HPGE experience that empowers gifted learners to succeed and thrive in all areas of their development, both within our school and beyond.

Across NSW

Our students are actively involved in a wide range of opportunities across the state, including:

PSSA events enable our students to trial and compete in sports at regional, state and national levels, fostering discipline, commitment and collaboration.
Participation in music events such as the Compass music festival, hones our students’ musical skills, discipline and ensemble awareness.
The Small Schools Big Impact concert is an iconic performing arts event that celebrates the talents, diversity and creativity of students from across Northern NSW public schools.
Involvement in the chess and debating competitions empowers our students to think creatively and solve future-focused problems using design thinking.