High potential and gifted education

At Heaton 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, nurture and develop 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 in the four key HPGE domains of:

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.

In our classroom

We are committed to recognising and nurturing high potential and gifted students, ensuring every student can thrive at our school.

Staff regularly use differentiated tasks within their programming and teaching that adjust pace, tasks and complexity.

Flexible groupings for collaborative ideation and presentation, targeted learning goals, and strengths-based feedback is used to cater to individual learning profiles.

Across our school

Every student is individual, so opportunities are flexible and diverse.

Students deepen strengths through debating and public speaking competitions, musical groups and choir.

Talent is celebrated through talent development groups. Students enjoy new learning experiences, where they can explore their talents, interests, and develop new skills in a supportive environment.

Leadership grows through Student Parliament and wellbeing is made visible with daily check ins, Principal Awards and The Resilience Project.

Daily life invites curiosity and belonging, with lunchtime clubs including art, STEAM activities and more.

Sport thrives here, with quality coaching and training and differentiated PE that supports all students to participate and succeed.

Across NSW

The PSSA events enable our students to trial and compete in sports at regional, state and national levels, fostering discipline, commitment and collaboration.

The Premier’s Spelling Bee promotes our students’ vocabulary development and attention to detail in competitive settings.

The Premier’s Debating Challenge helps our students to build logical arguments and confidence in public speaking.

The ICAS and Newcastle Permanent Maths Competitions provide our students with opportunities to challenge their mathematical skills in external competitive environments, encouraging problem-solving, critical thinking, and academic excellence.

The Premier’s Reading Challenge inspires our students to engage with a wide range of literature, enhancing their reading skills, comprehension, and a lifelong love of reading.