High potential and gifted education

Holroyd School is committed to equitable access to quality education for all students, regardless of their background or circumstances. Our processes identify the strengths and needs of individual students, crucial to ensuring every student participates fully and stays engaged. Strong school and community partnerships ensure the student is known, valued and cared. School staff participate in an ongoing program of high impact professional learning.

At Holroyd School, support for students with high potential and disability includes:

acknowledging both high potential and disability – we recognise both the advanced abilities and the disability, providing a unique combination of support and development.
focusing on strengths: staff and parents and carers identify student’s strengths and interests and student's high-potential areas such as creativity are nourished, while addressing needs associated with disability
individual and collective adjustments: this includes providing additional support, modified resources, and differentiated instruction to meet the specific learning and wellbeing needs of students
explicit teaching: differentiated to extend the student's strengths and interests, with options like challenging projects, flexible pacing, varied ways of demonstrating understanding and opportunities for generalisation and development
emotional and social support: ensuring the learning environment is safe and supportive and addresses social-emotional needs, as some gifted students with disabilities may experience challenges due to asynchronous development.

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 gifted education (HPGE) recognizes that some gifted students have disabilities, requiring a tailored approach that focuses on their strengths while providing necessary adjustments. These students may show exceptional abilities alongside their disability, such as advanced spatial skills in the case of a language disorder and need programs that address both their high potential and specific needs.

At Holroyd 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 empower students with the skills for lifelong learning and wellbeing.

Our approach focuses on four key domains:

- Creative Domain: we provide opportunities for students to develop artistic expression, encouraging originality through diverse creative activities.
- Intellectual Domain: we challenge students with enriched learning experiences that optimises opportunities for functional skill development and generalisation across contexts.
- 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 all students, fostering resilience, self-awareness, and positive relationships to help them thrive within our school community, and beyond.

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

Differentiated tasks that adjust pace, complexity, content and practice
Assessment to identify areas of strength and needs, to monitor growth and adapt teaching and learning
Explicit teaching of foundational and functional skills
Tasks that promote choice and independence including cross-curricular projects.
Differentiated movement tasks and skill refinement
Individual SMARTER core learning goals
Opportunities to take on lead roles in physical demonstrations.
Supportive learning environments that enable exploration and self-expression.
Opportunities for leadership within the classroom
Safe learning environments that encourage confidence and perseverance.

Across our school

Student leaders
STEM and coding
School music activities
Drama and school concert
Visual Arts and showcase
Sport
Movement groups
Wellbeing programs
Participation in whole-school inclusion and wellbeing initiatives.

Across NSW

The Premier’s Sporting Challenge (PSC) promotes whole-school participation in physical activity with leadership pathways and professional learning.
The Premier’s Reading Challenge (PRC) promotes a love of reading for leisure and pleasure and enables students to experience quality literature.