GIFTED AND TALENTED POLICY
POLICY STATEMENT
Blaxland Public School aims to identify gifted and talented students and to maximise their learning outcomes. “Giftedness refers to potential distinctly beyond the average for the student’s age and encompasses a broad range of abilities in the intellectual, creative, socio – emotional and physical domains. Talent denotes achievement distinctly beyond the average for a student’s age as a result of application to training and practice.” (Gifted and Talented Policy State of NSW Department of Education and Training Curriculum K – 12 Directorate, 2004)
Blaxland Public School will develop effective and equitable identification procedures and developmentally appropriate teaching and learning for gifted and talented students.
STATEMENT OF PURPOSE
All communities, irrespective of cultural, ethnic or socio – economic backgrounds will have a gifted population which will include underachieving students and students with disabilities.
Educational practices for Gifted and Talented students at Blaxland Public School draw on information about:
- the nature, identification and development of giftedness and talents existing in the school body;
- effective teaching and learning for gifted and talented students; and the
- effective implementation of teaching and learning activities for gifted and talented students.
Giftedness encompasses various abilities including intellectual, creative, leadership, social and physical skills. Gifted and Talented students can vary in the nature, range and level of their abilities.
Teaching and Learning at Blaxland Public School will be designed to support gifted students in the realisation of their potential and provide additional opportunities for talented students.
DEFINITIONS
Gifted students are those whose potential is distinctly above average in one or more of the following domains of human ability; intellectual, creative, social and physical.
Talented students are those whose skills are distinctly above average in one or more areas of human performance. (Differentiated Model of Giftedness and Talent, Gagne 2003)
Underachievement can be described as students not working to their potential, i.e. A discrepancy exists between their performance and perceived potential.
Differentiation is the modification of curriculum from slight to major in order to meet the need of students.
Curriculum Compression is the compacting of the curriculum based on knowledge, skills and strategies demonstrated by the individual student.
Curriculum Acceleration is when students move through the curriculum at an accelerated pace;
Subject / strand acceleration is appropriate for students who require acceleration in one area such as English or a specific strand of work such as numeration in Mathematics;
Year Acceleration may be appropriate for highly gifted students working well beyond their chronological peers.
Enrichment is the broadening of curriculum to develop knowledge, skills attitudes and application.
Extension is the deepening of students’ knowledge, understanding and skills.
The school will:
- provide on-going and relevant professional development in strategies for Gifted and Talented teaching and learning;
- support teaching and learning activities through a range of resources and opportunities;
- work collaboratively with the community to develop a school plan for Gifted and Talented Education; and
- work collaboratively with the community in identification procedures of Gifted and talented students.
The Teachers will:
- recognise and identify individual student needs through the use of a variety assessment strategies;
- cater for individual student needs in a supportive teaching environment;
- contribute information to the school wide identification program from a variety of sources;
- coordinate student, parent, teacher and counsellor interviews where appropriate;
- provide a creative and challenging learning environment for students;
- provide enrichment and extension activities for all students, when appropriate;
- evaluate student responses to a range of classroom activities;
- nominate students considered gifted and talented for further assessment and
- be provided with on-going and relevant professional development in strategies for Gifted and Talented teaching and learning.
The Counsellor will:
- conduct psychometric assessment;
- provide counselling at the request of the student, parents / caregivers or teachers;
- be an advocate for students and
- support staff development
The Parents / Caregivers will:
- provide useful and reliable information about the abilities and characteristics of their child to the school and
- support enrichment programs provided for their child.
The Students will:
- participate in programs specifically designed to cater for their individual needs and
- be involved in the development of their learning program, where appropriate.
Strategies to Support Gifted and Talented Students
Staff will consider a range of strategies in order to provide for the needs of gifted students.
Strategy implementation will be dependent on collaborative decision making processes that may include the previous and current teacher, the student, parents, school counsellor, the school executive and district staff.
Strategies for consideration will include:
- grouping such as Multi – Age, ability, clusters, withdrawal etc;
- enrichment activities which broaden the curriculum, this may also include extra – curricular activities;
- Counsellor intervention to support with identification and directions in teaching and learning, particularly where students may demonstrate underachievement, splintered key learning area skills, speech, behaviour and hearing issues etc;
- extension activities where activities are provided to deepen student knowledge, understanding and skills;
- curriculum compression as a result of the student’s need to move through less curriculum content resulting in a faster pace of learning;
- curriculum acceleration due to the student’s demonstration of acquired knowledge and understandings resulting in a need to fast track their learning;
- stage acceleration where a student may be working beyond a recognised stage of development for their chronological age in a given key learning area;
- year acceleration where a highly gifted student consistently achieves well beyond recognised stages of development for their chronological age across all key learning areas. This would be dependent upon counsellor assessment, IQ, social, emotional maturity and physical development. Recommendation would be based on parent permission and student wishes. On approval the student would begin formal acceleration at the beginning of the school year on a trial basis. The trial provides a window for reassessment by teachers, parents and the student and
- early entry to kindergarten. Assessing a students suitability for early enrolment would involve evaluations in intellectual functioning, academic readiness and social / emotional maturity. Recommendations may be from the pre – school, parent identification and possibly district early intervention staff. Approval would follow the guidelines as set by the NSW Department of Education and Training.
