Blackwood High School - Gifted and Talented

At Blackwood High School teachers strive to provide teaching and learning programs that offer choice and challenge for all students. Those students who have been identified as "gifted" are invited to take up the opportunities offered by differentiated programs at a faster rate than others.

What do we mean by demonstrating gifts and talents?

Giftedness is an outstanding ability in a range of areas which shows up with little or no systematic development. Students can be gifted in areas such as:

Cognitive ability such as problem solving and analysis

Creative strengths in the visual arts

Interpersonal skills such as leadership

Intrapersonal strengths evident in motivation and perseverance

Skills in movement such as dance and physical sport

What do we mean by talented?

Talented refers to outstanding performance as a result of assistance, support and systematic development over time. This includes:

A differentiated curriculum at school (extension, enrichment and acceleration)

Support from home

Special tuition and appropriate mentoring

Appropriate skills and learning strategies specifically taught

How do we identify such students?

We select students for inclusion in our program in a variety of ways, namely:

Standardised testing and interview

Referral by primary school, subject teachers, parents and self-referral

In identifying such students, we are aware that they may not appear to be gifted in the narrower, cognitive sense of the word. They may well be among the high-achievers and the ?model students?, but they may also be among those with learning and behaviour difficulties. Identification of gifted students is an on-going process.

What do we offer these students?

Our program for gifted and talented students has three components: extension, enrichment and acceleration.

Extension involves the provision of more advanced work within the existing subject frameworks. Examples are the mathematics workshops offered to selected mathematics students; activities offered in conjunction with TAFE; the writing of scripts, the composition of original music and the activities associated with our highly acclaimed Music/Drama productions; involvement in the various Science, Maths, Language and English competitions. Teachers differentiate their everyday teaching and learning programs to better serve the needs of our students.

Enrichment - In 2003, identified year 9 students will pursue an innovative enrichment course which encourages creative productivity by exposing them to a range of topics and fields of study. Students will be involved in real world problem solving through advanced content and higher order thinking skills.

Acceleration (sometimes called "grade-skipping") is undertaken when a student shows particular talent in a given school subject. Such acceleration is not undertaken lightly and requires evidence of superior attainment at the previous level as well as a strong commitment to the challenge.

In addition our students are encouraged to participate in activities with other schools. We cooperate with other sites in the district, both state and private, to provide enrichment activities. Interschool debating, state-wide competitions and Tournament of Minds are other opportunities.

How can Parents/Caregivers support their children?

Notify the school of any relevant previous psychological assessments of your students

Ask for a nomination form if you think that your student fits any of the categories mentioned in this sheet

Consult the Coordinator for Gifted and Talented Program