High potential and gifted education

At Richmond North Public School, our staff are committed to identifying and supporting the development of high potential in students. We achieve this through assessment, surveys and observations across the creative, intellectual, physical, and social–emotional domains in the classroom, across our school and in the wider community. We 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 planning is shaped by the belief that teachers must hold high expectations for all students, recognising that every student requires differentiated and research informed learning opportunities to ensure optimal growth and achievement.

At RNPS, our staff are committed to and aim to foster excellence across all 4 areas of HPGE, including intellectual, creative, physical, and social domains, preparing students for lifelong success and wellbeing.

Our approach to the four key domains is as follows:

Creative Domain: We ensure opportunities are provided for students to develop their skills in artistic expression, encouraging originality, creativity and problem-solving through a range of creative activities, both within the classroom and in interest groups.
Intellectual Domain: We provide students with enriched learning experiences and encourage students to challenge themselves in class and focus group activities that promote higher-order thinking, deep inquiry, and advanced knowledge across the curriculum.
Physical Domain: We foster physical development and understand its importance for student wellbeing. As a result, we support students in enhancing their coordination, health, and physical skills in weekly activities and sports, and in special events.
Social-Emotional Domain: We recognise the importance of emotional wellbeing and social development of gifted students, and we strive to build self-awareness in students through building resilience, courage, inclusivity, optimism, and positive, respectful 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

At Richmond North Public School, our approach to HPGE is embedded in everyday teaching and learning, guided by a strong focus on explicit instruction, evidence-based practices, high expectations, effective differentiation and a range of assessments to meet the unique needs of every student.

Teachers explicitly communicate high expectations by designing learning intentions and success criteria that foster higher-order thinking, creativity, and problem-solving, encouraging students to set personal goals and work towards achieving all Habits of Scholarship.

Teachers regularly engage in professional development on HPGE strategies and collaborate to share best practice, strengthening instructional quality and consistency.

HPGE in the classroom includes:

Differentiated tasks that adjust pace, complexity and higher-order thinking.
Formative assessment to monitor growth and adapt learning.
Explicit teaching of critical thinking and problem-solving strategies.
Opportunities for inquiry, and curriculum depth.
Tasks that promote choice, authenticity, and critical and creative thinking.
Differentiated tasks and skill refinement in PD/H/PE.
Opportunities for leadership roles.
Supportive learning environments that enable exploration and self-assessment.
Strengths-based feedback and goal setting.
Safe learning environments that encourage confidence, risk-taking, and perseverance.

Across our school

At RNPS, we recognise the unique talents, skills and potential of every student. We offer a range of programs to nurture these skills:

PSSA sport competitions
Representative sport pathways
Reading Buddies
Student Representative Council (SRC)
Public speaking
Dance groups
Choirs
Chess
School camps
Drumming group
Gardening club
Wellbeing and peer buddy programs
Curriculum aligned excursions & incursions

Across NSW

At RNPS, our students participate in a wide range of statewide programs to extend and enrich students, including Premier's Sporting Challenge, NSW PSSA School sport pathways, Premier's Reading Challenge, Public Speaking Competitions, Dance Festivals, including DoE Arts Unit Pulse Alive.
Statewide and NSW Department of Education support is available for high potential and gifted students.