Students identified as being gifted or talented are those who perform, or have the potential to perform, in one or more domains at a level significantly beyond children of the same age, culture or circumstances.
The F Gleeson Gifted Education Program aims to facilitate an educational environment that caters to the unique potential of gifted and high potential learners.
The College believes that all boys in its care have the right and the ability to learn. We believe that all our students should be provided with access to a rigorous, standards-based curriculum, research-informed instruction, engaging learning opportunities, and differentiated learning relevant to the real world. Individual learning needs, strengths, goals, and interests should form the basis for learning opportunities that are drawn from the Australian Curriculum for our students (Student Diversity, Australian Curriculum).
The four key parts of the Gleeson Program are Extension, Enrichment, Differentiation, and Acceleration. Each area underscores the importance of granting all students access to a robust, standards-based curriculum, employing research-based instruction methods, offering engaging learning opportunities, and providing differentiated learning tasks that resonate with real-world contexts.
The College follows Gagnès’ model of giftedness and talent which demonstrates in a practical way, the links between aptitude and achievement.
Identification is a key element to the provision of gifted and talented education. This takes place through a number of methods, including: educational attainment testing (Allwell), NAPLAN analysis, external testing, internal testing, teacher nomination and parent nomination.
Provisions for talent development are made through: integrated differentiated programs, independent study programs, curriculum compacting, subject acceleration and class ability grouping. In Mathematics a compacted curriculum is offered for suitable candidates in Stages 5 and 6 over a three year period.
Provisions external to the classroom include opportunities such as: The Australian Science Olympiads, the international Future Problem Solving Competition, academic gala days in a number of domains, the NSW da Vinci Decathlon, the study of Philosophy as an elective in Stage 5 and participation in the NSW Philosothon and more.
In the Middle School, an extension group operates for boys in both Years 5 and 6. As the boys progress to the secondary classes, we run a Gleeson Stream for English, Mathematics, Visual Arts, Music and Core subjects (RE, Science, HSIE and PDHPE). The group is selected from a combination of standardised tests, school-based tests and teacher recommendation.
For more information about how we best identify, nurture and support our gifted and high potential students, please refer to our F Gleeson Gifted Education Program available here.