High potential and gifted education

At Coffee Camp Public School, high potential and gifted education (HPGE) is integrated into our daily learning experiences. Many of our students demonstrate exceptional talents, and we are committed to supporting and developing these strengths into meaningful achievements.

Our teachers identify each student’s learning needs within the classroom and apply evidence-based teaching strategies to extend and challenge their abilities. We provide a variety of learning pathways, including enrichment programs, extension tasks, and acceleration when suitable. Students are identified by teachers (with family insights welcome and encouraged) as having high potential or giftedness across the cognitive, creative, physical, or social-emotional domains. This information is shared throughout the school to ensure effective support for every learner.

We create nurturing classroom environments that foster a sense of belonging, encourage creativity, risk-taking, and collaboration. Gifted students, particularly in the cognitive domain, receive targeted instruction to meet their individual level of challenge. They engage in open-ended activities and enrichment opportunities.

Flexible groupings, leadership opportunities, and feedback centred on strengths with clear goals and self-assessment are key features of our approach.

Our practices align with the NSW Department of Education’s HPGE policy, which highlights the importance of supporting giftedness across four essential domains:

• Creative Domain: Supporting students to develop original ideas and express themselves through creative thinking, problem-solving, and artistic pursuits.

• Intellectual (Cognitive) Domain: Offering challenging learning experiences that nurture advanced thinking, deep inquiry, and intellectual development.

• Physical Domain: Encouraging physical growth and wellbeing through activities that improve coordination, health, and physical skills.

• Social-Emotional Domain: Promoting emotional resilience, self-awareness, and positive social interactions to support the wellbeing of gifted learners.

At Coffee Camp Public School, we are dedicated to fostering the whole child by recognising and nurturing each student’s potential across these four domains, ensuring every learner is empowered to succeed.

At Coffee Camp Public School, we offer a wide range of opportunities to support and enrich our High Potential and Gifted Education (HPGE) students both within the school and the wider community. Our programs are designed to nurture talents across multiple domains, providing pathways for students to excel and engage beyond the classroom.

Students can participate in our interschool sports carnivals and sporting teams. A key pedagogy at Coffee Camp PS is Project Based Learning where students use student voice, agency and higher-level thinking skills to not only learn syllabus content but solve a problem for the community. Some examples are our Ancient Egyptian documentary series, Farmers markets, and our community unit where students raised over $300 for the local hall. Students participate in the Creative Arts and have the opportunity to attend the local creative arts camp. Students participate in local public speaking and creative arts competitions. Students at Coffee Camp PS take part in wellbeing programs to support their social and emotional learning.

At Coffee Camp Public School, we are committed to providing a rich and varied HPGE experience that empowers gifted learners to thrive across all areas of their development, both within our school community and beyond.

At Coffee Camp Public School we actively engage in statewide competitions and activities, offering our students valuable opportunities to challenge themselves and excel. Through this collaborative and enriching approach, we ensure that each student's unique talents are acknowledged, nurtured, and celebrated.

At Coffee Camp Public School we participate in state wide competitions such as the Premiers Sporting and Reading Challenges, local and state art competitions, Dorothea Mackellar Poetry Competition and History Competitions. We also participate in opportunities where students can give back to the communities and people in need through activities such a s Jump Rope for Heart, which allows students to learn about the importance of helping others and also developing their creative and problem solving skills as they design ways in which they can maximise their support for these groups.