Academic Extension

​​Gifted and Talented Program

JPC celebrates the diverse learning needs of all students in our Primary School and recognises the necessary adjustments that are required to provide rigorous, relevant and engaging learning opportunities for gifted and talented students. 

At JPC, we have drawn upon Gagné’s Differentiated Model of Giftedness and Talent (2008) as it provides research-based definitions of giftedness and talent that are directly connected to teaching and learning. 

According to Gagné, 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.

As ​JPC is an International Baccalaureate school that runs the Primary Years Programme (PYP), the inquiry-based nature of the programme caters to students at all levels including the gifted. Units of Inquiry allow for extension and enrichment and encourage students to pursue areas of interest.

​Classroom teachers purposefully plan for a differentiated curriculum for our gifted and talented students taking into consideration adjustments to:

• Content – what the students learn; more complex, abstract, varied or organised differently (e.g. concepts)​
  
• Process – how the students learn; the level of thinking required, the pace of teaching, type of approach used
• Product – how students demonstrate their learning; through authentic and real-world problems and transformation of learning rather than summarising the content
• Learning Environment – open and supportive of diverse learning styles and needs.
  

​Research confirms the importance of gifted and talented students engaging with students of the same or higher ability. Therefore, gifted and talented students will participate in flexible groupings fortnightly during class time, to engage with other identified gifted and talented students. 

​Co-curricular enrichment and extension is also provided through: Opti-MINDS​ Coding Debating Public Speaking Brainways Days of Excellence UQ Kids College​​ Robotics. ​​

Interested​​​​ in Academic Extension Programs at JPC?