Inspire – High potential and gifted education

At Riverwood Public School, we are committed to both equity and excellence. We believe all students can succeed and should be challenged to achieve their personal best. High potential and gifted education is embedded in our whole-school approach to teaching and learning. By getting to know each learner and responding to their individual strengths and learning needs, we identify students' potential and provide opportunities for them to develop their talents across the intellectual, creative, physical and social-emotional domains.

Why choose us for your child?

A teacher working with students during a small-group learning activity.

Recognising potential

Ongoing assessment helps teachers recognise students' strengths and identify high potential early. This enables teachers to respond with appropriate learning opportunities as students grow.

Students completing individual whiteboard work during a classroom lesson.

Challenge every day

Students with high potential experience appropriate challenge every day through Riverwood's explicit, evidence-informed approach to teaching, where learning is responsive to each student's strengths and readiness.

Two students working together on a hands-on learning activity.

Deep understanding

Students develop deep understanding by exploring concepts in depth, making meaningful connections across the curriculum and applying their learning to new contexts.

Student leaders collaborating on a group challenge.

Developing talents

Students further develop their talents through a wide range of enrichment opportunities within the school and beyond, including leadership, creative arts, sport and academic competitions.

What is HPGE?

Inspire – 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 HPGE opportunities

Our students engage with HPGE in the classroom, in our school and across NSW.

In our classroom

At Riverwood Public School, HPGE is embedded in every classroom. We identify HPG students and provide opportunities to extend their strengths through:

Ongoing formative assessment to identify students' strengths, monitor progress and inform teaching.
Safe and supportive learning environments that build confidence, resilience and perseverance.
High expectations that challenge every student to achieve their personal best.
Differentiated learning that adjusts the pace, depth and complexity of learning to provide appropriate challenge and extend students' thinking.
Explicit, evidence-informed teaching that builds deep understanding and extends students' thinking.
Knowledge Rich Units that encourage students to make connections across the curriculum and develop deep conceptual understanding.
Academic discussions that encourage students to actively listen, explain their thinking and build on each other's ideas.
High quality feedback and goal setting to support continuous growth.

Across our school

Our school offers opportunities across the four domains of intellectual, creative, physical and social-emotional potential.

Intellectual capabilities are supported through: differentiated instruction; extension in maths and spelling; and interest-based groups, such as debating and chess club.
Creative capabilities are supported through: choir; dance groups; ukulele club; and visual arts programs and competitions.
Physical capabilities are supported through: school sport programs; inter-school gala days; lunch-time activities, such as run club; and athletics and cross-country carnivals.
Social-emotional and leadership capabilities are supported through: Student Representative Council (SRC); Kindergarten buddy program; and student-led wellbeing initiatives.

Across NSW

Riverwood Public School participates in a range of local, state and national competitions to help students build their talents.

The Premier's Debating Challenge helps students develop logical arguments, critical thinking and confidence in public speaking.
The Premier's Spelling Bee encourages students to learn increasingly challenging words, building their spelling knowledge, vocabulary and confidence.
The Premier's Public Speaking Challenge develops students' confidence, communication and presentation skills through the preparation and delivery of a speech.
Primary Proms gives students the opportunity to rehearse and perform as part of a large choir at a professional concert venue, developing their musical skills, confidence and teamwork.
Zone and regional events enable students to challenge themselves by competing against students from other schools in athletics, cross-country and a range of representative sports.