Our enrichment and gifted programs operate in Junior, Middle and Senior School across a broad range of subjects using subject specialists as mentors for areas of student passion. We have teachers in each of our sub-schools with postgraduate qualifications in gifted education. These teachers and the Inclusive Education Team (under guidance of the Leader of Learning - Enrichment and Gifted Education) provide support to classroom teachers for gifted students, including:
regular professional development;
rigorous data analysis to identify gifted students and those who may benefit from an enrichment program;
providing teachers with a broad base of current literature and practical strategies for differentiating for students;
collaborative planning, team teaching and working with small target groups;
management of subject specific acceleration.
A variety of research-based grouping strategies may be implemented after careful consideration of the needs of individual students. These may include cluster grouping (Junior and Middle School), across grade performance grouping and invitation to participate in the Enrichment & Gifted Ed@SPCC programs.
Gifted Ed@SPCC Program
In addition to the above opportunities, students in Middle and Senior School may be invited to represent the College in a number of state and nation wide competitions:
The da Vinci Decathlon
The da Vinci Decathlon is an academic competition designed to challenge and stimulate the minds of school students. Students compete in teams of eight across 10 disciplines including Engineering, Mathematics, code breaking, Art and Poetry, Science and English.
Tournament of Minds
A challenging program, the tournament is designed to give students the opportunity to participate in open-ended challenges. The tournament runs across 4 disciplines – Language Literature, Mathematics Engineering, Social Sciences and Applied Technology. Students are scored on both a prepared challenge as well as a spontaneous problem.
Murder Under the Microscope
Murder under the Microscope is Australia’s largest online educational, environmental activity. Murder under the Microscope provides online investigative tasks to support student learning in the areas of Science & Technology and HSIE. The tasks for students in Years 5 to 10, support the development of understanding of ecosystems, environmental problems and possible solutions.