High potential and gifted education

At Lawson Public School, we take great pride in aligning our practices with the NSW Department of Education’s High Potential and Gifted Education (HPGE) policy, which recognises the unique strengths and needs of gifted and high potential students. We are dedicated to creating an inclusive and supportive learning environment that challenges and extends all students, ensuring they remain engaged, motivated, and empowered to achieve their full potential. Our programs are carefully designed to identify and cultivate giftedness across a variety of areas, reflecting the Department’s commitment to supporting the whole child. By adopting a broad perspective on giftedness, we strive to promote excellence not only in academics but also in creativity, physical development, and social growth, preparing students for lifelong achievement and wellbeing.

Our framework centres on four main domains:

Creative Domain: We offer students opportunities to enhance innovative thinking and artistic expression, fostering originality and problem-solving through a wide range of creative activities.
Intellectual Domain: We provide enriched learning experiences that encourage higher-order thinking, in-depth inquiry, and advanced understanding across all curriculum areas.
Physical Domain: Recognising the significance of physical development, we support students in improving their coordination, health, and physical abilities through focused activities and sports.
Social-Emotional Domain: We place high importance on the emotional wellbeing and social skills of gifted students, nurturing resilience, self-awareness, and positive interactions to help them flourish within our school community.

At Lawson Public School, we are committed to implementing the NSW Department of Education’s HPGE policy through a thorough, student-focused approach that nurtures the potential of every learner across these four domains.

HPGE Offerings at Lawson Public School

Why choose us for your high potential or gifted child?

Recognising potential and developing talent

Our teachers find potential and nurture our students to be the best they can be.

Tailored lessons

Each student has different abilities. Teachers respond to each student’s ability by providing extra challenges and extension activities to keep learning exciting and engaging.

Rich opportunities and activities

Students can take part in opportunities to develop their talent in the arts, sport, leadership and more.

Opening doors to wider experiences

Our students can participate in a wide range of state-wide opportunities that aim to extend and enrich student potential.

What is high potential and gifted education?

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 high potential and gifted education opportunities

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

In our classroom

At Lawson Public School, high potential and gifted education (HPGE) is seamlessly embedded in our everyday learning experiences. Many of our students display remarkable talents, and we are committed to nurturing and developing these abilities into meaningful accomplishments.

Our teachers carefully assess each student’s learning needs within the classroom, employing research-backed teaching methods to extend and challenge their skills. We offer a range of learning options, including enrichment programs, extension activities, and acceleration where appropriate. Students are identified by teachers—with valuable input from families welcomed and encouraged—as having high potential or giftedness across the cognitive, creative, physical, or social-emotional domains. This information is communicated school-wide to ensure all learners receive the support they need.

We cultivate supportive classroom environments that promote belonging, creativity, risk-taking, and collaboration. Gifted students, especially those with strengths in the cognitive domain, benefit from targeted instruction tailored to their individual challenges. They participate in open-ended tasks and enrichment opportunities designed to deepen their learning.

Key elements of our approach include flexible groupings, leadership roles, and feedback that focuses on strengths, clear goal-setting, and self-assessment.

Our practices align closely with the NSW Department of Education’s HPGE policy, which emphasises the importance of fostering giftedness across four key domains:

Creative Domain: Encouraging students to generate original ideas and express themselves through creative thinking, problem-solving, and artistic activities
Intellectual (Cognitive) Domain: Providing challenging learning experiences that promote higher-order thinking, deep inquiry, and cognitive growth
Physical Domain: Supporting physical development and wellbeing through activities that enhance coordination, fitness, and physical skills
Social-Emotional Domain: Building emotional resilience, self-awareness, and positive social connections to support the wellbeing of gifted learners

At Lawson Public School, we are committed to nurturing the whole child by recognising and fostering each student’s potential across these four domains, empowering every learner to achieve success.

Across our school

At Lawson Public School, we provide a broad array 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 crafted to cultivate talents across multiple areas, offering pathways for students to excel and engage beyond the classroom setting.

Students have the opportunity to join our Game Changer team, which promotes strategic thinking and problem-solving skills. We offer a variety of Creative Arts activities, including dance ensembles, photography, film making, choir, and combined schools creative arts events, enabling students to develop their artistic abilities and collaborate with peers. Our school band and access to music tuition provide a nurturing environment to further explore musical talents.

For students with sporting interests, we provide school teams and representative pathways that encourage physical development and teamwork. Leadership skills are developed through participation in the Student Representative Council and various school leadership roles.

We also help students enhance their communication and critical thinking skills through Public Speaking and Debating programs. Furthermore, students have the opportunity to take part in various academic competitions that stimulate and extend their intellectual abilities.

At Lawson Public School, we are dedicated to offering a rich and diverse HPGE experience that empowers gifted learners to flourish in all areas of their development, both within our school community and beyond.

Across NSW

At Lawson Public School, our students engage in a variety of statewide programs designed to extend and enrich their potential. High potential and gifted students have access to support provided at the state and NSW Department of Education level, ensuring they receive tailored opportunities to develop their abilities. We also offer participation in local, state, and national competitions and events, allowing students to explore and further cultivate their talents.