Gagne's Differentiated Model of Giftedness and Talent

The Sydney Catholic School Gifted Education Policy adopts Gagné's definitions of giftedness and talent as identified in his Differentiated Model of Giftedness and Talent. This video provides a good introduction to this model.

Read More

8 Reasons You Should Label Children as Gifted

This article is an interesing read. How do you feel about this issue?

Read More

Characteristics of Gifted Children

Characteristics of Gifted Children

Every gifted/highly able child is different but some of the common characteristics are:

•   Humour: Keen sense of the absurd; understands subtleties of humour beyond age level
•   Great intellectual curiosity: Intense desire to know, do, feel, create or understand; sometimes described as a ‘sponge’ who absorbs knowledge easily and enthusiastically
•   Knowledge: wide general knowledge of topics beyond peer group level
•   Interests: passionate interests, sometimes fleeting but sometimes long-lived
•   Communication / Expressiveness: Extraordinary ability to convey meaning or emotion through words, actions, symbols, sounds or media;
•   Vocabulary: extraordinarily well developed oral language skills and vocabulary
•   Inquiry: Probing exploration, observation or experimentation with events, objects, ideas, feelings, sounds, symbols or media
•   Problem-solving: Outstanding ability to bring order to chaos through the invention and monitoring of paths to a goal; enjoyment of challenge
•   Sensitivity: Unusually open, perceptive or responsive to experiences, feelings and to others; has a strong sense of social justice
•   Intensity: Often feels very deeply and will be concerned about issues beyond what is usual for their years
•   Perfectionism: can set very high standards for him/herself –this can be positive but often becomes
• debilitating
•   Intuition: Sudden recognition of connections or deeper meanings without conscious awareness of reasoning or thought
•   Reasoning: Possess superior powers of reasoning, of dealing with abstractions, of generalising from specific facts, of understanding meanings, and of seeing relationships.
•   Imagination/Creativity: Extraordinary capacity for ingenious, flexible use of ideas, processes or materials
•   Memory/Understanding: Unusual capacity to acquire, integrate, retain and retrieve information or skills
•   Learning: Ability to acquire sophisticated understandings with amazing speed and apparent ease. Requires very little repetition or re-enforcement of new learnings
•   Concentration and alertness: Shows alertness and quick response to new ideas; Has a long attention spanwhich allows him/her to concentrate on and persevere in solving problems and pursuing interests (not
• necessarily school related).
•   Interaction with others: Can tend to dominate others or direct their activities. Can sometimes appear poorlysocialised with chronological age peers (a child’s social peers correspond more closely to mental, rather than age peers )
•   Sometimes has a fantasy friend 
• 
  
• Please note:
•   not all children will have all these characteristics
•   these characteristics may not be reflected in school performance
•   underachievement is quite common in gifted children which can make identification difficult
•   it is possible for a child to be gifted whilst having a specific learning disability 
• 
  
• Reference: http://www.gateways.edu.au/gifted-and-talented

Read More

Why You Still Don’t Believe That You’re Gifted

An interesting read, especially for some of the parents of our gifted students. Are you also gifted?

"People tell you that you’re super smart. They’re baffled by how much you know and how you know it. You can ace a test without studying. You can talk with just about anyone about just about anything. You’re always thinking, analyzing, imagining and empathizing.

But you’re sure that you’re not gifted.

How is that possible?" Click here for some ideas.

Read More

Spaces are still available for some Brainwaves Clubs

The G.A.T.E.WAYS Brainwaves Club program (run on weekends) is based on the philosophy that highly able and gifted children have particular needs for stimulation and challenge that match their high level of curiosity and desire to learn. In addition, children with specialised skills and talents in advance of their age peers need both affirmation of these abilities and opportunities for talent development. 
 The Brainwaves Club is not another day at school. It’s a club! 
 Programs are designed specifically with gifted and talented children in mind. 
 Members mix with like-minded peers and form rewarding friendships that further foster their interests, social skills and self-esteem. 
 Brainwaves Club provides a setting that promotes positive social interaction. 
 Club programs are designed to be challenging, but most of all fun!

Detailed program outlines available at www.gateways.edu.au

Read More

Find out more about our Stage 3 Newman groups here.

Read More