This year promises to be a busy one for our gifted students with many opportunities for extending their gifts and talents. What is the difference, you might ask? The Department defines them quite carefully as:

• 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 to a degree that places an individual at least among the top 10% of age peers.
• Talented students are those whose skills are distinctly above average in one or more areas of human performance to a degree that places an individual at least among the 10% of age peers who are or have been active in that field or fields.

There are plenty of opportunities for our students to develop their gifts and talents including courses run by the University of NSW (see GERRIC website), competitions for everything from movie making to mathematics, debating and public speaking, science extension (Wednesday afternoons) not to forget the variety of knockout sporting competitions that are run by our tireless PE staff.

Parents can help us help their child by encouraging students to seek out and volunteer for these opportunities and to resist the sometimes negative peer pressure than can breed underachievement.