High potential and gifted education

St Ives High school creates a supportive and stimulating environment where high potential and gifted students can thrive and develop into confident, capable individuals. Our program offers potential selective high school students the high academic standard they are seeking, but in a setting which is co-educational, socially cohesive and community focused.

• Our school follows the explicit teaching where we foster critical thinking and problem-solving strategies providing opportunities for abstraction, inquiry, and curriculum depth​.
• Our classes have structured peer collaboration and reflection where strengths-based feedback and goal setting are part of learning process.
• We provide supportive learning environments that enable exploration and self-assessment creating a safe learning environments that encourage confidence, risk-taking, and perseverance​.
• Classes have differentiated tasks that adjust pace, complexity and higher-order thinking​ followed by formative assessment to monitor growth and adapt learning​.

Our school recognises that every student is individual, and we provide flexible and diverse opportunities for students to explore and grow their strengths outside the classroom.

• All our students, including high potential and gifted students, are encouraged to take on leadership roles through student representative council leadership, mentoring programs and peer coaching and leadership of major events including ANZAC, Remembrance Day and NAIDOC assemblies.

• Our Duke of Edinburgh program exists to further students' learning outside of school. It aims to engage young people in the broader world where they learn new skills, promoting physical health and volunteering in the community while achieving thei Bronze, Silver or Gold level awards.
• In our Talented Athlete Program (TAP), students who are identified as an athlete that competes at a high level (Representative, State, etc) are supported through participation in high level physical activity with leadership pathways and collaborative learning.
• Our Visual Arts students have many opportunities to engage in enrichment through excursions and workshops. Students will visit local galleries, viewing traditional and contemporary artworks. Venues include The Art Gallery of NSW, the Museum of Contemporary Art and the National Art School. In addition, they extend their own practice through field trips to record new and varied experiences.
• Talent in the Creative Arts is celebrated and extended through in music ensembles, choir and drama, supported by a student stage crew who run sound, lighting and production. Our highly talented students engage in events through the Educcation Department's Art Unit such as NSW Public Schools Millennium Marching Band, Pulse Alive, ArtExpress, Combined Schools Musical, AYTP, OnStage and Festival of Choral Music amongst many other opportunities.
• Our Science Extension course is available in Year 12 for very strong Science students who wish to conduct their own research project, culminating in their production of a full scientific report. These reports are published in the NSW DET Journal of Science Extension Research. Year 12 Biology complete the AMGEN practical investigation in which they create a transgenic species in the laboratory.
• Year 9 students who are trained as Growth Coaches, support select Year 7 and 8 students in developing goals, establishing good study habits, and building healthy friendships. This provides our Year 9 students with valuable opportunities to improve their communication skills through listening, questioning, and giving and receiving feedback, ultimately building their emotional intelligence, and establishing themselves as role models to younger students within the school.

• Our students continue to participate in many competitions including gala days, combined high schools knock out competitions and selection through to zone, regional and state carnivals.
• St Ives High School participates in ICAS English, Mathematics, Digital Technologies and Science, Australian Maths Competition (AMC) and Computational & Algorithmic Thinking Maths Competition (CAT),  Battlebots (Robot Combat) using the Lego EV3 Kits, ProgComp to name a few.