St Ives High School uses CogAT testing (through the Australian Council for Educational Research, ACER) to screen and test students for our High Potential and Gifted Education Program .
For further information regarding the CogAT test please visit the following website:
https://mercerpublishing.com/cogat
By entering your address into the following website you can check if you reside in the St Ives High School feeder area, which would make your child eligible to attend our school in 2025.
https://my.education.nsw.gov.au/school-finder
As per Department of Education policy, public schools are unable to accept enrolments from out of area residents once they have exceeded their enrolment cap. We have exceeded our cap and therefore will not be taking out of area enrolments into our HPGE Program.
If you have any queries, please contact Mrs Patricia Gettens or Mrs Samantha Rojas, the Program Coordinators, on email stivesh.gat@det.nsw.edu.au
St Ives High School High Potential and Gifted Education Program
Please note that the program formerly known as Gifted and Talented has now been incorporated into the High Potential and Gifted Education Program following NSW Department of Education Policy.
This program serves a readily identified community need - that of challenging talented students in a local setting. In addition, it provides an extra dimension to our general aim of providing each student with an excellent academic, cultural, social and physical education. Our program also offers to 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 Objectives are
- Create 2 core classes of high potential and gifted students at St Ives High School. The group would be globally gifted but having specific strengths and talents in numeracy, literacy and problem-solving.
- Provide for the natural progression of high potential and gifted students through a high school setting. These students have already been recognised and catered for in local primary schools and our program would complement developments in a number of intellectual areas.
- Provide educational opportunities that enrich and extend high potential and gifted students, fostering a lifelong love of learning. This is based on Gagne's Differentiated Model of Giftedness and Talent which proposes that ‘the child progresses from giftedness (high potential) to talent (high performance) through the learning process, assisted by intra-personal and environmental factors. That is, gifts are innate abilities and talents are systematically developed skills.
Class Placement
For students to gain a place one of the year 7 HPGE classes, they must sit for our High Potential and Gifted Education Program test that is held during May, prior to their entry into the school. Students are tested on their cognitive ability using the ACER Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT). The tests are marked and ranked by ACER – the Australian Council for Educational Research. Once students have gained entry into the high potential and gifted education class, they must earn their right to remain in it.
Class Organisation
In year 7, HPGE students remain with the same cohort of students for the majority of subjects. In mathematics, HPGE students will be placed into the most appropriate mathematics class according to their ability. Practical classes are smaller than core classes and these are formed as a subset of the core classes. Student placement in the HPGE stream is performance based and these placements are subject to review throughout the year. Teachers of the HPGE classes have regular meetings to discuss and support the students in this program. Students will be assessed on their progress at the end of each semester when some students may be better suited to 7X or the Extension class, or to a mainstream class; for students to be better supported to develop their potential. The school reserves the absolute right to relocate such students to alternate classes. Some students currently in the X or mainstream classes will perform very strongly and may also create some necessary and fair changes.
Students will be considered for placement in this program in year 8 based on their results in year 7.