Enrichment 5–6
Identifying and Empowering High Potential Learners
Our enrichment program for gifted and high-potential students is known as the Thomas Aquinas Scholars Program. We identify these students and provide opportunities, resources and guidance to help them excel.
Inspired by the greatest Dominican scholar, St Thomas Aquinas, the program fosters academic achievement, creative thinking and personal growth in an inclusive and supportive setting. The diverse nature of giftedness shapes the identification of high potential at Santa Sabina as a multi-faceted and ongoing process, employing multiple criteria to ensure gifts across many domains are recognised. We enrich students’ minds through innovative ideas and through critical thinking and reasoning. Giftedness encompasses creativity and can be seen on the stage, on the sporting fields, perceived through artistic expression, seen in expert experimental design and heard through musical performances and composition.
Many opportunities are offered to our gifted and high potential students to facilitate talent development, resulting in a range of pathways by which gifted learners can achieve excellence.
High potential and gifted students make the most of several opportunities before school, during lunch breaks and in class which extend their learning in fun ways:
Writers’ Club meets each week to develop storytelling skills and a love of writing. Students are encouraged to enter competitions such as ABC News in My Neighbourhood, WriteOn and the CBCA Shadow Judging program, and enjoy an annual excursion to the Sydney Writers’ Festival.
- Pi Maths Class provides regular opportunities for a deep dive into problem-solving. Designed to stretch and challenge students, these in-class sessions encourage critical thinking, collaboration and perseverance as students share strategies, test ideas and refine their reasoning.
- Students prepare for the Maths Olympiad during Term 2 and participate in Australian Mathematics Trust and Maths Challenge competitions, applying their skills in a broader, competitive context.
- Through Maths Games, students collaborate to solve problems in an engaging and supportive environment.
HIgh potential learners participate in the Young Scientist Competition, undertaking detailed scientific investigations to solve real-world problems.
- Digitech is our digital technology club, where students develop skills in design, problem solving and innovation.
- Students explore STEM enrichment through hands-on technology and coding, including participation in the VEX V5 Robotics Competition.
- Students participate in the Da Vinci Decathlon, a multidisciplinary competition that challenges creativity, collaboration and critical thinking.
- The Ethics Olympiad provides an opportunity for our budding philosophers to explore ethical questions and engage in thoughtful debate.
We nurture curiosity, creativity and a love of learning, encouraging students to explore ideas and extend their thinking.
