Gifted and Talented Education (GATE)
Our definition of Giftedness
At Halswell School we describe gifted students as being…
those with innate high abilities and particular personal abilities that may be seen across one or more domains, including intellectual, creative, social, cultural, visual-spatial and physical.*
*definition from NZCGE
Identification of our gifted students
Students are identified through a variety of ways including teacher observation, formal and informal assessments and parent nomination. Please talk to your child’s T Group teacher or our GAT Lead Teacher if you feel your child may be gifted.
Meeting the needs of our Gifted Students
The diagram below shows the three tiers of support provided.
Most GAT students are well supported within our learning studios through differentiation of regular class programmes, opportunities arising out of our Learning Through Play approach, flexible grouping with like minded students and our collaborative learning spaces.
Extra Curricula Opportunities
Intellectual / Creative Domain
ICAS tests
Cantamaths
Quiz, Literacy Quiz,
Science Quiz
Rotary Speech Competition
Robocup
ePro8 Technology Challenge
Itinerant music lessons
Interschool competitions e.g. Spelling Quiz, Current Events
School choir
Christchurch Schools Music Festival – special groups
Media Team (Journalists,
Podcasters, Photographers, Radio Presenters)
Enviro Group
Physical Domain
Inter-school sports competitions e.g. Zone and Canterbury cross country, athletics, winter tournament
Participation in weekly inter-school sports for Years 5-8
PALS (Physical activity leaders)
Social Domain
Student Council
Student Leadership Team
PALS (Physical Activity Leaders)
Buddy Ambassadors
Cultural Domain
Kapa Haka Group
Specialist GAT Programmes
These programmes focus largely on extending GAT students in the intellectual/creative domains. The content of programmes may vary from term to term and the students involved may change accordingly to meet identified needs.
In Years 0-4 programmes are provided once a week as part of our Learning Through Play programme. In Year 5-8 students participate in a weekly half day “Mindplus Your School” programme run jointly by our staff and staff from the New Zealand Centre for Gifted Education.
