Newman Selective Gifted Education Program logo

Sydney Catholic Schools (SCS) initiated the Newman Selective Gifted Education Program in 2011 as a response to ensuring educational equity was achieved for gifted learners in both Catholic Primary and Secondary schools.

Newman Selective schools provide high quality professional learning for staff and an authentically rigorous program for gifted learners within a nurturing Catholic environment, thus enhancing the whole-person. They offer a wide range of opportunities that cater for a variety of gifted learners and supports students’ social and emotional wellbeing.

Gifted Education is the provision of a range of developmentally appropriate curriculum strategies for students who demonstrate high- ability in one or more domains. These domains may include intellectual, creative, social and physical. As per the Australian Curriculum, Sydney Catholic Schools adopts Gagné’s definition of gifted and talented and the Differentiated Model of Giftedness and Talent (2012).

  • Giftedness: refers to a students natural ability in one or more domains, placing that student in the top 10% of age peers.
  • Talent: refers to the performance in one or more domains that places a student in the top 10% of age peers.

These research-based definitions are significant in the teaching and learning of high-ability students, and is at the core of Sydney Catholic Schools Gifted Education Policy.

  • There are over 60 Newman Selective Gifted Education Program schools across the Sydney Archdiocese supporting students from Kindergarten to Year 12
  • The program is facilitated by staff who have dedicated training in the field of gifted education
  • Academics and psychologists specialising in gifted education contribute to the development and delivery of the program
  • Students are assessed across a range of gifted domains in order to access the program and their progress is comprehensively evaluated
  • In addition to students being extended in class, students can participate in various programs such as creative arts, coding and computational skills, rich literature experiences, STEM initiatives and robotics
  • Newman Selective Gifted Education Program Symposiums are held annually to celebrate student achievement
  • To sustain a high quality educational program, all Newman Selective Gifted Education Program schools undergo a comprehensive accreditation process at regular intervals.