Inspire – High potential and gifted education
Mullumbimby High School has high expectations to inspire and support students in achieving their potential and becoming accomplished, informed, responsible, and creative lifelong learners within our diverse community and the wider world.
Guided by the principle, “Creating opportunities, achieving success”, and our core values of respect, responsibility and learning, Mullumbimby High School continues to build a learning environment where students feel connected, supported and challenged to succeed.
What is HPGE?
High Potential and Gifted Education (HPGE) recognises the potential, develops the talent and makes the difference for students. While all students show potential, some demonstrate that potential at a higher level than their peers. This is described as high potential. We are committed to nurturing high potential in our students across all four domains of potential; the intellectual, creative, physical and social emotional domains.
Our 2027 HPGE Year 7 Extension Class provides a nurturing environment for students who demonstrate high potential in the intellectual and social emotional domains of potential, providing a supportive environment where academic challenge and social and emotional growth go hand in hand.
Selection Criteria
We aim to identify students who demonstrate:
- Intellectual Depth: Strong thinking skills, curiosity, and a readiness for abstract reasoning and complex problem-solving.
- Social-Emotional Maturity: Resilience, self-awareness, leadership potential, and the ability to collaborate effectively with others.
- A Growth Mindset: A genuine interest in learning and a desire to be challenged.
- Potential vs. Achievement: We specifically look for students who show potential, including those who may currently be underachieving due to a lack of previous challenge.
Ignite your child's potential
- At our school, every learner's potential is our priority. Many students have high potential, and we help that potential to grow into something powerful.
- We are committed to developing high potential across 4 domains: creative, intellectual, physical and social-emotional. We challenge our students to think, create, lead and grow every day. We foster a culture of high expectations and equity in excellence, ensuring every student, regardless of background, has opportunities to develop their potential into talent.
- Our students engage with HPGE education in the classroom, in our school, and across NSW.
Why Apply?
- Beat the "Forced Choice Dilemma": we create a community where students don't have to choose between being smart and being "liked".
- Holistic Growth: we prioritize social-emotional well-being and ethics education alongside rigorous academics.
- Personalized Pathways: this class sits alongside our Sports Excellence and Creative Arts programs, Accelerated Mathematics Program and many other HPGE offerings to ensure every student finds their place and develops their potential.
What traits does a High Potential student display?
- Capacity for greater analytical depth
- Fewer repetitions needed for mastery
- Greater capability in abstract reasoning
- Ease in connecting disciplines
- Advanced reading ability and comprehension
- Processes information in complex ways
- Enjoys hypothesizing
- Thrives on complexity and sees many points of view
- Knowledgeable in areas of passion
- Thinks in analogies
- Advanced organizational and management skills
- Advanced social and communication skills
- Emotional stability empathy
- Demonstrated leadership and decision-making skills
- Resilient and self-aware
- Foresees consequences/implications of decisions
- Respected by peers
- Self-confident
- Task analysis and backwards mapping ability
- Social justice advocacy
How to apply for HPGE Year 7 Extension Class
A complete application consists of the following four parts:
A. Online Application Form including Parent Statement
Parents/Carers must complete an online form (end of Term 2), which includes a dedicated section to describe the student's strengths and high-potential traits. Your current Partner Primary School withing the Mullumbimby Community of Great Public Schools, can supply you with a copy or contact the Mullumbimby High School front office. Paper forms are available on request.
B. Supporting Documentation
Please provide the following documents when the student is invited to interview:
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Student's most recent NAPLAN report.
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Student's last two school reports
Optional: Certificates of Achievement, letters of support from teachers
C. Referee Details
We encourage you to provide contact details for one referee (such as a current teacher or coach) who can speak to the student's potential. Please note that the student's current Primary School Principal will also be contacted for a recommendation.
D. Additional Information (Equity and Access)
To help us provide the right support, we ask for information regarding:
- Prior access to extension or enrichment opportunities.
- Any diagnosed disabilities or medical conditions to assist us to make reasonable adjustments to the assessment process.
How does the selection process work?
The application is due at the end of Term 2. The following steps are:
Step 1: Student Interview and Statement (Term 3 week 4-5)
The student will be invited to a friendly interview with a Mullumbimby High School staff panel.
- THE STATEMENT: students should bring a short, handwritten statement explaining why they want to join the class.
- THE PORTFOLIO: students are encouraged to present one piece of work or a brief portfolio that they are proud of to demonstrate their interests or skills. Showing the panel both intellectual and social emotional high potential is the goal.
Step 2: Group Workshop (Term 3 week 4-5)
Applicants will participate in a group workshop designed to observe how they interact with peers. We assess skills such as:
- Abstract reasoning and making connections.
- Perspective-taking and empathy in action.
- Leadership and collaborative decision-making.
Step 3: Review and Notification (Term 3 week 7)
A selection panel reviews the combined results of the application, interview, references and workshop. All families will be notified of the outcome, including information about placement or alternative enrichment options available at the school.
Do you have further questions? Contact our school office between 8:30am and 3:30pm Monday-Friday on 6684 2600 or visit 9 Jubilee Avenue, Mullumbimby NSW 2482.