Colleen Elkins – Gifted and Talented Coordinator K-6

The start of the year brings with it much activity as students are placed into classes and our flexible learning groups are formed. These groups are now underway, with students learning at a level commensurate with their ability, with continual monitoring of each student’s progress. There is differentiation and challenge in all groups, and we have Gifted & Talented staff members working with each grade in the Primary School.

Part of the make-up of our Gifted & Talented Program at Emanuel involves staff Professional Development as well as collaboration sessions. The focus of our first meeting on Tuesday 23 February was ‘The Social and Emotional aspects of Giftedness’. Our discussion was based on the following:

Although every gifted child is different, their rapid cognitive development at an early age, opens up the world of abstract issues at an early age. This can bring with it emotional and moral intensity, concerns about societal issues, sensitivity to feelings or expectations and the placement of high standards on themselves and others.

For further reading on this point, please click here.

Guest speakers 

Kristina Crowle, speaking with the students

In support of our goal of providing students with real-world experience and access to experts in a field, we have several guest speakers organised to visit various groups of students and continue mentorships with them.

On Friday, we had a Journalism student from UNSW, Kristina Crowle, addressing our Year 4 Reporters Club and any other interested students. Her captivating way of explaining how news stories are chosen and how ethics is required in reporting, had our students asking questions way beyond the end of the session. The question of ethics and ‘fake news’ did not escape them. Our aspiring reporters will be releasing Edition 1 of their newspaper in Week 9. Please be on the lookout for this.

In Year 4 Science, we have an Environmental expert from UNSW visiting, to run a workshop on Sustainability and Food. We also have several alumni involved in other areas of the School, to varying degrees.

On this note, we are appealing to parents and alumni who have expertise in a particular field, who feel that they have the time to share their expertise with our student body, on a once-off occasion, or on a weekly or fortnightly ongoing basis, to let us know. If you could indicate your ability/willingness to be involved, please do so on the survey here. We have had many successful parent mentoring partnerships thanks to the generosity of our parent body, and we would love to develop this further! (K-12).