Extended Learning

Extended Learning is the term used to define the programme we deliver to our students, some of whom will be gifted & talented.

This is an opportunity for students to engage in a programme that prepares them to become future-focussed and flexible in their thinking. The programme supports learners:

- To have opportunities to engage in critical, creative, and caring ways with complex issues shaping their world now and for the future.
- To have provisions that are differentiated in breadth, depth, and pace to ensure opportunities for personal excellence.
- Includes Learners from every demographic of Aotearoa New Zealand.
- To have the opportunity to develop self-understanding within responsive environments alongside peers who have similar abilities and interests.

NB: The presence of a specific learning difficulty (e.g. dyslexia) does not exclude a student from being identified as an Extended Learner. Such learning differences will be supported and accommodated.

Learners are placed in classes that reflect their strengths. This may mean there is a focus on Mathematics/Science or English/Social Studies, or all 4 core subjects.

These students often:

Learn more quickly / require less practice
Have an exceptional memory
Have the capacity for long periods of concentration
May ask probing questions
Often are keenly alert and observant
Might have made leaps in learning
Often complex thought processes/ability to juggle complex material
Often divergent/creative
Often critical/analytical
May have exceptional reasoning ability

Note i: For every gifted child who displays one particular trait, there can be another who displays the exact opposite.

Note ii: The more highly able, the more pronounced particular traits and characteristics may be and potentially.