Dynamic week celebrates gifted students

By Damita Whiteley, Catholic Education Tasmania

It is a privilege to be witness to the incredible abilities of gifted students; who can work faster, go deeper into learning and discover new outcomes.     

Bringing out the full potential of the approximately 2,000 gifted students in our Catholic Education Tasmania schools is the primary focus of Jakki Hardman’s role, as Subject Matter Expert: Learning Extension/Gifted.         

Recently, Jakki and STEM expert Chris Bracken facilitated differentiated STEM lessons across the state as part of Gifted Awareness Week 2026. There were ten schools that participated in the incursions, which were aimed at Grades 5-8 and focused on the theme of bushwalking in Tasmania.             

Students were encouraged to design a specialist emergency box to help with survival when lost in the bush; which provided a hands-on, interactive and collaborative activity for students to challenge them.   

Participating schools included Corpus Christi Catholic School, Mount Carmel College, St John’s Catholic School and Sacred Heart Catholic School in the state’s South, Our Lady of Mercy Catholic School, St Finn Barr’s Catholic School and St Patrick’s College in the North, Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School, St Brigid’s Catholic School Wynyard and Marist Regional College in the North West.

“It is incredibly important to bring out the potential in our gifted students so we are not stifling them,” Jakki said.  

“In the past, a lot of gifted students would turn up to school to put in their full day, only to be re-taught what they already know. This meant they would suffer boredom and dead time in class if their needs were not catered for.”   

Jakki’s role involves going out into the schools to identify gifted students and to work with their teachers in the creation of learning extensions for these students. There is also a learning extension online program, which connects students with further opportunities and like-minded peers.

“Giftedness means being above 90 per cent of the same aged peers, primarily in intellectual areas, but also in creative, social or physical areas too,” Jakki said.

Encouraging students to identify with their academic profile early on in their schooling is  integral to helping them reach their full potential.

“Our gifted students need work that is more complex or abstract than their peers, and should be tailored to their strengths and interests.”