High Potential and Gifted Education at Asquith Girls High School
Asquith Girls High School has a comprehensive range of programs to cater for the needs of high potential and gifted students from Year 7 through to Year 12.
Our programs develop the talents of students who display high potential in a range of areas, including the intellectual, creative, physical and social domains. This potential creates a demand for diverse opportunities within and beyond the classroom.
At Asquith Girls High School, we offer a range of opportunities for each student to extend themselves across subjects and through extra-curricular programs, which provide challenge and encourage innovation, growth mindset and problem solving. Students have a breadth of enrichment opportunities through involvement in competitions, workshops, camps, extension classes, clubs, performance opportunities, showcases and sporting activities to challenge themselves and achieve their goals.
Our dedicated teachers are highly passionate educators, bringing out the best in each student through innovative teaching and expert coaching.
These programs are supported by the Department of Education High Potential and Gifted Education Policy, which can be found at https://education.nsw.gov.au/teaching-and-learning/high-potential-and-gifted-education
Year 7 Enrichment Class
Asquith Girls High Schools runs an Enrichment Program for high potential and gifted students. The purpose of this class is to extend, challenge and enrich the learning for these students to ensure that they achieve their full academic potential.
In Year 7, students who are successful in their application for the Enrichment Class will be in this class for the core subjects of English, Maths, Science, History and Geography.
For students to gain a place in the Enrichment Class for Year 7 2025, they must show high academic potential. As places in the Enrichment Class are limited, students must submit an expression of interest to be included in this class.
Expressions of interest must include:
- Completed Expression of Interest form - Google Form attached
- Year 5 - NAPLAN results
- Year 5 - End of year report
For more information about the expression of interest process and a copy of the expression of interest form for the Year 7 Enrichment Class, please click on the links below.
FOR YEAR 7 - 2025 Please click the links below
Click here for Enrichment Information
Click here for Expression of Interest Google Form
Year 8 Enrichment Class
In Year 8, the Enrichment Class will be for the core subjects of English, Mathematics, Science, History and Geography. Placement in the Enrichment Class for Year 8 will be based on assessment and achievement data from each of these core subjects from the previous year.
Year 9 & 10 Enrichment
In Years 9 & 10, each core subject will select its own Enrichment Class based on the requirements of the subject and the results gained by students in that subject in the previous year. Students will be integrated with the rest of the cohort for any subjects where they are not placed in this class, including the elective subjects. This allows stronger students to move into the Enrichment Class for subjects in which they excel, whilst being in mainstream classes for the rest of their subjects.
Enrichment in Year 11 & 12
In Years 11 & 12, Asquith Girls High School offers a broad selection of academically demanding courses for students to study for the Higher School Certificate (HSC) to enable high potential and gifted students to be challenged in their learning.
The school offers the HSC English and Mathematics curriculum at all levels in Year 11 & 12, including the Extension 1 & 2 courses. Students at Asquith can choose from a broad range of Science courses, including Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Earth and Environmental Science, and Investigating Science. Human Society and Its Environment (HSIE) subjects that are available to study include Ancient History, Modern History, Geography, Business Studies, Economics, Legal Studies, Studies of Religion, and Society and Culture. Our Languages other than English (LOTE) staff are highly qualified language specialists, which means students can choose to study French and Japanese to HSC level. The Stage 6 PDHPE course is extremely relevant for those students wishing to pursue careers in the health or sports science fields.
In addition to these academically demanding courses, there are many other options available for students to choose from in the senior years. More information on courses offered in the senior years can be found in the Stage 6 Course Selection Booklet.
Exceptional Student Achievement
Asquith Girls High School has a proud culture of academic success, including significant achievements in NAPLAN, HSC results and external competitions over many years. Some examples of the recent achievements of our students include:
● A top ATAR of 99.90 in 2020, 98.80 in 2021 and 98.80 in 2022 in the HSC
● Three students in five years who have achieved the top HSC mark in NSW in one of their subjects
● Multiple distinction and high distinction results in the Australian Geography Competition, Australian Mathematics Competition and ICAS English Competition in 2021 & 2022.
● Students achieving in the top 2% of the Australian Maths Olympiad in 2021.
● Second place in NSW in the Senior Premiers Debating Challenge in 2020.
● Finishing in the top 8 schools in NSW in the Mock Trial competition 2022.
Teacher allocation and professional development
Teachers of the Enrichment Class will meet regularly to discuss the progress of students in this program. Ongoing professional development on meeting the learning and wellbeing needs of gifted and high potential students will form a key aspect of ensuring that teachers allocated to this class are experts in this field. In addition to this, every one of our dedicated teachers has completed professional learning in differentiating the curriculum to ensure students in all classes have access to teaching and learning strategies that will meet their needs. Understanding how to personalise learning is a priority of the school's professional learning program.
Intellectual Domain
At Asquith Girls High School, we offer an Enrichment Class to cater for the needs of high potential and gifted students in the Intellectual domain. The Enrichment Class program promotes intellectual development through engagement in problem solving and solution driven programs for students from Year 7-12. It supports students to achieve their potential through extension opportunities, curriculum differentiation and innovative practices.
Students in the Enrichment Class will study the core curriculum in common with their year cohort, however, this curriculum will be compacted and differentiated to allow more time for enrichment, extension, problem solving, critical thinking and inquiry based learning.
Our program offers the high academic standards that students who may be considering selective high school are seeking, but in a setting which provides a holistic approach through greater opportunities in creative and performing arts, music, sport, leadership and social justice, in a socially cohesive and community focused setting.
Students in the Enrichment Class will be able to take part in various challenges and academic competitions organised by faculties to enhance their learning and development. This may include but is not limited to the Science Expo, University of NSW Competitions, the Macquarie University Science and Innovation Challenge, the Business Innovation Challenge, mentoring students as part of our primary school partnerships, and the Mathematics Olympiad.
Creative Domain:
Students who display high potential in the Creative domain have a vast array of opportunities to develop their talents. Students are able to develop their creative talents through the curriculum in subjects offered by the Technology and Applied Studies and the Creative and Performing Arts faculties.
Evidence of success in the creative domain is especially highlighted at HSC level in a number of areas, with students regularly recognised for their achievements through selection to display their work by the NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) in subjects such as Textiles and Design, Design and Technology, Industrial Technology Multimedia, Food Technology, Visual Arts, Music, Dance and Drama. Parents, caregivers and members of the community are able to view the work of students from all year groups at annual events such as the HSIE Expo, TAS Display, Art Exhibition, Drama night and Dance night.
In addition to the opportunities to develop their talents through the curriculum, Asquith Girls High School has highly acclaimed extra-curricular programs in Dance, Drama and Music.
The school has a number of bands and music ensembles, some of which are combined with Asquith Boys High School. All bands and vocal ensembles rehearse weekly and participate in a variety of activities and performances each year, both within and outside of school. These include but are not limited to the NSW Band Festival, a Music Camp at Galston, the Port Macquarie Big Band Blast, Musicale, Bandfest in Lake Macquarie, Schools Spectacular and various school and community events. There may also be additional extension music opportunities for individual students, such as State Music Camp and ensemble auditions offered through the NSW Arts Unit.
The school has dance ensembles for students from different year groups, including the Year 7 Dance Company, the Year 8 Dance Company and three companies that combine students from Years 9-12. Students need to audition to take part in these companies, which rehearse weekly and take part in multiple performance opportunities, such as the Sydney North Dance Festival, the annual AGHS Dance Night, the AGHS Musical production which occurs every second year and many other school events. Individual students may also be offered the opportunity to audition for programs run by the NSW Arts Unit.
The extra-curricular Drama program provides opportunities for students through a junior and a senior ensemble. Each ensemble rehearses weekly and performs in events such as the school Drama night and the school Musical Production. The Musical Production occurs every second year, and is conducted in conjunction with Asquith Boys High School. This production combines the talents of students in all of the curricula and extra-curricular dance, music and drama programs.
Social/Emotional Domain:
Opportunities for high potential and gifted students exist at Asquith Girls High School in the Social and Emotional domain through our Wellbeing programs, Leadership initiatives, Social Justice team, Environment team and extra-curricular activities in Debating, Mock Trials and the Mock United Nations.
The student leadership team at Asquith Girls High School aims to serve the school community. Students from all year groups have many opportunities to take part in leadership programs, including the Student Representative Council (SRC) for Year 7-11, the Prefect body in Year 11-12, the Peer Support program for Year 9-10 leaders, the Sisters in School program for Year 9-11 leaders, and House Captains from Year 10-11. All groups strive to further develop a school culture that enables students to voice their opinions, participate in decision-making and make a meaningful contribution to the school community. Student leaders work for the benefit and empowerment of the students that they represent.
The Social Justice team and the Environment team provide opportunities for students who are passionate about social and/or environmental issues to make a difference in the school and wider community. These teams promote initiatives such as recycling and tree planting programs, volunteering, fund raising and awareness raising for local and global causes, and support for our sister school in the Panshir Valley in Afghanistan.
The Mock Trial Competition involves teams of students from Year 11 playing the roles of barristers, lawyers and witnesses in a mock courtroom trial. It is run by the Law Society of NSW and is a practical means of introducing students to the law and to increase understanding of the basis of our judicial system. The competition is initially run on a regional round robin-basis, with successful teams moving on to compete against schools from across the state.
Asquith Girls High School competes in the Premier’s Debating Challenge every year. The school has combined teams for Years 7/8, Years 9/10 and a team for Year 11. Debating is an enriching activity that encourages students to think logically and empathetically to construct arguments on an array of social issues, fostering the skills required to be confident and articulate leaders of the future.
Physical Domain:
At Asquith Girls High School, we have a proud culture of participation and success in representative sport competitions. The school has teams that compete in a wide variety of sports, including Basketball, Netball, Softball, Football (Soccer), Water Polo, Touch Football, Rugby League, Futsal and Volleyball. A number of these teams have been extremely successful, with particular highlights recently for our Basketball team who were the 2019 NSW Combined High Schools Champions.
Students also have the opportunity to represent the school at region, state and national levels in individual sports such as Athletics, Cross Country, Swimming, Triathlon, Sailing and Gymnastics, or be selected as an individual into Sydney North and NSW CHS representative teams.
Students with a passion and aptitude for Sport are encouraged to get involved in the representative sport program at Asquith Girls.
Year 9 & 10 students also have the opportunity to take part in the Premier’s Sporting Challenge (PSC) Sport Leadership program. This initiative prepares students for active roles in sport and physical activity programs by developing their leadership skills. Students in the program attend three sport specific workshops conducted by sports associations that provide them with the knowledge to coach each sport at a beginner level, with the intention that during the following year these students will deliver sports sessions to students from local primary schools. This program is conducted in conjunction with Asquith Boys High School, as two of only a very small number of high schools that offer this initiative in the northern Sydney region.