Opportunity Class
Opportunity Class - Host School - Moss Vale Public School
An opportunity class (OC) will be established at Moss Vale Public School at the commencement of Term 1, 2025. Opportunity classes are a regional support that cater for high potential and intellectually gifted students in Years 5 and 6, where students from surrounding schools can apply for entry into the class.
The class will be open to 15 students for Year 5 entry each year, starting in Term 1, 2025.
Key dates
4 April 2024 - Applications OPEN
Please Click Here to apply.
Thursday 4 April to Monday 20 May 2024
Applications open for Year 5 entry to opportunity classes in 2025.
Thursday 9 May 2024 6pm - Virtual information session
Are you wondering whether an OC class is a good fit for your child?
Are you in another school system and wanting to find out whether an OC class is available to you?
Do you just want to learn more about OC classes? Click Here to join this session for more information.
Monday 20 May 2024 - Applications CLOSE
After applications close, principals with students with specific reasonable adjustments will be asked to provide additional information about applicants online via the Selective High School and Opportunity class schools system (SHS and OC schools’ site). School assessment scores are not required.
Thursday 1 August 2024
Candidates sit the Opportunity Class Placement Test.
Difference in teaching and learning in an OC compared to a mainstream classes
Students are provided with the opportunity to explore content in greater depth and at a faster pace than a mainstream classroom. Through compacting the curriculum, informed by pre-assessment, students aren’t spending time on revising learning they have already mastered, and are instead being challenged at their point of need. The OC class provides a balance of learning through and beyond the curriculum. Enrichment opportunities further broaden their understanding by applying their learning to real life contexts, allowing greater connections between subjects. An important feature of the OC class is that it provides the opportunity for like-minded, like-ability students to work together on challenging learning or skills development in an environment that celebrates their success.
Challenging and engaging learning activities provided in the OC for high potential and gifted students
Through the OC class students are offered a balance of explicit instruction to introduce new learning and negotiated inquiry based, student driven projects to apply their learning. Developing student voice and agency is a key feature of the OC class to increase student motivation and engagement.
One example of this in action is The Night of the Notables project. This is a research and presentation project that is cross-disciplinary. It is student driven, following explicit teaching of the skills required. This project is guided by the concept of leadership and is an opportunity for student agency, creativity and ownership of their learning.
Qualifications of the OC teacher
The OC Class Teacher has completed professional learning in the area of gifted education and has experience teaching high potential and gifted students. This ensures they have the skills required to design programs using evidence-based strategies to develop the talent of high potential and gifted students and are aware of the unique strengths and challenges of this group of learners.
Participation in any competitions, extension activities and opportunities for accelerated learning
Students in the OC class will have the opportunity to participate in a range of extension opportunities and competitions over the two years of their placement. These opportunities include:
- APSMO’s Maths Olympiad
- The Whitlam Institute’s What Matters Writing Competition
- The History Teacher’s Association of Australia, National
- History Competition
- The Science Teacher’s Association of NSW, Young Scientist Competition
- Science and Engineering Discovery Day
- Tournament of the Minds
Co-curricular activities that challenge and engage high potential and gifted students in the OC
Moss Vale Public School has a range of co-curricular activities on offer to engage and challenge our high potential and gifted students including:
- student leadership programs including Student Voice
- performing arts initiatives and groups
- Public speaking and debating
- Chess club
- Bandemonium
- Music Lessons
Supporting the social and emotional wellbeing of high potential and gifted students in the OC
To support the social and emotional well-being of gifted students, our OC class explicitly teaches and develops students’ growth mindset alongside their academic development. This is an important step to developing academic resilience in our learners as they manage more complex and challenging tasks.
The asynchronous development of many high potential and gifted children is supported through the OC class by grouping them with peers of a similar cognitive ability, providing them with an opportunity to further develop social skills. Classroom discussion is scaffolded and used to develop students’ metacognition which is an important skill for self-regulation.