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While most 10-year-olds head for the beach in their final week of school holidays, Peter Targett from Trinity Grammar has been hard at work studying World War One as part of UNSW's summer holiday program for bright primary and secondary school students.
The University's Gifted Education Research, Resource and Information Centre (GERRIC) runs programs over two weeks for children ranging from pre-kindergarten age to Year 10. Students come from around Australia, including regional and remote areas. Among this year's participants are indigenous students from Werris Creek and Uralla.
The on-campus programs, Poppyseeds, Junior Scientia, Small Poppies and Scientia Challenge, see more than 900 children participate in workshops on topics such as genetics, Shakespeare, biology, performance poetry, polar expeditions, maths and forensics.
"It doesn't feel like school here because it's so exciting and different," says Peter, who is starting Year 6 this year and has been attending GERRIC's programs for the past three years. "We learned how to mummify a zucchini two years ago in Small Poppies and it's at home still intact."
This year, Peter is attending Junior Scientia's War to End All Wars workshop that allows students to examine memorabilia from World War One. "It's been great making new friends and meeting people that think the same way I do."
Last week GERRIC also ran an Australian Primary Talent Search Residential program. Students aged 9 to 12, who achieved at least 96 percent in a test designed for Year 8 students, took part in the weeklong residential program.
"The general perception of gifted children is that they are the ones who find school easy and that is usually true but it's not always an advantage," says Professor Miraca Gross, Director of GERRIC. "Some find school so easy that they simply switch off and when boredom becomes ingrained it can be difficult to switch them on back on again.
"All of GERRIC's programs are fast-paced, enriched and involve challenging activities pitched at the children's level of ability rather than just their age level. You often see their faces light up within the first ten minutes of the class."
The top-scoring students from APTS and a similar program for high school students, the Australian Secondary Schools Educational Talent Search (ASSETS) were honoured for their academic achievement at a special ceremony at the Clancy Auditorium on Saturday.
Author: Alex Clark, UNSW Media Unit
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Last Updated: February 26, 2008