YEAR 4 students Nathan Carter and Samantha Wilkie of Carinya Christian School, Tamworth, this year joined other gifted and talented students at the University of NSW for a holiday enrichment program.
The university's program, GERRIC, runs twice a year and is open to students with an IQ of 125 or above, those who have achieved results within the top five per cent of the State in a standardised test, or have been recommended by their principal to attend.
Nathan's mother Erin Carter said the program was a great opportunity for her son to be surrounded by students who love learning.
"It exposed him to other children who are similar to him and it pushed him to think a little bit differently," Mrs Carter said.
Both Nathan and Samantha have also been involved in their school's Independent Learning Program, a program designed to extend students through individual project work.
Mrs Carter and Janine Wilkie, Samantha's mother, agreed the program was valuable but Mrs Wilkie said she wished the school did more to cater for gifted students.
"It's easy to help a child who needs help at the other end of the spectrum whereas for the bright kids often it's a case of 'go and read a book until the others catch up'," Ms Wilkie said.
Ms Carter said she would like to have greater access to resources to help her meet her son's needs.
"I'm not teacher, I'm the parent of a child who has particular needs in the classroom that are atypical of other students, so I'm after information on how to communicate with the school better, understanding how they learn and how their brains work."
