High ability students can be characterised as students who are performing above the expected year level standard or outstanding achievement in one or more curriculum areas. 

Manor Lakes College is dedicated to creating a challenging and engaging curriculum for high-ability learners in both Enrichment and core classes.  The Manor Lakes College Enrichment program varies from the mainstream program as high achieving students are grouped together and receive tailored curriculum to cater to their enhanced capacity.  This curriculum is often accelerated where students are learning curriculum above their level or they are enriched through applying their understanding of concepts to new ideas.

In the Enrichment program, some of the activities that students participate in are group projects, self-led inquiry projects, and complex tasks that draw upon their critical thinking skills.  Students also have access to excursions and incursions from a variety of subject areas such as Maths, English and STEAM.  Depending on the enrichment activity, other Secondary students may also be invited to participate.

Certain students in the Enrichment program at the college will also be a part of the Student Excellence Program, which is an initiative of the Victorian Department of Education to support high-ability students. This means students will be able to participate in: 

• The Victorian High-Ability Program (VHAP) - a 10-week virtual extension program that will challenge students in years 5 - 8 in English and mathematics.  Note that this program enriches and extends students, rather than accelerate them beyond their current year level. Students are chosen by Virtual Schools Victoria (VSV)  through their algorithm that priorities students who are performing well above the national average in Naplan. VSV also considers teacher reports and other teacher judgement data given that some year levels did not complete Naplan due to COVID-19. In total, VSV have 11 Priority Criteria to assess what students should be in the VHAP program.

Schools are also able to nominate students provided that the child is working 6 months ahead of their peers; contact the Enrichment Leader if you/your child have an interest but have not been selected. Please note that the program runs on a term basis, so although you/child may not be selected in Term 1, it is possible that they will be asked to complete the program later in the year if they are ahead of their peers.

• The Victorian Challenge and Enrichment Series - a wide variety of incursions and excursions designed to extend and enrich students’ learning.

More information about the Student Excellence Program is available here.

You can also read some reflections and testimonials from participating students here.