The New Zealand Centre for Gifted Education does not assess specifically for giftedness, however, there are a number of psychologists or other professionals around New Zealand who do. They usually conduct a series of tests, analyse the results then present a report including their analysis and recommendations for the child. You can find a list of psychologists or other professionals with a special interest and experience in working with gifted children on the New Zealand Association for Gifted Children website.

Gifted children have a range of different needs including cognitive, social and emotional. Some of these needs are best met at home, some are best met at school and some are best met outside of home and school, or a combination of all three.

In relation to educational provisions, the New Zealand Ministry of Education recommends a continuum of provision for gifted learners, including provisions within the child’s regular classroom and special programmes, both within and outside of school. If you haven’t already, it’s a good idea to begin by talking to your child’s teacher about their needs and your concerns. There is a lot that a school can do towards catering for a gifted child.

If you feel that your child needs more than what your school (or yourself if you’re a home-schooling parent) can provide, you may look at an outside programme. Please refer to Our Services [link] to find out about the programmes that we offer. You can find information about other programmes here on the New Zealand Association for Gifted Children website or on the TKI website.

If your child has social and emotional needs that are proving challenging, one of the following avenues may be helpful:

• Look into options for programmes where your child can meet with like-minded gifted peers – see Our Services or find an Explorers Club near you. (Sometimes when a gifted child’s cognitive needs are not being met, this can be demonstrated through concerning social and emotional behaviours.)
• Join our Resource Base, a comprehensive library with a wide range of books on social and emotional needs.
• Check out the Discussion Forum on the New Zealand Association for Gifted Children website.
• Consider speaking to a psychologist about your child’s behaviours and needs. A list of psychologists or other professionals with a special interest in or experienced in dealing with gifted children can be found on the New Zealand Association for Gifted Children website. 
• Call us on 0800 769 243(excludes mobiles) or (04) 576 9243 to chat through the issue further.

In New Zealand, our gifted children spend most of their learning time in a regular classroom, so it’s very important that what goes on in that classroom is right for your child. In general, teachers are hard-working people with your child’s best interests at heart. They also have a huge job to do … meeting the diverse needs of all of the children in their class!

If you have concerns, do speak with your child’s teacher. Contrary to popular belief, many parents have positive experiences in talking and working with their child’s teacher to better meet their needs. The following links provide sound advice and ideas for how to get the most out of a meeting with a teacher about concerns related to giftedness.

TKI: Gifted Online – for Parents and Whanau This is an online New Zealand resource with a lot of sound, localised support for parents. You may find some of the downloadable resources from this page quite useful.

About Parenting: Tips for Talking with Your Gifted Child's Teacher  This page is slightly American in flavour, but still offers a number of sound tips for New Zealand parents to successfully talk with their child’s teacher.

Uniquely Gifted: Ten Tips for Talking to Teachers  If your child is older and able to articulate their concerns in a constructive way, it may be more fruitful for them to talk to their teacher themselves. On this page, two gifted education experts, Jim Delisle and Judy Galbraith provide tips for how best to go about this.

• MindPlus
• Gifted Online
• Small Poppies

The NZCGE Curriculum was developed here in NZ by a team of our most experienced specialist educators and draws on NZ and international research, together with recommendations for best practice in gifted education. Our curriculum development process was guided by Associate Professor Tracy Riley, who is an internationally recognised expert in gifted education and consults with the Ministry of Education on gifted education. The process included consultation with personnel at both the Ministry of Education and the NZ Council for Educational Research. Our curriculum has strong links to, and supports the development of, the Key Competencies in the NZ Curriculum.

All NZCGE programmes deliver the NZCGE Curriculum, which focuses on six learning strands: content strands of conceptual development, talent development and personal development, and process strands developing students’ skills in research, complex thinking and communication. Progress in the learning strands is demonstrated in two ways: increasing breadth, depth, sophistication and complexity in students’ understanding and products of learning, and increasing self-directedness in the pursuit and application of their learning.

As with all curricula, our curriculum is open to development and ever evolving.

MindPlus classes are located in: 

• Auckland (4 locations) 
• Hamilton 
• Rotorua 
• Wellington (2 locations) 
• Lower Hutt 
• Christchurch 
• Wakatipu

MindPlus is also used by community run organisations or school clusters, in: 

• Waiheke Island 
• Taranaki 
• Lincoln 
• Mid-Canterbury 
• Dunedin 
• Invercargill 

Small Poppies has classes at 3 locations in Auckland and 3 locations in Christchurch 

Gifted Online has no physical classes, meaning even those students in the most remote areas can access our programmes (subject to internet connection) 

MindPlus has three part referral process which consists of:

1. completion of a Parent Questionnaire 
2. completion of a Teacher Questionnaire 
3. participation by the child in an entry selection workshop.

Information from these three sources is taken into account to determine if what MindPlus offers will be of benefit to the child.

Other forms to be completed at the time of the referral are: 

• Student Referral Form 
• Principal Approval Form 

All forms can be obtained by email mindplus@nzcge.co.nz

We have a limited number of MindPlus classes and a limited number of spaces in each class. However, classes are not always full and we do have wait lists. Your child can enroll in Gifted Online while waiting for a place in the MindPlus programme. Please contact us on mindplus@nzcge.co.nz or 0800 769 243 to find out about the availability for programme access in your area.

Yes, the child is considered legally still at school, so permission is required for them to leave school and attend MindPlus or Small Poppies.

GO Sessions and GO Day have a two part referral process which consists of:  

• completion of a Parent Questionnaire 
• completion of a Teacher Questionnaire 

These two parts will help determine if what Gifted Online offers will be of benefit to the child. 

• Other forms to completed at the time of the referral are: Student Referral Form 
• Principal Support Form 

Entry to GO Talent programmes is by self-selection and the following forms are required:

• student Referral Form 
• principal Support Form 

All forms can be obtained by email gifted.online@nzcge.co.nz