MindPlus is a programme for gifted 6-13 year olds that provides intellectual, creative, social and emotional learning and support. Children come together, with a specialist teacher, for one day each week. Together they engage in differentiated, strength-based learning experiences to further develop their gifts and talents and a greater understanding of themselves.Information Pack 2020

MindPlus currently operates out of 13 Units (classrooms) across New Zealand; Tai Tokerau, North Shore, Auckland (x3), Tauranga, Rotorua, Hamilton, Lower Hutt, Wellington (x2), Christchurch and Wakatipu. 

The MindPlus curriculum is also delivered in five additional sites (Centres) under alternative local funding models.   These five Centres can be contacted directly for information about attendance and related fees.

Invercargill:  enrich.weebly.com     Dunedin:  www.pakikikids.org       mid-Canterbury:   www.acs.school.nz     

Lincoln:  www.lincolnprimary.ac.nz    Taranaki:   www.tgctrust.org.nz

Why MindPlus is great for creatively and academically gifted children:

• Children connect with like-minded peers who think like them and understand each other.
• Learning is challenging and applied, and stretches children’s abilities and ways of thinking.
• Small class numbers enable personalised learning that focuses on each child’s strengths and interests.
• Our specialist teachers understand gifted learners and what makes them tick.

As with all of our programmes, MindPlus is guided by the New Zealand Centre for Gifted Education Curriculum which focuses on these six learning strands:

• conceptual development;
• personal development;
• talent development;
• research;
• complex thinking; and
• communication.

The curriculum is developmental in nature and designed to increase, over time, the breadth, depth, sophistication and complexity of learners’ knowledge and abilities in these areas and their self-direction in learning.

Entry to MindPlus

MindPlus is a strength-based programme designed for intellectually and creatively gifted children. We have developed a comprehensive, research-based, entry selection process to identify children who would benefit from the programme. This process is designed for entry selection to MindPlus. It is not designed to assess giftedness, in general.   

Referrals to MindPlus are welcomed from parents or a child’s school. (We welcome referrals from home-schooling parents, too.)

Information regarding a child’s intellectual, creative, and personal abilities and traits is collected from their home and school, and from the child themselves at an entry selection workshop.  This information is analysed to determine whether there is a good match between the child’s strengths and the MindPlus programme.

As the MindPlus programme is designed for full-year attendance and builds over time, our main entry selection workshops occur in Term 4 to enable entry to MindPlus at the start of the following school year. Further workshops may be held in Terms 1 and 2, dependent on vacancies in classes and numbers of referrals. 

To find out more about MindPlus and the entry selection process, contact our office on 0800 769 243 or email us through our website