Gifted_Education_Centre

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Gifted Education Centre

The Gifted Education Centre is a Gifted education organisation in New Zealand. At the start of 2008 it changed its name from the George Parkyn Centre.

The George Parkyn Centre was formed in 1995 to help gifted children.

One Day School

The One Day School was founded in 1996 by Rosemary Cathcart. The first branch that was created was in Central Auckland. There are now branches in Waiuku, Tauranga, and Hamilton.

One day each week some students have a day off normal school and attend One Day School. To attend One Day School an IQ test needs to be taken and people are accepted if they are found to be in the top 5% relative to the participant's age. One Day School operates throughout New Zealand in school classrooms not being used for normal lessons. There is a cost, currently NZ$25-NZ$60 per week. The Gifted Education Centre offers some fee subsidies and is currently trying to reduce the overall cost. The Gifted Education Centre also GO!, which is short for Gifted Online, a programme for students wanting to attend One Day School, but do not reside within an area near a One Day School classroom. More than 1000 gifted children have attended the One Day School.

Curriculum

At One Day School there is a set format to the day. There is generally a topic for the term. It is usually broad such as time, identity, strength, etc. Then each week a new subtopic is covered such as time travel, nations' identities, strength in relationships, etc. The day is divided into three parts-Think/Reason/Discuss, Read/Write/Research and Make/Do/Create. Think/Reason/Discuss is where the teacher introduces the topic and prompts discussion. Later in Read/Write/Research students do as the name suggests. It is also so for Make/Do/Create.