Top of the class for teacher Nicci Johnson

Penrhos is proud of its award-winning teachers and their commitment to continuous upskilling, as lifelong learners. At the end of 2019, Penrhos teacher Nicole Johnson was named on the University of New South Wales (UNSW) Arts & Social Sciences Dean’s List, in recognition of her academic performance. Dean’s List recipients are postgraduates who are in the top 5% of the cohort. This is Nicole’s story.

Throughout my teaching career, I have always been interested in catering for students with special needs. I was a learning enhancement teacher in the Junior School in 2006 when I was approached to begin my studies in gifted education, and I have been passionate about helping intellectually gifted students reach their potential ever since.

In 2008 I completed the Certificate of Gifted Education through UNSW, but at the time there was no option of continuing my postgraduate studies at UNSW as an external student. However, when I later attended the World Conference for Gifted and Talented Children in Sydney in 2017, I discovered that UNSW had launched a Masters of Gifted Education which could be completed through online studies.

UNSW is one of only a few universities in Australia which offers a Masters of Gifted Education and their research in gifted education is respected around the world. The course material I studied included research articles authored and published by UNSW academics, which is highly relevant to the students we have at Penrhos College.

Applying the latest research in the field of gifted education has allowed Penrhos to develop the MESHEX Program and put into practice the knowledge we have gained through our combined further studies. MESH-EX is a unique teaching and learning program which caters for the specific needs of gifted girls in Mathematics, English, Science and Humanities and Social Sciences. For example, my final research project for my UNSW Master’s course examined the impact of grades on anxiety in gifted children; this provided the Penrhos team with valuable feedback on our practice of focusing on personal growth rather than marks in assessments.

It is exciting to be a member of a team of teachers at Penrhos College who are committed to improving outcomes for our high ability students, through the MESH-EX Program. A number of our MESH-EX teachers are pursuing postgraduate studies in gifted education, including Claire Stone and Shannon Armitage who are currently completing their Masters of Gifted Education through UNSW.

There is no doubt that our teachers’ ongoing learning enhances the Penrhos learning experience and the programs offered to all students.