Opportunity Classes
Certain schools across NSW offer opportunity classes for high-achieving, academically-gifted students in Years 5 and 6. To be considered for enrolment, students must sit the opportunity class placement test in Year 4. The test is held between late July and early August and application packages must be made in May.
The Dural Public School Opportunity Class
“Opportunity Class” placement provides intellectual stimulation and an educationally enriched environment for academically gifted children in Years 5 and 6.
The program at Dural Public School has been carefully developed by dedicated teachers to provide a stimulating curriculum which emphasises academic rigour whilst nurturing the gifted child's overall social and emotional development.
It is our aim to instil in our students a love for learning:
- to make them think critically and creatively
- to make them question
- to make them get involved deeply into the subject they are studying
- to make them want to feel success
- to feel inspired
- to feel that learning is one of the greatest things in this world!
Our OC program provides a planned curriculum that matches the ability of gifted students to:
- Learn a faster rates gifted learners understand new concepts easily with fewer repetitions. This means that they will progress through the curriculum at an accelerated pace of instruction to ensure learning is continuous and that they are being stimulated.
- Find, solve and act on problems more readily. We focus heavily on creative thinking, divergent thinking and critical thinking as these skills are important for today's problem solvers.
- Manipulate abstract ideas and make connections to an advanced degree. Gifted learners understand concepts, abstractions and ideas beyond what would normally be expected at their age level. Therefore our programs are concept based and include complex, abstract ideas so that interests and abilities are challenged and extended.
- Gifted learners benefit when they work with gifted peers. One of the best advantages of the OC class is that the children get to work with children of similar abilities; they bounce ideas off children who are like minded and have similar interests. The discussions and debates in an OC class are amazing to listen to. The friendships formed are strong and mature. The children bond well and have a respect for each other and the other benefit is that they spend two years together, which strengthens the bond.
We use a variety of teaching and learning strategies to cater for such learning styles, including:
- using pre-assessment to compact the curriculum for students who have already mastered the core: then focus on accelerated progression in all key learning areas.
- extension activities that deepen students' knowledge, understanding and skills. enrichment activities that broaden the curriculum to develop knowledge and skills to a greater complexity.
- contract work, with students negotiating the components of the contract.
- open-ended questions, activities and assignments. hypothesis testing and problem solving.
- individual research and investigation, where students learn how to develop and manage their independent learning skills.
- opportunities for peer assessment.
- using graphic organisers as an instructional tool.
- group tasks and creative thinking sessions that allow like-minded students to discuss and bounce ideas off each other.
- Thinking tasks include Tony Ryan's 'Thinker Keys', Edward De Bono's Six Thinking Hats and Divergent Thinking.
- Many competitions that provide opportunities to think, create and shine.
Programs in the Dural Public OC
PBL: Project Based Learning and Critical & Creative Thinking (CCT) CCT is part of the everyday routine with 10 minutes crunches and a PBL task is part of each term’s plan connected to the history, geography or science unit.
Tournament of the Minds: is a problem solving program for teams of students. They are required to solve demanding, open-ended challenges from one of the following disciplines: Applied Technology, Language Literature, Maths Engineering, the Arts and the Social Sciences.
Pecha Kucha: is a speech methodology in which students present a 20 slide PowerPoint on a theme and each slide automatically changes after 20 seconds and the students present a speech to go along slide the PowerPoint.
Australasian Problem Solving Mathematical Olympiads: a very challenging mathematical problem solving competition that consists of 4 tournaments held throughout the year.
Debating: opportunities to participate in the Premier's Debating Challenge.
Maths Cup: A whole day group based tournament based on Maths held at Amity College. The competition includes over 300 students, in 2016, 2019 and 2024 Dural PS won the cup!
Premier's Challenges: as well as the Premier's Debating challenge, the students will participate in the Premier's Spelling Bee and also be encouraged to participate in the Premier's Reading Challenge.
Public Speaking: all OC students will write speeches for The Hills Public Speaking Competition and it’s always hosted here at Dural PS.
Scope IT: a technology course/program that includes coding, web design, software design and 3D printing. Additionally, each year the students participate in a Tech Tournament to apply their learning.
Interschool Chess: The Senior Chess Club (years 4-6) meets lunchtime to enjoy friendly games and also to practice for the NSW Junior Chess League competition which runs during Term 2 and in to Term 3.
Environmental Group: this group is open to students who wish to be concerned with environmental issues. The group has taken part in a tree planting program, composting, worm farms and paper recycling.
Night of the Notables: a Year 5 evening of meeting many notable Australian identities (our students research a notable figure and become them for the night by presenting to the parents!)
Annual OC competition: every year there is an interschool OC competition that changes every two years in task (science fairs, inventors conventions, poetry slams, The Gifted Games etc), it is organised and hosted by Dural PS each year.
Music and Dance Opportunities in OC
A variety of music programs are offered including:
Senior Choir: Students meet for the choir at lunchtimes at school. The students have been to the Primary School Concerts at the Opera House and The Primary Proms at the Sydney Town Hall. They have also competed successfully at many Dural Eisteddfods.
The Band Program: The Training Band: This group is open to all students who are just beginning with an instrument. It provides an opportunity for the students to enjoy music together.
The Senior Concert Band: This is the band for the more experienced musicians. The band has been successful at the Penrith and Hawkesbury Eisteddfods.
The String Ensemble: a String ensemble is formed under the guidance of Mrs Di Bona. They participate in the orchestral concerts organised by the Arts unit.
Recorder Group: A recorder teacher comes into the Year 6 OC class once a week to teach recorder. The Year 6 class then is given the opportunity to play 3 pieces of music at The Instrumental Concert at the Sydney Opera House. The Dural School Band Committee provide these wonderful opportunities for the children. They offer instrument hire and the students can take advantage of tutors that come to the school before 9:30 during the week. This is a paying arrangement.
Dance Programs: The Senior Dance group consists of Year 5 and 6 students. Every alternative year the school participates in the Wakakirri Dance/Drama competition and Grade Musical.
ICT Resources: The Year 5 class is equipped with a touchscreen interactive board, 15 laptops and 5 ipads. The Year 6 class is equipped with a touchscreen interactive board, 20 Lenovo Laptops/tablets and an ipad. There is also a podcast studio in the 6OC computer room. The Library is equipped with a touchscreen interactive board and 30 PC’s for use in weekly lessons. There is another computer lab with 30 laptops for class use. Every week in Terms 2 and 3 the students participate in a Scope IT lesson using MacBook Air. Digital cameras and videos are available for daily use.
Sporting and Creative Opportinities in the Dural OC
There are endless sporting opportunities provided for our students, they involve:
PSSA and Knock-out Competitions: Each year Dural Public School enters teams into the PSSA and Knock Out competitions. Teams entered in the competition are: softball, cricket, soccer, tennis, touch football, OZ TAG and netball.
Carnivals: Annually Dural conducts three sporting carnivals in swimming, athletics and cross country. Trophies and medals are awarded to each age champion and runner up.
Variety of Sporting Activities: Each term a variety of sporting activities include: Squash, Sport-in-Schools, Gymnastics programs, Dance and Fundamental movement skills.
Beecroft Representation: opportunities to represent Beecroft and Sydney North in a variety of sports and carnivals.
Specialist Art Teacher: Our OC students also participate in lessons with Dural Public School's Specialist Art teacher: Miss Candutti. They get the opportunity to be creative with all forms of Visual Arts such as painting, drawing, ceramics, printing and sculpture in a permanently set up and well resourced art room.
Excursions and Camps
Sport and recreation camp: Point Wolstoncroft (Lake Macquarie) Happy Integration of all students is our priority. During Term 1, Year 5, a 5 day camp is held at Point Wolstoncroft Sport and Recreation Facility to encourage the development of friendship and to help everyone feel at home and welcome in their new school. Aquatic activities like canoeing, fishing, sailing and swimming form a major part of the Point Wolstoncroft experience. And the diversity of the magnificent environment provides ample opportunities to explore, touch, experience, and learn about the natural world.
Bathurst: During Term 3, Year 5, a 1 day excursion to Bathurst is planned to enrich our unit on ‘Gold’. The students get to experience gold panning, build mud brick houses, tour the Bathurst goldfields: the indoor museum, mine, steam shed, blacksmithing demonstrations, retorting, operating water wheel, Chinese Protectorate and more.
Canberra/Thredbo: Year 6 experience all Canberra and Thredbo has to offer, complementing the unit on 'Government and Democracy'. This is a 4 day camp that is always a highlight for the final year of Primary School.
A Day in the Life of an OC Student
Click to see a video created by Dural OC students called A Day in the Life of an OC Student which has been represented by the NSW Government on their website.
What our students say about the OC:
“The OC encourages us to strive for success and reach for the stars.” Dan C 2020.
“The competitive spirit at Dural fuels our own fighting spirit.” Jacqueline 2023.
“The friendliness, chaos and fun found in the OC class never end!” Elijah 2023.
“Each morning, I feel an itch for the sensation of the competition and exhilaration of the OC classroom. Every day, we push ourselves to the maximum and wave goodbye to limitations. Then in the afternoon, the jingling of laughter and lively games never fails to pay us back for our diligent efforts. This is the OC life - "Work Hard, Play Hard." Arielle G 2015.
“The OC gives you a different view of the world and you have all the help and support you need from life-long friends and passionate teachers.” Hannah W 2017.
“You can taste the fun when you enter the school.” Kevin.S 2013.
“Dural PS ignites passion into students to achieve higher standards.” Daniel L 2012.
‘In the OC, work is taken to the next level. There’s no more waiting while your classmates struggle to finish their work. You churn through work faster than a paper shredder, constantly learning new things that you never would in the mainstream. Not only did the OC give me a fun learning environment and surround me with friends who think like me, it also taught me to embrace change with open arms.” Rachel S 2013.
“As soon as I stepped through the door of the OC, I knew it was the right choice. The teachers were fun and welcoming, and my new friends and I bonded together more than ever before.” Elisa F 2014.
“I love the education, I love the environment, I love the friendship, I love everything here at Dural Public School!” Jenny K 2012.
“I especially love that Dural is a small school, it means students get double the attention and double the opportunities. I love our teacher; she is so passionate about us, she spends her time to create great lessons, fun excursions and she even brought her microwave to class so that we can have hot meals for lunch!” Grace Y 2012.
“I like how we use Edmodo; our online classroom: we revise our work through quizzes and we can ask our teacher a question and she’ll answer it even during the weekend!” Kean Z 2012.
"Coming to Dural Public School was by far the best experience I've ever had. I have made heaps of great friends and have learnt more than I could have ever imagined. I will definitely miss the OC program." Sania G 2015.
“Before OC, I only had a small window of opportunity. Now, there are houses of it.” Kush V 2017.
“Whenever I have to miss a day of school in the OC class, I feel like I missed out on so much! In the OC class we LEARN, we work hard and it always ends with a game to reward our efforts.” Laura P 2017.
“Without the OC. I wouldn’t be the person I am today!” Ginger M 2017.
“OC is one of those rare, precious things that tears down the barriers. You discover who you truly are and there are no limitations to success.” Emily A 2017.
“Year 6 was a star in a sea of lanterns.” Sebastian U-P 2018.
“Getting into the Dural OC was the best thing that has ever happened to me. Going to the Dural OC is the best thing I’ve ever done.” Rachel C 2018.
“Dural OC is a one of a kind experience that so many past students have been through and have thoroughly enjoyed with all their hearts. Welcome to Dural, you will never regret it!” Joelle T 6H 2018.
“There is never a boring day at Dural.” Ryan 2023.