Dara School at Morphettville offers education to gifted children from Reception to year 12

A unique school for gifted children in Adelaide’s southern suburbs is punching well above its weight, finishing second in the latest NAPLAN tests. See how your school fared.

Tucked away in Adelaide’s inner southern suburbs is Australia’s only school devoted to gifted students.

Parents from across Australia and overseas have moved to South Australia to enrol their children at Dara School, where children are taught according to ability – not age.

The six-year-old school recently achieved the state’s second highest results for year 5 NAPLAN literacy and numeracy tests.

Located in a former mansion at Morphettville, principal Lynda McInnes said while other schools offered education to gifted children at different ages, Dara School was the only one in the country from Reception to year 12.

Dr McInnes said its approach was based on working with pupils to develop personalised learning programs – and then adopting flexibility with how they were taught.

“Traditionally, education has been on a conveyor belt, which is great for students who learn at that one speed,” she said.

“But what do you do with kids who learn faster and, once they have finished one subject, they want to move onto the next one straight away?”

Dara School students (from left) Thomas, 9, from Fulham Gardens, Ellis, 12, Novar Gardens, Aoife, 9. from Hove and Molly, 9, from Unley. Picture Emma Brasier

“It’s not about the speed with which they learn but the way they learn.

“Here, kids learn according to ability rather than speed or age.

“There might be a year 6 doing Year 10 maths and year 8 English.”

Dr McInnes, who opened Dara School with a small group of teachers and parents in 2017, said it was important students were actively involved in their education.

“We have a very student-focused approach.

“Every single child has an individual education plan.

“Rather than giving them worksheets and telling them ‘this is what you are going to do today’, we say this is what we want you to look at and we work on concepts.

“There is negotiation between students and teachers as there is more than one way to solve problems.

“It’s about developing independence.

“These kids know what they are interested in, they know what they want to do.”

Dr McInnes said educating gifted children was both challenging and exciting.

“These are children who process things like sponges,” she said.

“They are bright, quirky and have a different way of looking at life.”

Dara School principal Dr Lynda McInnes with students (from left) Molly, 9, Aoife, 9, Thomas, 9 and Ellis, 12. Picture: Emma Brasier

Dara School chairwoman Sophia Elliott moved her three gifted children to the school when they separately struggled at their previous school.

Ms Elliott said many gifted children spent time in mainstream schools where, because of their higher intellects and different personalities, often did not fit in.

This could result in mental health issues, loneliness, boredom or anxiety.

“Here, they make friends with like minds,” she said.

“They might be different ages but they have the same special interests.

“It might be something like black holes (in space) or the human body and they make a friend who is older or younger because they also are into black holes or the human body.

“It’s all about like minds and respect for each other.

“Here, they say they have found their tribe.”

Dr McInnes said Dara School was selective about who it enrolled, with compulsory psychological tests followed by extensive interviews.

“If you get the wrong child into one group and gets left behind while everyone is zooming ahead, it will have a negative impact on that child,” she said.

Despite all her staff holding teaching degrees, Dr McInnes said they were encouraged to actively continue learning, especially in the field of gifted education.

“They are committed to knowing what gifted means,” she said.

Staff also met every afternoon to debrief on what had happened during the school day and discuss individual students.

Dr McInees said fees at Dara School were kept at modest levels to ensure accessibility to all gifted children, regardless of income or social status.