WHAT IS OC?

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OC stands for Opportunity Classes. Opportunity classes are for primary school students in Years 5 and 6.

Applications are open for approximately 4 months, from November each year to February the following year.

Parents apply when their child is at the end of Year 3 or the beginning of Year 4 for placement in Year 5 in a primary school with an opportunity class.

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There are 89 opportunity classes in NSW. Opportunity Classes (OC) are not in every public school, but are established in one school in each area. Please refer to this link for a listing of Schools with Year 5 Opportunity Classes.



Children gain placement into opportunity classes on the basis of academic merit. The main criteria for determining academic merit are Opportunity Class Placement Test results.



Some general characteristics of gifted and talented children are listed below. It is important to note that academically gifted and talented children will not necessarily demonstrate all of these characteristics.



A gifted student:

• learns rapidly and quickly grasps new concepts

• has an excellent memory

• is creative or imaginative, e.g. produces many ideas or is highly original

• is independent - may prefer to work alone

• has a keen sense of humour

• may be highly motivated, particularly in self-selected tasks

• has unusual or advanced interests

• demonstrates exceptional critical thinking skills or problem-solving ability

• may have superior leadership and interpersonal skills

• frequently asks in-depth, probing questions

• may demonstrate a high degree of social responsibility or moral reasoning

• possesses a large, advanced vocabulary

• has superior insight and the ability to draw inferences or is intuitive

• is an advanced reader either in English or in the home language.

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Number of school choices allowed

Opportunity class applications allow up to 4 school choices. You must choose your first choice school, and you may also select up to 3 more schools in case you don't get your first choice.

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But please only choose schools you genuinely would like your child to attend – this may be less than the maximum of 4 choices.