In New South Wales, an Opportunity Class (commonly known as an OC) is a specialised, two-year selective program tailored for academically gifted and high-potential students in Years 5 and 6. Run by the NSW Department of Education, these classes group academically like-minded learners together within designated public primary schools to deliver a fast-paced, enriched curriculum. There are 89 opportunity classes across NSW offering roughly 1,840 Year 5 student places each year.

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

Children gain opportunity class placement on the basis of academic merit. The main criteria for determining academic merit are Opportunity Class Placement Test results combined with school assessments. Comments made by parents and principals may be considered at the discretion of the selection committee.

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 child:

• 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.