Reach Your Intellectual Potential
Westminster’s gifted program supports the educational, spiritual, and social-emotional needs of gifted students. Gifted teachers help each student understand and embrace their learning profile while confidently seeking and managing academic coursework. Through compacted, accelerated, curriculum and enrichment opportunities, we will enhance your student’s academic potential and success.
Westminster has considered the guidelines of the National Association of Gifted Children (NAGC) in developing gifted services and identifying the gifted learner.
Gifted students are those who demonstrate outstanding levels of aptitude (defined as an exceptional ability to reason and learn) or competence (documented performance or achievement in 10 percent or rarer) in one or more academic domains. “What is Giftedness?” (NAGC, 2015)
Our gifted program focuses on exceptional ability or potential in the academic domains of humanities, mathematics, and science.
Services for students identified as gifted begin in the 7th grade and continue through graduation. Over the course of their time at Westminster, gifted students are provided with a Gifted Student Profile, the development of the four-year academic plan, and with assistance in course selection, acceleration, and advocacy.
Consideration for The Gifted Program requires documentation of your child’s gifted designation. View our evaluation guidelines and a list of approved testing centers. If you have any questions, please contact Peggy Johnson at 314.997.2900.
At the middle school level, students are enrolled in compacted, accelerated, gifted history/gifted exploration courses in place of the traditional history courses. This is the time for students of high potential to explore their unique intellectual abilities from a biblical perspective, to experience opportunities that help them define interests and passions, and to explore the challenges unique to their giftedness. The teacher of this gifted class also works to assist students in course selections, scheduling, and advocacy. Students participate in appropriate placement in the traditional curriculum for the remainder of the day.
Upper School students enroll in one more gifted exploration course before transitioning to gifted courses focused on integrating the humanities. Ninth grade students have the option to enroll in a gifted geometry course, and 10th grade students are offered an honors literature course covering Western civilization. Junior year, students undertake a two-year-long capstone project.