SPLICED is a project run in Catholic Schools in the Diocese of Wollongong.

It has been designed to provide differentiated units of works for learners identified as intellectually gifted.

SPLICED stands for Stretching Potential Learning in Interactive Challenging Environments in the Diocese of Wollongong.

Students involved in this project are selected based on testings, observations and recommendations from the school. Students are invited to join the program and must choose their own open ended topic based on the annual theme which results in a powerful manifest with an accompanying creative work. This year the theme is “The Good, The Beautiful and The True.”

On Monday, St Francis Catholic College sent 6 students to attend a workshop for SPLICED in Studio 5 Campbelltown. Our Year 6 students included Tejas A, Sneha S, Jacob T and Sebastian O, along with Ellie M from Year 5 and Jiya K from Year 4.

Sneha has decided to write a script based on Mindfulness and how each individual has the ability to control their own thoughts. She aims to get her message across to everyone by creating an artwork in video mode. Sneha will have the opportunity to work with a professional artist to create her artwork and also a professional writer to help script her work.

Jiya is working on a traditional Indian dance called Bharatanatyam and the meaning of each of the actions in the dance. She hopes to create a slideshow with a speech about the beauty, truth and goodness of this dance. Jiya too will work with a mentor to help her achieve her goal.

Jacob wants to compose a poem that explains how a supernova occurs and the stages involved. He will show the beauty of the supernova through an artwork to support his poem. He was able to spend time with a poet to help develop his ideas into verses of his poem.

Ellie wants to develop a project that shows others the range of emotions that they can go through when dealing with sickness and death in a family. She hopes that people will take comfort from her work and will see the beauty in having deep relationships with others. Ellie spent time with an artist at the workshop to help her create one of her four paintings.

Sebastian aims to share with people his own belief that there is amazing potential in every human - you just have to believe. He aims to compose a poem that represent hopes and dreams and wants to create an artwork that visualises this.

Tejas wants to compose a poem with multiple verses that explains how the Greek Gods have influenced and built our world. He wants to create a symbolic artwork to complement his poetry.

The students’ topics are varied and all very interesting. I look forward to seeing these projects develop over the year with further workshops, hard work, editing and making use of the feedback from their mentors.

Mrs H Lyons, Diverse Learning Teacher