Students from Kogarah High School found their voice through a poetry program. Picture supplied

Students from Kogarah High School recently took to one of the world's most iconic stages, performing original slam poetry at the Sydney Opera House. The performance was part of the House Swap program, an initiative run in collaboration with the Opera House's Creative Learning team.

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The project was led by English teacher Domenica Blomkamp, who co-coordinates the school's High Potential and Gifted Education (HPGE) program with Ramena Nissan. She said it pushed a select group of year 8 students to step well outside their comfort zones.

"We've been running this program in our school since 2021 when the department changed from the gifted and talented policy, the high potential and gifted education policy," Ms Blomkamp said. "We have a streamed class in years 8, 9, and 10. The Opera House program we explicitly run with our year 8 students, which is usually around 20 students." Through this partnership, the Opera House connects the school with various community artists and organisations to develop a creative outcome each year.

This year, the focus shifted entirely to the spoken word. "I think a lot of people think that poetry is really boring and it's something that you just kind of read," Ms Blomkamp said. "And for our students, being able to show them that poetry is about performance as much as it is about writing." To bridge that gap, the school brought in external mentors.

Given complete creative freedom, the young writers used the opportunity to explore deeply meaningful themes. "They were given free rein to write poetry, and a lot of them chose topics that were really personal to them, as young people, kind of navigating the world around them, and all the complexities that come with adolescence," Ms Blomkamp said. "Some of them wrote about friendship and the feeling of losing friends from primary school, as they moved into different high schools. Some of them wrote about family and about loss, and there were some really beautiful poems that showed us sides of our students that were so insightful and really showcased their personalities and what's important to them. It empowered them and allowed them to take risks."

Kogarah High's approach to gifted education spans far beyond academics. "We look at students across the entire school and across all of the domains of giftedness as well. So not just the students who are intellectually gifted, but also the creativity and the physical side and the socioemotional side as well," Ms Blomkamp said.

The long-term benefits of this holistic approach are already becoming visible. "Last year, our first cohort of our targeted class graduated. And we were able to see the impact that it had on how many students were joining our Student Representative Council (SRC), and leadership positions around the school and becoming prefects, and school captains as well," Ms Blomkamp said, adding that these older students "then start to coach and mentor the other students."

The school intentionally delays the start of the streamed classes to ensure no student is overlooked during their transition into high school. "We start our program in year 8 because it allows us time to get to know our students," Ms Blomkamp said. "They come to us from many different schools and diverse backgrounds that it gives us the opportunity to get to know them. When you put a spotlight on them and give them a microphone as well, even if they're nervous going up, they thrive."