Students are gifted when they demonstrate outstanding levels of aptitude (exceptional ability to reason and learn) or competence (documented performance or achievement) when compared to others of their age, experience and environment. Asynchronous development, a critical aspect of giftedness, combines advanced cognitive abilities and heightened intensity to create inner experiences and awareness that are qualitatively atypical and require modifications in teaching and counselling.

Inherent in the Westmount definition is the Alberta Education definition of gifted and talented (Alberta 2000), the Columbus Group definition of giftedness (Columbus Group 1991) and the National Association of Gifted Children (NAGC).

See About Westmount to learn more about our philosophy on giftedness.

Review the links below to learn more.

At Westmount, we look at giftedness “from the inside out.” What does this mean for us? It means we strive to first know and honour who our students are before we can help them become the best they can be.

Westmount embraces asynchronous development – uneven intellectual, physical, and emotional development. In average children, these three aspects of development progress at about the same rate. That is, the development is in “sync.” An average 3-year-old has the intellectual and physical abilities as well as the emotional maturity as most other 3-year-olds. However, in gifted children development of those areas can be out of “sync.” The gifted child’s intellectual development can be more advanced than her physical and emotional development, which progress at a different rate.

Westmount’s content and curriculum delivery are modified to account for this asynchrony, thus affecting the way the school implements instructional methods in particular circumstances.