About the organisation/community group 

 Enrich@ILT is a centre for gifted and talented students in Invercargill in Years 3 to 6. 

 About 150 students aged between 7 and 10 years from 22 Invercargill primary schools are enrolled at the centre this year. 

 Enrich@ILT was set up in 2009 to support students who had been identified as gifted or were two or more years ahead of their peers in their learning. 

 It opened in 2009 with a roll of 55. 

In addition to extending the students’ learning, the centre also provides a place where they can socialise with like-minded children. 

Participating schools identify students they think would benefit from the programme.  The students then go through a screening process conducted by the New Zealand Centre of Gifted Education (NZCGE) , based in Wellington before being accepted into the programme. 

Enrich also contracts (NZCGE) to provide the curriculum and professional development for its staff. 

Students accepted into the programme attend Enrich one day a week. 

Participating schools pay $10 per student per session and the families of the students also pay $10 per session, with the remainder of funding provided by the ILT Foundation and Invercargill Licensing Trust. [CHECK] 

At present, Enrich@ILT employs three registered teaching staff and a part-time office manager. 

What the grant went towards 

 Invercargill Licensing Trust and ILT Foundation provided a joint grant of $361,902 towards Enrich@ILT’s operating costs, including staff salaries and resources to run its gifted and talented education programme for 2019. 

 The Invercargill Licensing Trust and ILT Foundation have been providing annual grants to Enrich@ILT since its inception. 

 What the grant means to the organisation/community group 

 “We are just so fortunate just how well resourced we are,” Enrich@ILT centre manager Paul Anderson-Kereti said. 

 Other centres for gifted students in New Zealand are required to source community funding each year and impose higher contributions from their schools and families to run their programmes, which makes the programme out of reach for some families, he said. 

 “Other centres are really jealous of what we have got.”