While their children were off solving problems and getting their creative juices flowing, parents of academically gifted students were gaining insight into the behaviours and needs of their children.

It was the first time parents have been invited to join the annual summer program.

"There are so many things that influence whether a parent has a happy relationship with their school when they have a child who has been identified as gifted," said Ruth Phillips, the presenter of the Gifted Education Research, Resource and Information Centre (GERRIC) parent program. "The more highly abled they are, the less likely they fit in a classroom and the less likely they are to have their learning needs met."

Dr Jae Yup Jared Jung, a senior research fellow with UNSW School of Education, said parents have a significant influence on the development of gifted students.

"Therefore parents need to be knowledgeable about many of the issues relating to the appropriate education of gifted students," he said.

It was by sheer luck that Caroline Robinson, a mother of three from Bourke in NSW, stumbled upon the program. Because of distance education, there was little or no support from school for her two gifted sons. It took a volunteer teacher from the Isolated Students Education organisation to get the support they needed.

"She had to put it to the teachers to justify out-of-level testing, and then we had to build a case with the teacher who just ticks boxes to say '[John] needs to do year five maths in year three'," she said. "I couldn't have done it without help and I didn't know where to go."

According to Dr Jung most Australian teachers dont know how to cater to the specific needs of gifted students.

"Because gifted education is not a component of most university courses, many schools don't have experts in gifted education, and therefore schools are not really in a position to appropriately advise parents on what needs to be done from their end," he said

According to the NSW Department of Education, however, this is not the case.

"Gifted and talented students are supported at all public schools whether their abilities are in the intellectual, creative, social-emotional or physical areas," a spokesperson for the department said.

Mrs Robinson says distance learning means her children are protected from the pressures of a normal classroom.

One of the other mothers said her child will often plead, "Don't make me go to school mum, I hate it".

While their parents sit in workshops, the children are challenged creatively and intellectually with like-minded students. Workshops range from forensic science to art, chess and drama.

The GERRIC program director, Katherine Thomson, says the summer program does not undermine the importance of gifted programs at school.

"But we think it really provides a bright light for them a couple of  times a year to be able to come in enjoy learning without grades, assessment, pressure and explore a topic in depth," she said.