The college allows students in rural and remote areas to remain in their local school and community while studying specialist subjects that their school cannot offer.
The college began teaching classes to over 160 students in January this year, and is set to enroll more than 200 in 2016. It will also include new subjects such as Japanese and Italian for Year 11, and teach HSC subjects for the first time. Other senior subjects available include extension maths, history and English, physics, economics and agriculture.
Minister for Education Adrian Piccoli said the virtual approach allowed students, regardless of where they lived, to study in selective streams or pursue challenging senior subjects locally.
“Students in rural and remote communities deserve the same opportunities as those in the cities. Virtual learning at Aurora means that academically gifted students from communities like Cowra, Eden and Coonamble are already benefiting from options they never had before,” Mr Piccoli said.
Partners like Bell Shakespeare, the European Centre for Nuclear Research, All-sky Astrophysics, the State Library of NSW and Macquarie University provide extraordinary masterclasses for students.
Next year 63 students will start Year 7. New students will come from a range of high schools including Tumut, Maclean, Broken Hill and Moruya.
Aurora College
