Virtual provisions for gifted secondary students: Keeping the best and brightest in the bush

This evaluative research, using mixed methods in a case study approach, on the perceived value of an academically selective virtual high school in western NSW Region, described how gifted students remained in rural, regional and remote areas with their family and attended their local government high school, whilst undertaking fast-paced differentiated curriculum offerings that met their academic needs in English, mathematics and science. The value of this provision, as perceived by their families and the students themselves was very positive with regional, rural and remote students consistently attaining results comparable to a metropolitan selective high school. Keeping the best and brightest in the bush contributed to a dynamic social fabric in the schools and communities of these rural, regional and remote students.