This paper describes the development and implementation of the xsel program in Western NSW. The program supports identified high school students from regional, rural and remote communities to access the study of English, maths and science at an academically selective level. A program review was undertaken during 2012 using a structured questionaire to develop deeper understandings of the operational challenges, initial successes and potential improvements available to the program after three years of operation. The program review involved interviews with Principals, classroom teachers, students and parents of the program. The summative information from this process and initial planning documentation informs the content of this paper. The xsel program is unique in that it applies a combination of on-line learning, distance education and traditional bricks and mortar schooling to meet the learning needs of a particular equity group; talented and gifted secondary students. The program has taken on one aspect of the geographic challenge of equitable access to educational opportunity and builds the capacity of rural educators to cooperate, collaborate and co-create and overcome the "tyranny of distance" (Blainey, 1966).

This evaluative research, using mixed methods in a case study approach, investigated the perceived value of an academically selective virtual high school in Western NSW Region. The thesis describes 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 in an online environment. The value of this provision, as perceived by the students and their families was very positive with regional, rural and remote students consistently attaining academic results comparable to a metropolitan selective high school whilst feeling a real sense of belonging to two schools. 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.

Gifted students have been provided the opportunity to study three core subjects through an academically selective virtual high school in western NSW, Australia. At the same time these students continue to attend their local public high school for their other subjects. This article presents the mechanisms that have provided this opportunity, and describes successes and challenges. Students are located across 385,000 km² and meet online through web conferencing to engage in real time. They are also able asynchronously to access study materials in an online repository.

This evaluative research, using a mixed methods case study approach with triangulated design, investigated the perceived value of a virtual academically selective secondary school provision for Years 7–10 (age 12–16 years) that operated in Western NSW Region from 2010 until 2014. Students replaced regular curriculum study in the areas of English, mathematics and science at their local stategovernment- funded bricks-and-mortar school, with study that was conducted online with a cohort of academically gifted students from across similar schools in Western NSW Region.
Perceived value by students and staff in the virtual provision as well as perceived value by parents and local state-government-funded secondary school Principals was positive, with students reporting a strong sense of belonging to the gifted cohort as well as their local school cohort, an improved skill-set to meet 21stcentury learning requirements and the capacity to harness their full potential through development of enabling skills such as organisation and study skills. Academic achievement of the virtual provision cohort in national or state-wide standardised tests matched those of metropolitan selective secondary school counterparts in literacy, numeracy and science understanding.
All stakeholders agreed that the virtual provision did not suit all gifted learners, only those who were autonomous learners or were motivated to learn in a lightly supervised environment and who held a positive academic self-concept and as such were comfortable not being first in their class all the time. Some students found the challenge of many academically-able peers overwhelming as they had been the outstanding pupil all their school life.
Unexpected benefits reported by parents of the students in the cohort included their choice to stay in employment in the regional, rural or remote areas, or to delay or abandon their plans to send their child to a metropolitan boarding school as their gifted childʼs learning needs were being met by the virtual provision. This decision added to the social fabric of the rural communities and their local school. Teachers in the virtual provision reported being re-invigorated in their career by having a virtual staffroom of like-minded peers who embraced challenge, were curriculum specialists in their area and endorsed technology-enhanced learning.
This research contributes to the growing field of knowledge about the suitability of virtual school provisions for gifted secondary school students in rural, regional and remote settings. Keeping the best and brightest students and teachers in the , along with their families, is essential to ensuring dynamic and vibrant rural, regional and remote communities.

This mixed methods research is part of a wider case study of the first academically selective secondary school in western New South Wales, Australia. Teachers were distributed across a number of school sites, as were the students they taught in regular classes in a synchronous and asynchronous manner. Teachers described some of the challenges they faced; how they overcame them, and the overall professional gains that can be found in a collegial atmosphere divided by time and distance. Technologies used are discussed, methods of developing quality daily professional communication at a distance, in addition to the professional learning possible around assessment for gifted and talented students. The research could have applications in learning environments where gifted students are separated from their teachers due to extended periods of poor weather, geographic isolation, or the choice to attend their local secondary school which may not have a large cohort of like-minds, instead of a full time residential boarding school away from family and friends. The case study outlines a manner in which gifted students can form an online cohort of peers for regular instruction of the required syllabus in several Key Learning Areas.

Gifted students have been provided the opportunity to study three core subjects through an academically selective virtual high school in western NSW, Australia. At the same time they continue to attend their local public high school for their other subjects. This article presents the mechanisms that have provided this opportunity, including successes and challenges that have been overcome. Students are located across 385,000 km2 and meet online through web conferencing to engage in real time. They are also able asynchronously to access study materials in an online repository.

An academically selective virtual high school in western New South Wales, Australia is providing opportunities for gifted students never before available. Students attend their local public high school and complete courses such as music, physical education, art and applied technologies with their local cohort. English, mathematics and science however are completed in a blended learning environment where students and teachers from an area covering some 385 000 km² meet online using web conferencing software to engage in real time, and then further material is placed in an online learning repository (Moodle) for access by students at any time. This mix of synchronous and asynchronous learning with a cohort of like minds is improving the educational opportunities for gifted students in a rural setting without depleting the local community of its best and brightest students. Similarly, teachers from these rural communities teach 0.4 of their time in the virtual high school and 0.6 of their time in the local public high school. This has lifted the school capacity overall without depleting the best, and often the most creative teachers from the local school. Currently theprovision is a collaboration across 31 different public high schools. The paper speaks about the mechanism that has provided this opportunity, some of the successes so far and some of the challenges overcome. Of particular note is the fact that the school caters for gifted students that are twice or multi exceptional, of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent, of English as a second language background and Anglo-Saxon descent.

Xsel Virtual Selective High School caters for gifted secondary school students in rural and remote Western New South Wales (NSW), Australia. Teachers and students attend their local public high school but meet over the internet for classes in English, mathematics and science using advanced technologies and pedagogies for online learning. Xsel uses a blended learning approach and aims to contribute to the sustainability of rural communities.