Virtual School Victoria received the AADES Project Achievement Award for the Victorian High Ability Program (VHAP) at the recent AADES biennial conference. The program was an initiative with the Victorian Government for high-ability students in Years 5-8 in Victorian public schools.
The program consists of a 10-week synchronous and asynchronous online courses for English and Maths. VHAP was implemented in Term 4 2020.
Approximately 34,000 students have participated in the program and it has been extended for a further 3 years. An external evaluation was conducted by Deloitte and the evidence from students was overwhelming positive with students reporting increased levels of confidence, engagement and motivation with their learning.
This program is an example of how distance education schools can extend their role in supporting face-to-face schools through a specialised online program. The model could be adapted by other jurisdictions.