Korowal is a small, human-centred school founded in 1978 and situated on seven hectares in Hazelbrook, Blue Mountains. It caters for students from kindergarten to HSC.
Facilities: Library, science laboratories, learning resource centre, specialist art and music facilities, ball courts, oval, several hectares of grounds, inspiring views and charismatic heritage-listed buildings.
Electives Years 7 to 10: Visual Arts, Music, French, Design and Technology, Computing Studies, Drama.
Electives Years 11 and 12: Society and Culture, Mathematics (2 Unit, General, Extension 1), Visual Arts, English (Standard, ESL, Fundamentals, Extension 1 and 2), Physics, Drama, Ancient History, Extension History, Information Processes and Technology, Chemistry, Music, Studies of Religion. Students may also undertake courses through Distance Education and VET.
Sport: A wide variety of sports and physical activities are offered on a social basis. The outdoor education program includes bushwalking, camps, abseiling, cross-country skiing, canoeing and rock climbing.
Welfare and personal development: Teachers remain involved with their classes for several years. Multiple-age learning groups provide a flexible and nurturing academic and social environment. Specialist resource and counselling staff assist students with special needs. Korowal is a small, supportive community where teachers, students and parents know each other and welfare issues are not overlooked.
Special features: Korowal is a human-centred school. This means that emphasis is placed on the quality of relationships between teachers, students and parents; this is seen as the foundation of educational outcomes. The school is small (250 students from Kindergarten to HSC) in order to facilitate learning and the development of friendships across all age groups. A unique curriculum integrates creativity with academic work and uses extended “main lesson” and “focus study” topics to transcend traditional subject boundaries. Extended morning lesson times encourage the study of topics in depth. Multiple-age learning groups provide a flexible and dynamic learning environment. The HSC is taught via the compressed Pathways system. Classes begin in term four, and the workload and examinations are spread evenly over two or more years.