Construction is underway on a new Aurora high school built around one idea: putting teenagers within walking distance of a major hospital campus. Aurora HEART Health Sciences High School broke ground on Oct. 8, 2026, and is scheduled to open in fall 2027.

The name is an acronym for healthcare, education, access, readiness and training. The school is a partnership of Aurora Public Schools, the Community College of Aurora and UCHealth, and it is being paid for through the bond measure Aurora voters approved in 2024.

Where it is going

The building is going up on the grounds of North Middle School, near North Peoria Street and East Montview Avenue in northwest Aurora. That puts it just west of the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus and across from UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital, which is the point: students will be able to reach the hospital, clinics and labs for field trips and hands-on lessons without getting on a bus.

Five ways into health care

Students will choose from five career pathways, according to UCHealth and the Community College of Aurora:

  • Nursing
  • Surgical technology and sterile processing
  • Respiratory therapy
  • Behavioral health
  • Medical imaging, with a focus on X-ray

Classrooms are being designed to look and work like clinics and hospital rooms. UCHealth staff will teach some of the hands-on lessons, and students will earn college credit and industry credentials while they are still in high school. The Community College of Aurora, which provides the college pathways, has described the school as Colorado's first health science high school.

Who can go

It is a magnet school, so it is open to Aurora Public Schools students from across the district rather than one attendance area. The first class will be 125 ninth graders, and the school will add a new ninth-grade class each year until all four grades are filled.

Sign-ups for the first class opened in November 2026 through the district's magnet program website, so families with current eighth graders are the ones deciding now.

Already underway: a summer start

The partnership is not waiting for the building. UCHealth provides grant funding to the Aurora Public Schools Foundation for a Health Science Summer Bridge Program, which runs ahead of the school's opening.

What to do next

Families of eighth graders in Aurora Public Schools can sign up through the district's magnet schools page. The school opens to its first class in fall 2027, at North Peoria Street and East Montview Avenue.

Sources