Taieri College has got more than it bargained for, as late enrolments brought the school's roll up to 1000.
''We have certainly had a few people come out of the woodwork, which is exciting,'' principal Dave Hunter said, when contacted by Taieri Times last week.
Last-minute enrolments meant the school had started the year with about 50 more pupils than was anticipated.
''We have actually had enrolments right across the school,'' Mr Hunter said.
''We have put in a sixth year 7 class and that's allowed our classroom numbers to be around 25. That's pretty important to us to try and keep that balance right. We are determined to keep those class sizes at a size that's manageable.''
Last year, about 930 pupils attended the school and the increase was ''really exciting for us''.
Mr Hunter could only speculate as to what had caused the jump in roll size, but ''obviously there has been movement of kids into Mosgiel or kids are choosing to go to Taieri College''.
The increase had not been difficult for the school to manage as it was ''designed for that amount'' of pupils and it had led to increased options for the pupils.
''We have increased our year 7 modules, so our year 7 group are going to have greater options,'' he said.
The school would come under some pressure later in the year when work began on its new A-block, but it had a ''fairly complex contingency plan'' to cope with the development.
''It's pretty exciting. There's lots of new and positive things happening here which is great,'' he said.
