Primary school staying put

Queenstown Primary School has ruled out the suggestion it could move into the larger campus of Wakatipu High School when the high school moves to a $30 million purpose-built facility on 8ha of land in Frankton.

The Queenstown Lakes District Council did not include the existing high school site among its strategic parcels of land throughout the district.

Queenstown Resort College could expand without considering a shift to the vacated high school site.

When asked to comment on the idea of relocation, principal Lyn Bird said yesterday Queenstown Primary School would never become as large as Wakatipu High School.

"Even if we do experience roll growth over the next year or two before the next primary school is built, we still would only go up to 700 or 800 [pupils]," Dr Bird said.

"By the end of this year, we'll be back up to 633 and that's roughly the same as last year, but we're not experiencing any extra roll growth at this time, so whatever enrolment growth was predicted through the enrolment scheme at Remarkables [primary school] hasn't affected us at this point."

Asked if the council would contemplate buying high school buildings and land for the community, acting chief executive Stewart Burns said yesterday the council had not considered the matter.

"Warren Park, the playing field, already is council's, and the high school leases [it] from us for that purpose. That would revoke back to a community reserve. It's just the other parcels the building's on.

"Obviously, the ministry will have to decide if they've got a use for it first ."

College chief executive Charlie Phillips said yesterday relocating to the vacated high school property had not been discussed. Asked if the site could be used for tertiary education, Mr Phillips said his first instinct was "possibly not".

"A lot of money would have to be spent on it and, in tertiary education, all of a sudden you're competing with Dunedin and with every other tertiary in New Zealand.

"To do that successfully, you need to have a point of difference and QRC's success has fundamentally come about because of its point of difference, as in the professional management training we offer."

The Ministry of Education announced this week it had bought 8ha of land at Remarkables Park as a potential site for either the relocation of Wakatipu High School from inner Queenstown or a new school.

However, the site was not expected to be used for schooling purposes until at least 2017.

Asked how much the school would cost, a ministry spokesman said yesterday primary schools generally cost $15 million to $25 million to build, while secondary schools cost between $30 million and $50 million.

"The final cost will be determined by a number of factors including the construction market, site specific factors, the local environment and the projected student roll," the spokesman said.

The ministry had not yet determined if it would foot the bill itself, or seek a public-private partnership.

The next step by the ministry was to designate the new site for educational purposes.

The spokesman said the ministry was considering a shortlist of sites for a new primary school within the basin.

"The design roll for that new school is yet to be determined.

The ministry will continue to study new population data and areas of growth around Queenstown. This information will influence the design roll and any enrolment zone for the new school."

Add a Comment

 

Advertisement