The school in Frankton opened at the beginning of 2018. The build alone for the two-storey, 10,000sqm school, cost more than $50million and it was built in a public-private partnership between the Ministry of Education and consortium Future Schools Partners.
Its roll was already close to 1100 and the school has capacity for 1200.
Principal Steve Hall said the construction programme would include modifications to the building and an extension.
New elements were eight learning spaces, at the same two-storey height as the main block, a doubling of the gym, two new basketball courts, a new storage shed, and additional car parking.
Mr Hall said while not confirmed yet, he expected contractors to begin work in May.
While it would be better if the disruptive work began later this year, when senior pupils begin finishing their school year early, he conceded there was a chance most teaching next year would take place in temporary classrooms — described as "modular transportable buildings" —before a hoped-for completion date at the end of 2021.
"There’s basically a trade-off between disruption and completion.
"If we want very, very little disruption and the [contractor’s] only allowed to work on tiny, tiny bits of the [present] building at any one time, the completion will be a long time [away].
"The good thing is, we’ve shown we can deal with significant change, like we did moving from the old school to this school.
"There’s no question that when this is done, it’s going to be absolutely fantastic ... it’s one of those things where, short term, it’s going to be a nuisance, but long term, this is fantastic."
Mr Hall said based on information, which needed to be updated, the school was expected to reach its 1800-pupil capacity in 2027-28.
"What we understand from the Ministry [of Education] is when we get to 1800, they will have to build another high school.
"That’s our most recent understanding."
- Work began late last month at Shotover Primary School, in Shotover Country, to construct a new classroom block to take its capacity from 650 to 900 pupils, making it one of the biggest primary schools in New Zealand.
The 1428sqm building would accommodate two and a-half "learning habitats" which was the equivalent to 10 classrooms, while another 14 car parks would be provided for staff.
Arrowtown Primary is also in the middle of an $11million redevelopment to address its leaky building issues.
- Philip Chandler
