Principal Oded Nathan said student numbers at Queenstown’s only secondary school were surging towards its present capacity of 1625, but he was confident the Ministry of Education would add classrooms around 2027-28 to allow for a roll of about 2000 students.
Mr Nathan said the need for the new classrooms would be evident to the ministry on March 1, when schools were to submit roll numbers.
He expected the school’s roll at that date to be about 1530, including a record intake of about 370 Year 9 students.
A key trigger for the ministry to come to the party with new classrooms is when the roll comes within 10% of capacity, he said.
Mr Nathan expected it to provide capacity for another 350 to 375 students, which, given classrooms tend to accommodate 25 students, would mean an additional 14 to 15 classrooms.
He said they had identified space behind their outdoor education shed which would not interfere with their playing fields.
The classrooms would be built off-site, in a ‘‘repeatable design, so a bit more cost-efficient.’’
Mr Nathan said he also hoped the classrooms could be used for trades-based learning, such as carpentry and automotive, and could remain in place to further serve a second or third local high school.
‘‘We’re trying to get the secondary sector to talk to the tertiary sector and just try to put together a bit of a long-term view of education in the Whakatipu Basin.’’
He said 75 Wakatipu High students went to Cromwell’s Otago Polytech campus each week for trade learning.
Meantime, Mr Nathan said while the school was nearing capacity, ‘‘it doesn’t feel like it’s jammed’’.
‘‘The most common refrain from people when they walk through is, ‘where are all the students?’
‘‘It feels very spread-out, it feels very calm.’’
When Wakatipu High originally moved to its Remarkables Park campus in 2018, the school’s capacity was 1200 students.
Following a building extension completed in 2023, that capacity lifted to 1625.
A second Queenstown high school has been mooted for several years. 2030 is a likely opening date.
