Queenstown-based government MP Joseph Mooney intends further lobbying Education Minister Erica Stanford, and Ministry of Education (MoE), over the urgent need for a second local high school.
Mountain Scene last week revealed Wakatipu High’s only two or three years from reaching capacity at its newish Remarkables Park campus — being fewer than 200 students away from its new top-end roll of 1625.
MoE, which hasn’t even secured another site, last week admitted the ‘campus crunch’ is likely to be solved initially with the use of temporary classrooms.
The new National-led coalition government last week launched a ministerial inquiry into up to 350 school building projects, in various stages, ‘‘where expectations far exceeded what could be delivered’’.
Mooney says while cognisant of this, Wakatipu High’s in a different category as MoE’s still to find land for a new campus.
‘‘I’ll be continuing to seek further information and [am] planning to talk to the Minister to make sure the need for this project is front of mind.’’
He’ll ‘‘strongly convey the need for a new high school to be provisioned and planned for’’.
Asked whether Wakatipu High could use classroom space away from its campus, as at least a temporary solution, Mooney says ‘‘I’ll need
to take advice on that’’.
‘‘We may well need to look at some creative solutions because there isn’t a lot of time left.’’
