Yanchep District High School principal Alan Curtis spoke about the future school with parents involved in the Yanchep Education Future Facebook group on February 16.
Mr Curtis said he had been involved in Education Department meetings to design the school, and the final plans needed to be signed off by the State Government before they would be made public.
“The block will be cleared starting next month,” he said.
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READ NOW“Building is to start end of September or start of October, so it will be ready for term one 2019.”
Mr Curtis said unlike other high schools that started with Year 7s and progressed to Year 12, the Yanchep school would start with Years 7 to 11 and expand to Year 12 in 2020.
He said they expected 720 students to start, and student numbers to peak at 1900, then level out to 1500 to 1600 children.
The school will bebetween Blackwood Meander and Morwell Street, with the sports fields close to Marmion Avenue.
Mr Curtis said most of the buildings would be double-storey, and there was space allocated for transportable classrooms when demand grew, so they would not be on the oval.
He said construction would be done in two stages, with an art room in the first stage converted to gym space once the purpose-built art centre was done in stage two.
“The school is fenced off so the community can access the music room and gym,” he said.
Responding to Jindowie Residents Association president Helen Berry’s concerns about bush on the site, Mr Curtis said some would be retained.
“The part that’s got the hill is not being touched; a lot of trees on the border are being kept,” he said.
“There’s also quite an extensive planting program within the school itself.”
Parent Kim Garbutt asked why it would take three years to build if private schools could be built under a year.
“A lot of private schools only open with a small number,” Mr Curtis said.
“We are talking about a Year 7 to 11 that has a lot of specialised facilities.
“The building timeframe they have presented is I think really good. It was about getting a new high school as quickly as possible – they’ve actually acknowledged there’s a desperate need.”
Asked if Woodridge children could go to the school, Mr Curtis said he did not know what the catchment area would be yet.
Ms Garbutt said the community wanted discussions about the future of the existing YDHS site, which will revert to a primary school in 2019.
“This is a pre-election year; this is the year that you’ve got to start the campaign for a rebuild of this school,” Butler MLA John Quigley said.