Parents were reassured the approved $3 million to $5 million campus of St Joseph's School would not detract from the existing school in Queenstown during the first parent information evening about the satellite development on Thursday.
Board chairwoman Gigi Hollyer and principal Trisch Inder were joined by Diocese of Dunedin Catholic education director Tony Hanning for the public presentation, which involved about 30 parents of St Joseph's pupils, plus one Arrowtown mother who was interested in enrolling her preschool-aged child at the campus.
Mrs Hollyer confirmed the campus would be developed, it would be a primary school and it would teach up to 112 pupils.
Several questions asked, such as how funding was going to work, could not be answered until funding was secured from the Ministry of Education.
However, the evening was a good opportunity to explain the background to the campus project and what prompted it, namely to future-proof Catholic education as an option for more families, she said.
"It's good that they're part of the consultation process, because this isn't the start of it; it had been going on for a long time previously.
"Some people were a bit frustrated there weren't actually solid answers, but we cannot really give those until we find out how our funding is going to work."
The "special character" Speargrass campus will consist of a 480sq m classroom block and a 220sq m administration block, plus 43 car parks, playing fields and a hard court area.
Teaching was expected to begin at Speargrass in 2014, but the start date "might be a bit optimistic", Mrs Hollyer said.
Once funding was secured, the timeline would be clearer.
