The release of plans for either a refurbishment or a total rebuild of the new Carisbrook School are imminent, board of trustees chairwoman Isabell Sinclair Irwin says.
The school was supposed to undergo development and be ready to accommodate pupils at the start of term 1 this year, following the merger between Caversham School and College Street School last year.
However, the board of trustees and the Ministry of Education are yet to confirm what development will take place at the school's main site, at the corner of South Rd and Surrey St.
Mrs Sinclair Irwin said the board was working with the ministry and it was hoped a decision would be made "quite soon".
"Because we've had an increase in the number of pupils at the school, we are working with the Ministry of Education, with the idea of building a new specially planned school, or refurbishing the existing premises and building new classrooms that we need, a library and an administration area."
Mrs Sinclair Irwin said the school had 12 classrooms at present, but would need 20 by next year to accommodate the school's growing roll.
"We were estimating about 418 would be at the school by 2013. But we will reach that number by the middle of term 2.
"We are predicting significantly more than that next year," she said.
"We had a plan, but we had to rethink it."
Despite the hiccup, Mrs Sinclair Irwin said it was positive for the school.
The board of trustees' preference was for a new school to be built on the main site.
She said if the proposed plan was approved by the ministry, new classrooms would be built away from the existing buildings.
Pupils would be moved into the new buildings while the existing buildings were demolished and more new classrooms were built.
Pupils from the College St site would then be moved in.
"Whatever happens, pupils at the main Carisbrook site won't have to move from the site during construction.
"We want to create minimal disruption," she said.
