There has been speculation in Wanaka about where the new school will be located since Education Minister Nikki Kaye made the announcement on Sunday.
The Ministry of Education is working to secure a site but because of the commercially sensitive nature of the negotiations, it would not disclose the potential location or who it was negotiating with.
One site inside Wanaka's urban boundary has already been set aside for educational purposes.
A potential educational area is included in the master plan for the Three Parks mixed residential and commercial development.
When contacted by the Otago Daily Times Three Parks developer Allan Dippie did not wish to comment about the potential for the new school to be located within the 100ha development.
One of the policies set out in the Three Parks Special Zone is to work with the Ministry of Education to enable a school to be located within the zone, should such a facility be required.
Ministry of Education acting head of education infrastructure service, Rob Giller, said the site of the new school would be decided using a two-stage evaluation process.
First the geographical area for the new school was taken into consideration and then potential sites were considered against a number of criteria, he said.
The new school would cater for the growing population within the town's urban boundary.
There was no time frame for the negotiations, he said.
There was also no preferred start date for construction but stage one of the two-stage project was expected to be completed by 2019.
Community consultation on the new school would take place in the coming months following on from the 2015 consultation.
