All three Cromwell schools are ''bulging at the seams''. The roll growth is the catalyst for construction under way and planned at all three, with the focus on accommodating incoming junior pupils.
At Cromwell College two new junior classrooms are being built and another planned, while Cromwell Primary School hopes to start work soon on a new entrant learning hub.
Goldfields Primary is using two portable buildings as classrooms, while waiting for the sign-off on new junior classrooms.
Acting principal at Goldfields, Anna Harrison, said the school roll had been steadily increasing over several years and was now 254 pupils.
At the end of this year, Goldfields would lose 30 year 6 pupils, but its new entrants class this year contained 56 pupils.
''It used to be that we'd gain 10 or 15 new entrants a year and then it became 20 to 25 and then averaged 30. Now we gain 40 to 50.''
Although increasing rolls was a good problem to have, it presented challenges in accommodating the expanded classes.
The Ministry of Education had approved the new classroom block and all the necessary consents had been gained, so now it was just a waiting game until the funding came through, she said.
''It's a slow process. We moved our library into a Portacom on site so we could use the library as a classroom and the ministry has also leased us another Portacom this year, which we're using as a new entrants classroom, which we need urgently.
''However, a Portacom is really just a tin shed, so while it's OK as a temporary solution, it's not ideal.''
Cromwell was increasingly being seen as a hub town for workers from Queenstown and Wanaka, looking for more affordable housing and commuting to work. The town now had five early childhood centres, making it easier for working parents to access child care, Mrs Harrison said.
Of course, those centres fed into the local primary schools, boosting the rolls.
It was hoped to call tenders soon for the complex, which was estimated to cost between $450,000 and $500,000. The building would be funded by the Ministry under the school's five-year agreement.
By the end of last year, the school roll was 222 and by the end of July this year, it was ''bulging at the seams'' and had had grown to 255. The school also needed a hall and it was hoped to make a start on one by July next year.
There was '' a small pocket'' of ministry funding for that project but the school community would be raising funds for the rest of the building, which could cost about $850,000.
''The ministry's agreed, with our number of pupils, we're entitled to a hall but there's a very long waiting list for funds for a hall, so we've decided we need it sooner, rather than later,'' Mrs Brooks said.
The hall would also provide a designated space for the Cromwell holiday programme which operated from the school library. Upgrading the senior pupils' classrooms would be the next construction project after the hall.
Cromwell College has two new junior classrooms under way, which should be completed early in term 4.
Principal Mason Stretch said work on a further specialist classroom would hopefully start in December.
Down the road at Alexandra, work began a fortnight ago on a $1.1million refurbishment of Dunstan High School's technology block.
Six classrooms and a design studio are included in the block, which caters for pupils studying art, technology, design, food technology and visual communication.
Principal Brent Russell said the bulk of the funding was provided by the ministry through its five-year-agreement building programme but the school board was also contributing.
''It'll ensure that the students have access to 21st-century learning spaces,'' he said. The block should be completed within six months.
In a separate contract, Dunstan's special needs area will also be refurbished and extended.
The Maniototo Area School is waiting on concept plans to be drawn up by the Ministry of Education, to upgrade its school buildings.
Maniototo became an area school in 1969 and before that, the complex was the Ranfurly District High School. Some of the classrooms date back to the high school days.
''Our classrooms are in serious need of an upgrade, so we're looking forward to that happening,'' principal Patsy Inder said.
Nothing had been finalised yet on the scale of the upgrade or funding.
Building blocks
Major projects under way or soon to start at Central Otago schools
Dunstan High School technology block $1.1million
Cromwell Primary School hall $850,000
Cromwell College two junior classrooms $600,000
Cromwell Primary School new entrant learning hub $500,000
