The blessing marked the first stage of the building project, which is worth almost $17 million. The first sod was turned by twins Taylor and Jake Nickolls, helped by their father, Mark Nickolls.
The school will open its doors for term one next year, catering to 460 pupils in years 1 to 8, but would eventually have capacity for up to 650 pupils.
At stage one, the school will comprise 20 classroom spaces, administration areas, a library and a multipurpose hall.
Stage two would have an additional eight classrooms, with room to expand.
Ministry of Education spokeswoman Kim Shannon said in a statement the school's design would reflect its natural surroundings and feature multipurpose spaces, enabling ''individual and collaborative teaching and learning'', would be built to high energy-efficient standards and would meet the Green Building Council's requirements concerning sustainable design and construction practices.
On Saturday, board of trustees chairwoman Sally Mingaye-Hall said the blessing had been pulled together at ''incredibly short notice''. A wider celebration would be held ''at a later date'' with the laying of a foundation stone, she said.
Guests at Saturday's blessing included the trustees, Queenstown Lakes deputy mayor Lyal Cocks, Shotover Country developers Sharyn and Grant Stalker and the new school's principal, Ben Witheford.
Shotover Country is a 120ha $300 million development near Queenstown, comprising 750 residential lots and a commercial retail area.
