Peter Doyle wants a change of scenery.
Faced with one of the fastest growing rolls in the country, the Wakatipu High School board of trustees chairman believes the school has outgrown its present location and, even with the addition of several new buildings, will be forced to move within the next decade.
With this in mind, the school has employed Opus Consultants to rewrite its 10-year development plan to meet its changing needs brought on by a rapidly growing roll and take the future relocation of the school into account.
"Our consultants gave us some new ideas to work on, which can lead to a positive new direction," Mr Doyle said.
Last year, Wakatipu High School was granted $1.3 million from the Ministry of Education to build six classrooms.
This figure was based on a national model used by the ministry to determine the cost of building.
At the time, Mr Doyle expressed concern that the amount was insufficient to cover the higher cost of building in Queenstown.
While he still doubts that the funding will be adequate, Opus has suggested various alternatives to the previous plan.
"We will be looking at different options. We might be looking at different ways of using our existing facilities, and it could be that we split the funds and build two or three classrooms now and more later. But that is still for the board to decide," he said.
The Ministry of Education has since decided that Wakatipu High School will next year begin to phase out its year 7 and 8 classes.
While this will take some of the immediate pressure off the school's overcrowded classrooms, Mr Doyle believes it will only provide temporary relief.
"With the predicted growth of Queenstown, we will be back up to the same number of students in about three years. We will still need those six new classrooms within the next few years," he said.
The new 10-year plan is expected to be finalised before Christmas.
