'Significant milestone': New catholic school confirmed for Pāpāmoa

Land that used to be a tsunami mound at Corner of The Boulevard and Golden Sands Dr will now be home to a new school. Photo / George Novak

A new multi-million dollar primary school has been confirmed for Pāpāmoa.

The Suzanne Aubert Catholic School is expected to open at the beginning of Term 1, 2021.

The news was confirmed by the Ministry of Education on Thursday.

The Year 1-6 school will be located on the corner of Golden Sands Dr and The Boulevard, Pāpāmoa East. The school, owned by the Catholic Diocese of Hamilton, is expected to start with a maximum roll of 100. Depending on demand, it is expected to eventually expand to a maximum roll of 250 students.

Graeme Roil , the Catholic Integrated Schools Office property and finance manager, said the Government go-ahead was "a significant milestone".

"We are pretty happy."

Roil first began scouting locations for the school 10 years ago, eventually buying the land at Pāpāmoa five years ago, he said.

"When we purchased the site it was essentially farmland with no surrounding houses, and it was significant farmland - there was nothing there. That was very, very early stages of that development building up in that area."

Roil said the church had been working on plans for the school while waiting for the Government's agreement. It would now work with builders and the project management team to establish the different stages of construction.

Graeme Roil says confirmation of a new catholic integrated school for Pāpāmoa is a "significant milestone". Photo / File

Until these plans were finalised, Roil could not say how much the school would cost other than "it will be a multi-million dollar project".

"It's not an insignificant investment to build a school these days."

Roil has co-ordinated the establishment of the school on behalf of Bishop Stephen Lowe of the Hamilton Catholic Diocese. Bishop Lowe is the proprietor for nearly all catholic integrated schools in the Hamilton Diocese, of which there are 28 primary and five secondary colleges, including Aquinas College which opened in 2003.

The future students of Suzanne Aubert Catholic School will join the diocese's network which includes 9700 students.

A governance facilitator and Board of Trustees are expected to be confirmed next week.

The site of the new school. Photo / George Novak

Like most integrated schools in New Zealand, the church will own the land and buildings but the school will be state-run.

A spokesman for Education Minister Chris Hipkins told the Bay of Plenty Times the school would "provide educational choice and quality provision for future students in the Pāpāmoa - Te Puke area".

"The prospect of a new catholic school was raised in 2017. Since then, Ministry of Education-led negotiations have included consulting with other schools in the area to ensure the local population can sustain it alongside existing schools and other schools that are planned for the area as part of the National Education Growth Plan," the spokesman said.

"The school will fund its own property, but government funding will be provided for operating and salary costs."

Bay of Plenty MP Todd Muller said he had supported this outcome for five years and was pleased the Government had come to the party.

"Pāpāmoa is our fastest growing suburb and we need this school. As we expand further east, more schools and services will be needed still," Muller said.

"I'm delighted for our local catholic community who now have local choice [and] in turn might take some pressure off other local schools in the short term."

Golden Sands School principal Melanie Taylor says confirmation of a new school being built nearby is great news to offer more choice to the local community. Photo / File

Golden Sands School principal Melanie Taylor said the new school would be a "great support for us".

"Obviously we are growing rapidly and it gives people a choice," she said.

Last month, this paper reported a Mitre 10 Mega, BP service station, medical centre and big-box retail shops were among a swag of new developments planned for to help cater to Pāpāmoa's rapidly growing population.

In 2013, Wairakei, the Pāpāmoa suburb that includes Golden Sands and the new school, had 126 residents. By 2018, it had 3345 - up 2554 per cent.

A tsunami refuge was initially planned to be integrated into the school grounds. Tauranga City Council stockpiled some 10,000 cubic metres of dirt fill on the site, but removed it over summer after changing course on the refuge plan.