Riverstone MP Kevin Conolly shows residents where a new high school at The Ponds will be built. Pictures: Gene Ramirez.
Waiting: Joshua, Lachlan and Tiffany Brooks at the site of the soon-to-be-built high school at The Ponds. Picture: Gene Ramirez.
The site of a new high school in The Ponds was unveiled on Wednesday but no one expects the institution to be a silver bullet solution to the strain from population growth.
The school will be built at the corner of Riverbank and Ridgeline drives and is expected to be ready for students by semester one 2015.
But The Ponds, Kellyville Ridge, the Alex Avenue Precinct and Stanhope Gardens are booming and more schools are needed to meet demand, parents say.
Tiffany Brooks, who lives in The Ponds, had campaigned for a high school to be built in the area for about four years.
She was ‘‘pleased’’ the state government had committed to build the new school but said it would come too late to benefit both her sons.
‘‘It’s good for all the young families in the area,’’ she said.
‘‘(But) I would have been more pleased if it was built some time ago.
‘‘I have an older son going into high school now.’’
Mrs Brooks’ sons have attended John Palmer Public School in The Ponds and her eldest is moving into year 7 at Glenwood High School this year.
If The Ponds High School is built on time, her eldest boy will be in year 9 and may not want, or be able, to change schools.
Glenwood High has borne the brunt of the influx of high school students in the region over the past five years.
It is the main public high school to service Kellyville Ridge, Stanhope Gardens, The Ponds, Glenwood, Parklea, Kings Langley and Kings Park.
Quakers Hill and Kellyville high schools are the next closest.
Riverstone MP Kevin Conolly said the area was also in desperate need of a new primary school and he would lobby the education minister for a commitment to that this year.
‘‘They’re (schools) bursting,’’ he said, ‘‘They’re very full and we absolutely know how much pressure there is on local schools.’’
Mr Conolly said the new high school would have 52 teachers and capacity for 1100 students.
The project is currently in the design phase with statutory approval expected early this year.
The department expects to call for tenders in the first half of 2013 and begin construction by the end of 2013.
■A forecast compiled by The Ponds resident Tony Brooks estimates Glenwood High School would have 1897 students by the time a new high school is complete.
■Premier Barry O’Farrell ‘‘fast-tracked’’ 10,000 new homes in The Ponds in April 2011.
■Government plans include 6300 homes, with 18,000 people, and two new schools in the Alex Avenue precinct of Riverstone.
■9000 new homes, 27,000 residents, three new primary schools and a new K-12 school are scheduled for Riverstone.