Church fills school gap

Catholic college to cater for northern suburbs growth

THE Catholic Church is planning to build a school for nearly 2000 students to cater for rapid growth in the city’s northern suburbs.

Coomera College, a Prepto-Year-12 campus and church parish, is planned for a 16.7ha site on Kerkin Road, Upper Coomera, which the church bought last year for $15.1 million.

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane has filed a development application for the school, one of around 35 needed for the region to keep up with growth, according to leading demographer Bernard Salt.

The school is expected to be built over 10-15 years in eight stages, with road upgrades on Kerkin Rd as needed.

It is hoped the school’s first stage will open in 2019, accommodating about 366 students and 26 staff.

By 2033, when the school’s eight stages are completed and operational, it is expected to have 1830 students and 134 staff.

It will be the first new Catholic school built since 2010 and the first all-year campus since 2005.

Acting Mayor and area councillor Donna Gates said the northern corridor was in need of new schools.

“The nearby Assisi College is just about at capacity and it has a waiting list so obviously Catholic Education are confident about the need for growth,” she said.

“We are on a roll compared to Queensland as a whole and the rest of Australia and this new school will provide an option for all the residents in the northern suburbs because the need is there.”

The school will take its first Year 12 students in 2024 once stage three of the campus completed.

Findings in 2015 by Mr Salt showed the city needed 35 new schools by 2050 if the Gold Coast was to maximise its potential as an education and health leader.

Mr Salt’s report, Beyond the Horizon, gave insight into the city over the next 30 years when the population is forecast to double to 1.2 million people. is

The Archdiocese is expected to seek to build a parish church at the Upper Coomera site but it will be the subject of a separate development application and will not be constructed until at least 2027.

Australian Bureau of Statistics figures released last week show the population in parts of the city’s north, including Coomera and Willowvale, grew 5-7 per cent in the past year.

The growth far outstripped the national average of 1.4 per cent and greater Brisbane’s 1.6 per cent.