newy.com.au – Construction has begun on a new public education precinct at Huntlee, with the NSW Government breaking ground on the town’s first public high school alongside a co-located public primary school and preschool.
The schools are scheduled to open on Day 1, Term 1, 2028, and will cater for 1500 students, including 1000 places at the high school and 500 at the primary school. The public preschool will provide places for up to 120 children each week.
The project is aimed at meeting demand in Huntlee, described by the government as the Hunter’s first new town in 50 years, and in the surrounding growth area, where the population is forecast to more than double to more than 25,000 by 2046. The government says the schools will also ease pressure on Branxton Public School.
The new high school will include 54 classrooms, specialist support class facilities, a library, administration spaces, and vocational education and training workshops, including a kitchen for construction and hospitality pathways. The primary school will include 27 classrooms, dedicated spaces for specialist support classes and the preschool. Both the primary and high school will have multipurpose halls, as well as sports and play facilities.
Deputy Premier and Minister for Education and Early Learning Prue Car said the start of work was a significant step for local families.
“This is a major milestone for a rapidly growing community which under Labor is finally getting the schools it deserves after a decade of the Nationals and Liberals telling families they weren’t needed,” Ms Car said.
“Until now, families moving into this area to build their lives have had to send their children as far as 20km away, to schools that were bursting at the seams.”
Minister for the Hunter Yasmin Catley said the project reflected years of local advocacy.
“This community has grown and today marks the beginning of a project that locals have been calling for over many years,” Ms Catley said.
“These schools will give children the opportunity to learn closer to home and provide families with the confidence that essential services are growing alongside their community.”
The need for a new high school in the area was identified by local families and Member for Cessnock Clayton Barr as far back as 2012, and later became the focus of the community-led Build Huntlee High School campaign, which attracted almost 800 signatures.
“Our community has been waiting a long time for this day. Breaking ground on these schools means that kids growing up in North Rothbury, Greta and Branxton will have world-class public education right on their doorstep,” Mr Barr said.
A public consultation process is now open on the naming of the new schools, with community members invited to provide feedback through the NSW Education survey.
The Huntlee project forms part of a wider program of school infrastructure works in the Hunter, including a new high school for Medowie, the Gillieston Public School redevelopment, the delivered Newcastle High School redevelopment and an upgrade at Thornton Public School.
The government says new public preschools will also open next year at 12 public school sites across the region, including Gillieston, Tenambit, Booragul, Teralba, Maryland, Shortland, Ellalong, Kearsley, Cessnock, Nulkalba, Weston and Kurri Kurri. Public early learning centres are also being delivered at Muswellbrook Public School and Cessnock East Public School with the Albanese Government.
The projects sit within the NSW Government’s $9 billion school infrastructure allocation in the 2025-26 Budget, including $2.1 billion for new and upgraded schools in regional NSW.
