STUDENTS attending the new Bungendore High in early 2023 will initially be attending classes in a “pop-up school” of demountables.

The school is expected to cater for 500 students, and has been long-called for by the community, but its location and design have been shrouded in controversy.

Earlier this year, the incoming Queanbeyan-Palerang Regional Council withdrew its previous support for the site, and a noisy, motivated group of locals continues to complain about the school’s impact on the town’s heritage precinct, public facilities and tourism appeal.

Updated designs for the school were unveiled yesterday (July 1) by NSW Deputy Premier Paul Toole, Minister for Education Sarah Mitchell and Member for Monaro Nichole Overall, following months of engagement with the community.

The new designs include more car parking spaces, the relocation of sporting facilities, visual maintenance of the original town street grid, reducing the scale of buildings, and improving the mixture of materials to be used when building.

In unveiling the plans, Mitchell said she appreciated the community’s understanding.

“Given the situation, we are working to provide a temporary, pop-up school for the start of 2023 to ensure students of the new high school can come together and start to establish their school culture,” she said.

“We are working hard to provide a unique new school with modern facilities designed specifically for this community.”