EDUCATION minister John Gardner has predicted further expansion of education facilities in the north, as the region’s population continues to grow.

The State Government recently announced its new northern “super school” would be built at Angle Vale – on Riverbanks Road – as it looks to cater to a surge in school-age children in the north.

The new school is expected to ease the load on Evanston’s Gawler & District College and Munno Para’s Mark Oliphant College, which are now at capacity.

Mr Gardner said he was “certain” his department would need to look at new opportunities to grow the education sector in Gawler and the surrounding areas.

“The growth in student numbers in the northern suburbs of Adelaide is significant and has been significant for a number of years – we believe it will continue to grow,” he said.

“We’ve got a new school being built at Angle Vale, new facilities in the works for a number of schools in the northern suburbs.

“I’m certain in the years ahead we’ll need to be looking very seriously at the population growth of this area as we contemplate the Education Department’s future infrastructure needs.”

The new Angle Vale “super school” is expected to cater for 1675 students, and will open in 2022.

Mr Gardner said the department would spend the next two years consulting with various stakeholders to set the zones for the school.

“What year levels it opens with is still to be determined, particularly in high school, you don’t open a new high school with all year levels because not many students switch high school once they’ve started,” he said.

“So in 2022, year seven and eights will all be going in to high school, so at the very least we would expect that it would have year sevens and eights.

“It may have some early years as well, it may have a full primary school program; that remains to be seen and worked out.”

While the new “super school” will help Gawler & District College with its capacity issues, the Evanston school is preparing for a $10 million upgrade of its facilities.

In September, principal Angie Michael told The Bunyip she expected to see work begin on the upgrade before the end of the year, but Mr Gardner said there was no time frame for beginning the project.

“The process takes its course, but we’re hoping that project will be completed by the end of 2021, in time for the year sevens coming in 2022.

“It may well be completed well before then, but there’s obviously the normal process and there is so many school building projects going on throughout South Australia at the moment as a result of existing and new investments taking place.”