The Christian school is set to expand in 2019, introducing Year 7 from term one. Year 5-7 will be housed in the new building, which is being constructed in Little Barber Street, parallel to the existing school. Each following year, a new year group will be introduced, so the school will cater from prep to Year 10 by 2022. 

Construction started in August and Carinya principal Chad Kentwell said construction was “on track”, with completion expected in December 2018 or January 2019.

“So much has been done in just over nine weeks,” Mr Kentwell said.

In the last two months, two houses have been demolished to make way for the subsequent stages of the expansion project. 

The middle school is stage one of Carinya’s expansion plans, with stage two the construction of a senior school building, and stage three the construction of a new early learning centre. 

“Once it’s been cleared, we’ll be turning it into a usable space until we start stage two in 2020,” Mr Kentwell said.

The students will be actively involved in designing and establishing an area to develop and apply their agricultural knowledge, with plans for garden plots and possibly chickens.

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In the summer holidays, work will also be done in the grounds of the existing school to connect the two pieces of land, which are separated by a laneway. The boundary fence in Little Barber Street will be moved and a footpath will be laid alongside, connecting to the paving at the front of the existing school. A breezeway will be created at the back of the existing school and a parking area for a new school bus. A crossing will also be painted on the road in the laneway.

Mr Kentwell said interest and enrolments for Year 7 in 2019 had been “steady”. 

“We’re already at the top end of what we were hoping for and still with a whole term to go,” he said.

“We’re anticipating more people inquiring and enrolling before next year.

“I think people recognise that it’s great for have more choice in Gunnedah [for secondary schooling].”

Among the students who will be the first to go through Year 7 at Gunnedah Carinya are Alice Roach and Charlie Hargraves. The pair have been attending the school since prep and are “excited” to see their new building going up so quickly.

Alice said she was looking forward to being able to do science in a laboratory “with Bunsen burners and chemicals”.

Charlie said it was nice to know that there wouldn’t be too much change for him next year.

“I don’t think it’s scary [going into Year 7] because you don’t have to worry about making new friends because you’re going with the same people,” he said.

Before Carinya announced its plans to introduce Year 7, Charlie said his parents had discussed whether to send him to Carinya in Tamworth or keep him in town at St Mary’s College.

Alice was originally going to follow in the footsteps of her two sisters and brother next year.

“I was fairly sure where I was going – I was going to go to Tamworth [Carinya] where my siblings go, and now I’m not,” she said.