The Marist Brothers school will now cater for prep to year 12 students, with construction expected to start and finish in 2014. 

“It will have a whole-school approach allowing families to connect to one school for the continuum of their education,” Marist Schools Australia director Michael Green said. “There’s anticipated growth in Bendigo and therefore demand for primary and secondary school places. 

“This will help meet that demand.”

Brother Green said there was “a lot of pressure” on secondary school places in the area. 

“It’s fair to say the number of secondary places is under a great deal of strain,” he said. 

“There’s an immediate need for an extra service provider for secondary years and we also anticipate growth in primary schools.”

Brother Green said there were still issues to be worked through before the project could begin. 

“We’ve got this decision which informs the style of school and the way it fits together,” he said.

“Now we need to do some work with the City of Greater Bendigo on zoning and development. 

“Negotiations are progressing very well and we need to secure capital grants funding and have other things in place to go ahead.”

Plans for the school are yet to be drawn up. 

Brother Green said high school students would probably start in early 2015, followed by primary students a year or two later.

“It will gradually grow to be a school of around 1000 to 1200 students with a decade,” he said.