First look: $50m master plan for new Victory Christian College campus for 1100 students

A prestigious private school has flagged plans for a new P-12 campus for more than 1000 students as Bendigo parents place their kids on “large waiting lists” to get in.

Victory Christian College has lodged a master plan with the state government to build a new P-12 school in Bendigo for over 1000 students. Picture: Contributed.

Victory Christian College has lodged a $50m master plan with the state government to build a new P-12 school in Bendigo for more than 1000 students to “cater for an increased demand”.

The independent school would build the new campus on a 73,321 sqm lot on the corner of Sargeants Rd and the Midland Hwy, Epsom, about 15 minutes north of Bendigo’s CBD.

Victory Christian College, Strathdale / Bendigo

VCC principal Anne Marie Rodgers said the plans came to meet demand as the existing 850 student Bendigo campus in Strathdale was “at capacity with large waiting lists”.

Victory Christian College Bendigo Principal Anne Marie Rodgers. Picture: Contributed.

Ms Rodgers said there was “huge interest” from parents wanting to send their kids to VCC and with most Bendigo high schools “bursting at the seams”, the move to expand was a no-brainer.

“That site is in the major growth corridor of Bendigo where population is expected to grow over the next 15 years,” she said.

“We felt it was an opportunity because our school has got such a good reputation and the demand is so high to open a second campus to really help with the future development of the city.

“25 per cent of our students come from that side already – we currently bus them across.”

VCC’s existing campus on Kairn Road 4km from Bendigo CBD would remain alongside the new school, eventually bringing the total amount of students to nearly 2000.

Planning documents state the new school would help fulfil the flagged increase in demand for educational services in the Bendigo, provide local employment and a “community-focused institution that prides itself on being welcoming and inclusionary to the wider neighbourhood”.

Victory Christian College has lodged a master plan with the state government to build a new P-12 school in Bendigo for over 1000 students. Picture: Contributed.

“The Epsom Huntly growth corridor is the fastest growing in Bendigo, with both state and local governments identifying the need for more educational facilities in the area over the next 20 years,” town planner Naomi Beck said.

“As no provision has been made for non-government school sites through structure planning in the subregion, VCC have looked to source the most appropriate site in Epsom to support a future school campus.”

If approved, construction would be staged over more than 10 years on the 20 acre site “with room for growth over the next 10 years”, Ms Rodgers said.

Ms Rodgers said, if approved, construction of the first stage would start in 2025, and was expected to be completed in 2026 for about 200 students and 18 staff.

An artist’s rendition of the proposed new Victory Christian College campus in Epsom. Picture: Contributed.

Stage one would see with classrooms, a food tech room, science lab, and two basketball courts for students in prep, grade 1, grade 2, grade five, grade six and year seven.

The master plan would culminate in 1125 students and between 87 and 130 staff in 2038, made up of about 525 primary students and 600 secondary students.

“It will be staged, very strategic growth,” Ms Rodgers said.

“We’re all very excited about it.”

Ms Rodgers said parents were already expressing interest in enrolling their kids at the new campus “quite frequently”, but the school was waiting on state government approval before they could give parents an expected starting date.

“Various upgrades” would be needed to “facilitate the school”, planning documents state, with school traffic expected to generate a total of 1021 trips in the morning and 824 in the afternoon when the school is completed in 2038.

The school would provide a 83 space carpark accessed from Sargeants Rd 20 bicycle parking spaces, nine drop-off zone parking spaces on Sargeants Rd, space for school buses on Sargeants Rd and Station St.