Principal Simon Perry said the draft plans had been completed and they were hoping to put the project out to tender early in the new year with work on the major redevelopment of the school to start in the second term.

The revamp signals a bright future for the school which was earmarked for closure in the 1990s.

Mr Perry said the school's student population had grown since 1994 which was about 80 children when he did his teaching rounds there as a Deakin University student. There are currently 215 students enrolled.

But keeping the small-school feel is just what the school community has in mind for the design of the rebuild.

"We don't want to go too much bigger. We like to be nice and small. We really like being a small community school and that's what we're designed to be," Mr Perry said. "That's part of the brief of the build is to create that small welcoming school."

A new "plaza"-style entrance with an Indigenous garden will greet students at the new-look school. "It's pretty exciting. We're going to upgrade and modernise the whole school," Mr Perry said.

The redesign includes a learning studio and administration area and a revamp of the older classroom section. "It's a pretty big project," Mr Perry said.

The building project will go out to tender in January or February and is expected to take 18 months to two years to complete the rebuild which will be done over two stages.

The new administration area which includes new student toilets, sick bays and a classroom area would be built first.

The second stage would see the rest of the school rebuilt. "The portables on the eastern side of the school all go," Mr Perry said. "And from where the old heritage school building right down to the corner of Merrivale Drive will be brand new."

Mr Perry said the school would keep some portables which will be upgraded to blended in with the new buildings. One will be redeveloped into a science and STEM hub. "It's been a lot of work to get to here," Mr Perry said. "We are getting closer, which is nice."

The state government announced funding for the upgrade in the 2020 budget.

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