Back in October of last year the school announced that it was looking to introduce a boarding element to its school, and the Anglican Schools Corporation has followed through on that by lodging an integrated development application with Dubbo Regional Council.

Pending council approval the facility, which sits on a former Aboriginal hostel site and currently houses Vista Lodge, will also need to get ticked off by the NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA).

NESA won’t be inspecting the facility until May, but the school’s principal Craig Mansour said he is excited about the possibilities for the community should approval be granted.

“We’re still waiting for the regulatory approval, and that is an important part of the process because we want everything done properly,” Mr Mansour said.

“But we think this is something that can be great for the whole community.

“We would be looking at people from Western NSW to send their children to the school and board, and they can then come in and watch them play sport, be in musicals or other school activities, and spend the weekend in Dubbo rather than places like Orange, Sydney or Canberra.

“They then have to book accommodation, find places to eat and shop, or fuel up the car, so it works to benefit the city as well as our school.

“The site is a five-minute drive from our school and we think boarding would extend the culture of our school.”

Macquarie Anglican currently has 20 children in its pre-Kindergarten program as well as 523 students enrolled from Kindergarten through to Year 12, however the boarding facility will only be for students in the secondary section of the school.

Boys and girls will be catered for, with staff on-site to maintain separation.

Mr Mansour said should the various approvals be granted, the school will take its first enrolments for 2019.

“David Payne has done a lot of work and done a great job to get us to this point,” he said.

“Council has been supportive as well but we’re mindful of the process and hopeful we will get the approval.

“Should it come through we would look to have our first intake of boarders at the school next year.

“We’re excited about the prospect of adding a boarding aspect to our school, but there’s still a bit of a process we need to go through.”

Information on the development can be obtained by visiting the Dubbo Regional Council website and accessing the development application tracker in the site’s planning section.