Ballarat's newest school is on track to open for its first 60 students at the start of the 2020 school year.
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Construction of stage one of Lucas Primary School, comprising the school's gym, administration building and one learning community (classrooms) is due to be finished on December 20 and handed over to its staff in early January.
The school oval has been grassed and landscaping works are underway.
A second wing of classrooms and a specialist pavilion, where STEM and visual arts classes will be held, are scheduled to be finished mid-February.
"We are going to start off with about 60 but we expect to grow very quickly once we are up and running," said Lucas Primary School principal Sue Sawyer.
"There are people shifting in to the area all the time and we are still definitely getting inquiries and expecting to get more."
Currently there are 19 prep students enrolled to have their first day of school on the school's first day, with transition sessions beginning this week at Lucas Community Centre.
The school will also open with a grade one to three class, and a senior grade four to six class.
Ms Sawyer said a steady stream of inquiries about new enrolments was coming in as the school's opening drew near.
The first stage of Lucas Primary School will be big enough for 200 students, and when all phases of construction are complete it will have a capacity of 475.
While the prep students will be starting their school journeys, most of the older students moving in to Lucas Primary are transferring from other schools in Ballarat.
"They live near the school and have watched it grow and want to be part of it," Ms Sawyer said.
The Lucas Primary School zone takes in the rapidly expanding areas of Lucas and Cardigan, as far west as Lake Burrumbeet and south in to parts of Bunkers Hill and Smythes Creek.
Ms Sawyer said it was exciting to be part of a new school and to shape its culture.
"This is an exciting opportunity to shape the culture from the start," she said. "Our focus is on maximising learning growth for all students, to build our school community, build a home-school partnership and being part of the Lucas community is very important as well," she said.
"We have developed a curriculum to meet the needs of the students so they achieve high levels in literacy and numeracy, but also skills in critical thinking, problem solving, resilience and developing the child as a whole."
The school's logo represents much of what is envisaged for the school, while also tying in the history of the suburb.
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The tree represents student growth, building partnerships between teachers, parents and children, and the history of the Lucas Girls planting the Avenue of Honour to commemorate the region's fallen WWI soldiers.
Ms Sawyer and vice principal Danielle Lee have been visiting other recently opened primary schools in rapidly growing regions such as Tarneit and Point Cook to see how their schools are working and growing.
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