Yass parents' dream of a new, independent Catholic secondary college in their town moved one step closer to being realised on Wednesday, following the news of a location finally being acquired for the new campus.
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The Mt Carmel College Steering Committee announced at their inaugural AGM on Wednesday night that they had signed a 20-year lease on the old Mt Carmel secondary school buildings just a few days ago.
Parents said they were overjoyed at the news, which would mean their children would have the choice of being educated at a Catholic school without having to travel hours to Canberra.
Steering Committee chair Kirsty Dwyer said if the new school's Board of Studies application process was successful, the school would be taking registrations for 2015.
In addition, by adding more space to the new Mt Carmel lease, Ms Dwyer said they also planned to open the school to Year 11 in 2016 and Year 12 in 2017.
She said they had signed the lease on the weekend, describing it as a milestone for the new school.
The Catholic Education Office had announced in March that Mount Carmel Catholic High School would be closing at the end of 2014, infuriating parents who said they hadn't been consulted.
Since then, the Mt Carmel College Steering Committee has been working on a way to keep the town's only Catholic secondary college open.
At the community meeting on Wednesday, about 100 parents were presented with three options to keep the school open - a working party with the Catholic Education Office, a new campus constructed in Yass or Murrumbateman or the new lease in the old Mount Carmel High School buildings.
Ms Dwyer said it was great news that the old heritage-listed buildings which had previously housed Mt Carmel would be able to continue to be used.
"This was a massive step forward because building space is a big part of your Board of Studies application and you have to have space to teach in for them to look at your application," she said.
Ms Dwyer said the next step was to apply through the Board of Studies registration and application process, which will involve an inspector coming out to see the new premises in the next few weeks.
"That then goes to ministerial approval and we should get formal notification of our application around September and if that's successful we can start taking enrolments," she said.
Yass parent Chantal Fleming, who attended the meeting, said she was absolutely over the moon at the announcement of the new lease.
"To know now that we have that choice back within the Yass Valley ... this is all we wanted. All we wanted was the choice for our kids," she said.
"We were doing this for the benefit of our children and for the community. That's all we've ever wanted, to know we've got choice again and we can keep out kids in the Yass Valley. It's fantastic."
