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Brief history of the formation of KGSC

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Kelvin Grove Road Provisional School 

1875 to 1887

Kelvin Grove’s first school was born of community determination. Funds were raised between 1870-1874 for a purpose‑built school on Portion 274 with the finished timber building opened on 3 May 1875 with strong enrolments. It quickly became the social, educational and symbolic centre of the district, especially after changes in state legislation mandated accessible education for Queensland.

  • 1870: residents of Kelvin Grove began raising funds for a school on Northern Road (renamed Kelvin Grove Road in the 1880s).
  • 1874: Surveyor General reserves the 1.66 ha Portion 274, from Kelvin Grove Rd to Gregory Terrace; community pledges £150 toward construction.
  • 3 May 1875: Kelvin Grove Road School officially opened by Premier Arthur Macalister; 132 pupils enrolled.
  • 10 Sep 1875 :Queensland Education Act assented, confirming free, compulsory and secular education.
  • 1875–1887:Enrolments consistently rise leading to the need for further expansion of the Provisional School

Kelvin Grove Boys School

1887 to 1949

Following the recommendations of a Royal Commission into State funded Queensland education the original school split in 1887 and the boys moved to a new site across Victoria Park Road with F.L. Walker as first headmaster. Kelvin Grove Boys State School became a major educational centre with rich community involvement until its closure in 1949.

  • 1886–1887: Two‑storey timber classroom block built on Victoria Park land.
  • 7 Nov  1887: Boys School opens; original 1875 bell relocated to the new campus.
  • 1918: WWI timber Honour Board unveiled; 168 former pupils, staff and one nurse commemorated.
  • 1919: Concrete memorial gateway erected at L’Estrange Terrace, bearing “HONOUR OUR BOYS”.
  • 1935: North Brisbane Intermediate School opens, transferring senior primary grades."
  • 1942–1945: Buildings requisitioned by the Australian Army for wartime use.
  • 1946: Boundary fences and concrete retaining walls constructed after Army vacates.
  • 1949: Boys School closes; site later incorporated into the growing Infants campus.

Kelvin Grove Girls & Infants School

1887 to 1950​

On 7 November 1887 the original campus became a girls’ and infants’ school, while a separate boys’ school opened across the road. Rapid growth led to extensive beautification, particularly through Arbor Day ceremonies, and by 1930 it was the largest girls’ and infants’ school in Queensland.

  • ​​7 Nov 1887: Girls & ​​Infants State School formally established on the Provisional School site catering to both boys and girls until completion of Boys School.
  • 1890s–1930s: Annual Arbor Day tree planting hundreds of trees added, many by parents and pupils.
  • 6 Jun  1930: Decorative brick and concrete gateway unveiled during Arbor Day festivities.
  • 1930: Enrolment peaks at 757 girls; neighbouring Boys School records 527 boys.
  • 1939–1945: Grounds used for civil defence drills; slit trenches and air raid shelters dug on site.
  • 1946: New perimeter fences and concrete retaining walls completed as part of post‑war upgrades.

Kelvin Grove State Primary School

1950 to 2001​

Post‑war prosperity along with state efforts to modernise the education system saw expansive building work undertaken. Two red‑brick blocks (JA 1950, JB 1955) replaced timber classrooms and were widely praised for progressive design, generous windows and landscaped forecourts. The primary campus served Kelvin Grove children for five decades.

  • Apr 1947: Education Minister T. A. Williams announces new brick Primary and Infants Schools.
  • 30 Oct  1948: Foundation stone for Block JA laid.
  • 29 Jan  1950: Block JA opens with10 classrooms, a medical room and visual education rooms
  • 1950–1951: Formal concrete paths, symmetrical lawns and flowerbeds established in front forecourt.
  • 1953: Dux Honour Board installed in Block JA foyer.
  • 1955: Block JB (three classrooms, glazed stairwell) erected beside JA.
  • 1950s: Press lauds Kelvin Grove as “best designed primary school in Queensland.
  • 1960s–1990s: Minor refurbishments but original architectural character retained.

Kelvin Grove Infants School

1952 to 1961​

A V‑shaped infants block opened in 1952 on the former Boys School ground, catering for nearly 440 pupils with a large kindergarten and airy upper‑floor classrooms. Falling enrolments after local housing closed led to its conversion to a high school in 1961.

  • 1950–1952: Construction of Blocks SA and SB; brick walls, large steel‑framed windows, terrazzo stairs.
  • 17 May  1952: Official opening by Attorney‑General William Power; first intake fills eight classrooms.
  • 1952–1953: Curved entry bay landscaped with low hedges and flower beds.
  • 1954: Dux Honour Board installed in infants assembly area.
  • 1960: Decision made to convert infants campus into a new state high school.
  • 1961: Infants School closes; pupils redistributed to primary campus.


Kelvin Grove State High School 

1961 to 2002​

Kelvin Grove State College (KGSC) was formed, officially, at the start of 2002, from the merger of the previous Kelvin Grove State and Kelvin Grove State High Schools. Education Queensland has a history of, in different decades, emphasising different sections of its portfolio. Nowadays, the emphasis is very much on Literacy and Numeracy, through NAPLAN testing and other initiatives. In the 1980s, with the introduction of Commonwealth Anti-Discrimination Laws, various Aboriginal equality and land rights laws, etc., one of EQ’s foci was Social Justice. In fact, in the 1990s, Kelvin Grove State High School even had a Head of Department (Social Justice). In the 1990s, when the rapid growth of independent schooling became an important issue, a focus of Education Queensland was Client Service, better meeting the needs of students and their families. Many in Education Queensland were considering whether the “one size- fits-all” model of State schooling (comprehensive, coeducational, primary schools to Year 7 and high schools from Year 7 to Year 12) provided enough variety of options for State school families, especially in urban areas. These people looked with some envy at the private system, where variety flourished: single gender schools, selective schools (for brighter students and for vocational students), traditional primary and high schools but also P-12 colleges and a variety in-between, and so on. There was considerable pressure, as a government system, to add variety and choice to the State schooling options available.

Concurrently, in the late 1990s, the State government put aside a very large sum of money for facilities’ improvement and renovation in State secondary schools, a program named Secondary School Renewal. The Kelvin Grove schools’ facilities were very much original and seriously outdated, the only work that had been done for many years was the building of two dance studios for the Queensland Dance School of Excellence and the building-in under the Science block to create two industrial kitchens for Home Economics and Catering students. Submissions were called from schools to access Secondary School Renewal funding.

Putting these two initiatives together, clearly schools that could provide a submission that enhanced client service were more likely to access significant funding from the Secondary School Renewal program. The then principals of the primary school (Judy Thompson) and the high school (myself), along with the EQ representative from District Office (Donna George), decided to put in a submission based on the merger of the primary and high schools at Kelvin Grove to form a P-12 college, if the respective school communities agreed. The consultation processes were indeed long and arduous, with not everyone agreeing that a merger was necessarily a good thing, but in the end (with stoic and intelligent leadership of their communities by the Presidents of the two P&Cs, Peter Bryant at the high school, and Jo Price at the primary school, along with many other committed parents) a merger was proposed and agreed by the two communities.

The benefits of a P-12 college at Kelvin Grove, as put to the community, included:

  • significant facilities’ upgrades and renovation through Secondary School Renewal;

  • the creation of a P-12 college where all the students of a family could attend together, removing the stressful ‘break’ of schools between primary and secondary schooling;

  • a P-12 college with continuity of curriculum, behaviour management models and expectations, again avoiding the discontinuity in changing schools between primary and high schools;

  • access by primary pupils to far greater human and physical resources, such as Science laboratories, kitchens, performing arts studios, an instrumental music program, and so on;

  • schooling in a P-12 environment appropriate to age development, with a Junior School for children (Principal, Judy Thompson), and a Middle School for adolescents (Principal, Majella Frith) and a Senior School for young adults (Principal, Trina Beard); and, of course

  • the creation of greater ‘choice’ for Brisbane State school families in the style of State schooling their children become involved in; and

  • other reasons quite numerous.

With the decisions of the two schools to support the merger, our Secondary School Renewal submission was also successful, for one of the largest amounts given to any school at the time. The renewal program provided the college with:

  • a new Performing Arts block, with two Dance studios, two Drama studios, a computer laboratory, storage, staff-room, and so on;

  • a new Visual Arts block, with three Art classrooms, an Art computer room of Macs, and a staffroom;

  • a Health & Physical Education centre near the oval, with three HPE classrooms, a staffroom, a serving centre and storage, as well as completion of the enclosure of the Gymnasium;

  • a Social Sciences/Languages centre of five classrooms, through the enclosure of the ground floor of E-Block; and

  • complete renovation of the previously small and inadequate classrooms in what is now the Middle School blocks, with a computer pod for every two adjacent classrooms - while at the same time The Enrichment Centre for students with disabilities consisting of two classrooms, a staffroom, a kitchenette and storage was put onto the college grounds; and

  • the Year 6 and 7 classes were included in the Middle School, leaving classroom space in the Junior School so that more pupils could, in the long term, be enrolled in Years Prep to 5.

In becoming a P-12 college, Kelvin Grove joined, and led, other South-East Queensland mergers, that resulted in the likes of Camp Hill State College, Earnshaw State College, Stretton State College, Kawana Waters State College, and other purpose-built P-12 colleges such as Varsity Lakes College, Chancellor State College and North Lakes State College. [Eventually, greater variety in State Schooling options was also provided by the formation of State schools for gifted students (the Academies at Toowong, Kelvin Grove and the Gold Coast), for vocational students (Commonweathfunded, such as the Technology College at Redcliffe), and special purpose State schools, such as Aviation High at Hendra. While the creation of single-gender State schools was also a matter of discussion at this time, especially the possibility of a Brisbane State high school for girls, this did not eventuate.)

I believe the merger, and the resultant Kelvin Grove State College, has been, while not without its significant challenges, a resounding success. While there are many indicators of this, perhaps the most telling is the rapid enrolment increase the college has undergone since the merger. The growth in student enrolment from about 1300 total in 2001 to over 2800 today is surely indicative of a community need being met for the option of P-12 schooling in inner-Brisbane, and of the extremely high education standard being offered in the college. Thank you for this opportunity to outline the history of the formation of Kelvin Grove State College. I again thank everyone involved in supporting the development of this great school, and wish it the best into the future under its current Executive Principal, Joel Buchholz.​​​

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Last reviewed 01 August 2025
Last updated 01 August 2025