Coopers Plains State School: A block

Coopers Plains State School was originally opened as Orange Grove State School on 21 January 1931. Previously, local school-aged children had to travel to the ‘Coopers Plains State School’ located on Beaudesert Road, which later became the Acacia Ridge State School. Additional classrooms were soon required at Orange Grove and built in late 1931. By November 1932 attendance had risen to 149 and further accommodation was constructed in 1933. As the school was founded and expanded at the height of the Great Depression, much of the improvement work at the school, particularly in the grounds, was undertaken by ‘relief work’ – a government employment scheme supporting unemployed men. Further improvements in the postwar period included seating under the camphor laurel shade trees that were a feature of school grounds in that period. The school was renamed Coopers Plains State School in 1965.