Around 875,000 Queensland students head back to school today for the start of the 2023 school year.
Education Minister Grace Grace marked the first day back visiting one of the four new schools opening its doors for the first time today – delivered by the Palaszczuk Government.
The Premier said South Rock State School at Yarrabilba in Logan represented a $69 million investment by her government.
"The start of the school year is always a very exciting time, and it's especially exciting for our new school communities," the Premier said.
"This beautiful new school community has welcomed around 100 foundation students and staff, with numbers to grow as the community grows and will provide enrolment relief to Yarrabilba, Logan Village and Cedar Creek State Schools."
The Premier said South Rock was one of four new Queensland state schools welcoming students from today – with the others located in Ripley, Augustine Heights and Palmview.
"Our government invested $330 million to build the four new schools, which have supported 900 good, secure jobs for Queenslanders throughout construction," the Premier said.
"That means since 2015 we've delivered 25 new schools – an investment of over $1.6 billion."
Education Minister Grace Grace said Queensland schools were welcoming almost 875,000 students through the gates to start the year including the 400 foundation students of the four new schools.
"More than 571,000 students will attend Queensland's 1,262 state schools in 2023," Ms Grace said.
"They will be guided by more than 55,000 teachers and 19,000 teacher aides from Day 1," Ms Grace said.
"I'd like to give a special shout out to 44,000 new preppies who are starting their very first day of school too.
"The Palaszczuk Government is committed to opening new schools in Queensland's fastest growing areas.
"The LNP opened none, shut down six and had a hit list of another 50 for closure.
"The Palaszczuk Government remains committed to providing all Queensland state school students with a world-class education, no matter where they live in our state.
"In the current budget we are spending almost $2 billion on education infrastructure to make sure state school students are learning in state-of-the-art facilities, right across the state.
"That infrastructure investment is also supporting 4,200 good jobs for Queenslanders as we continue our economic recovery from COVID-19.
"For state schools this year I'm looking forward to updated respectful relationships education, the rollout of our Equity and Excellence strategy, the introduction of our new disability funding model, Dignity vending machines for all schools who want them, and our continued rollout of 40 times faster internet by the end of the year.
"The first week of the 2023 school year will also see teachers receive their first increased pay backdated to July, following the certification of the new enterprise bargaining agreement."
Member for Logan Linus Power said South Rock State School was the fourth school the Palaszczuk Government had delivered in the Logan electorate, with another two planned.
"The Palaszczuk Government cares about the Logan community, and as Yarrabilba grows we are making sure the area has the good services it needs to thrive," Mr Power said.
"The construction of South Rock State School Stage 1 includes great new classrooms, a special education learning centre, and a flexible learning space for art, science, and technology.
"There is also room for this school to grow as Yarrabilba welcomes new families. When all stages are complete it will have the capacity to accommodate more than 1200 students."
South Rock State School Foundation Principal Aaron Jones said students and staff were very excited to show off their new school.
"It has been a privilege to work with the local community over the past year as we developed this impressive new school," Mr Jones said.
"We are fortunate to have had the support of the local Traditional Custodians as well as our neighbouring school communities and I know this will continue into the future.
"Our foundation students and staff are so excited to be here today and are loving the amazing facilities. We're all looking forward to building a strong and supportive school community with our focus always on quality education."
