The Willows State School first opened its doors to students on Tuesday, 28 January 1997. The school initially catered to pre-school and primary school aged students from Years 1-7. The school, set on approximately 6.5 hectares, opened with a double unit pre-school offering 100 places, an administration block, resource centre, 12 classrooms and a special education unit. Two covered areas, a tuckshop, various ancillary buildings, an oval and landscaping completed the picture. Two modular buildings (allowing an additional 4 classrooms) were also added to cater for the opening enrolment of approximately 400. The school was the first in the state to be fully funded for air conditioning and to have fibre optic cabling to each building to allow internet connectivity and networked learning activities. The original approximate cost of the school was $5.2 million.
The focus of the school at opening was 'Learning and teaching for the 21st century.'
The inaugural school principal was Mrs Carol Buchanan.
In 2022 The Willows State School celebrated its 25th Anniversary. To commemorate the milestone, the school reopened the original time capsule on 13 August 2022, exactly 25 years after is was buried in 1997. The school community celebrated by offering personalized engraved paves, which have been laid at the front of the Administration building to cement the legacy of past and present students.
Our Logo
When the school opened in 1997 we did not have a school logo. The logo was developed following a competition which many students entered. The winning design was created by Phillip, a year 5 student. The design is based on a circle, the sun. The logo consists of the Ross River which flows through Thuringowa and Townsville from the mountains to the sea, The Pinnacles (a mountain range visible from the school), a Willow Tree (the tree of knowledge) and an Ibis (a bird we see frequently around the school).
An artist later further developed the original design to the one we have on our school uniforms today.