Ascot State School is a heritage-listed state school at Pringle Street, Ascot, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Department of Public Works (Queensland) and built from 1919 to 1939. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 7 April 2017.
History
Ascot State School (established 1920) is located in the Brisbane suburb of Ascot, six kilometres northeast of the Brisbane CBD. It is important in demonstrating the evolution of state education and its associated architecture. It retains three urban brick school buildings (Block A: 1920, Block B: 1928–34, Block C: 1923–39), which incorporate rare educational murals in Block B. It is set in landscaped grounds with a playing field, sporting facilities and mature trees. The school has a strong and ongoing association with the Ascot community.
Traditionally the land of the Turrbal and Jagera people, land at Ascot was sold as country lots in the late 1850s and early 1860s, and underwent subdivision from the 1880s after the Doomben railway line to the Eagle Farm Racecourse opened in 1882. However, most housing development occurred after the turn of the century, stimulated by the opening of the electrified tram to the racecourse, along the current Kingsford Smith Drive and Racecourse Road, in 1899.
The establishment of schools was considered an essential step in the development of new communities and integral to their success. Schools became a community focus, with the school community contributing to maintenance and development; a symbol of progress; and a source of pride, with enduring connections formed with past pupils, parents, and teachers.
Dramatic reform of the Queensland Education system began around 1909 and continued until the beginning of World War I. During this period a high school system was introduced, technical education was expanded, the University of Queensland was inaugurated, a teachers' training college was established, the requirement for a local contribution of construction costs for new schools was abolished, and the leaving age was increased from 12 to 14 years. Although technically compulsory since 1875, school attendance was not enforced until 1900. Subsequently, student numbers rose across Queensland during the first 15 years of the 20th century.
Actions to establish a state school in Ascot commenced in 1914. The current site, bounded by Pringle, Anthony and Mayfield (now Massey) Streets, was purchased for a future school in May 1914 at a cost of £1400. In December 1915 a public meeting, held to organise a state school at Ascot, established the prerequisite school building committee for that purpose. However, due to World War I, there were insufficient funds to institute the school.
Approval for the school, comprising an urban brick school building, was given on 13 June 1919. Brick school buildings were far less frequently built than timber ones, only being provided in prosperous urban or suburban areas with stable or rapidly-increasing populations. All brick school buildings were individually designed with variations in style, size, and form, but generally retained similar classroom sizes, layouts and window arrangements to timber schools to facilitate natural light and ventilation. However, compared to contemporary standard education buildings, these buildings had a grander character and greater landmark attributes.
Ascot State School opened on 24 May 1920 with 124 pupils enrolled. Its urban brick school building (now called Block A) was an "attractive building of brick, rough-casted externally, plastered internally, ceiled with fibro-cement and roofed with tiles". Highset, it comprised three classrooms, verandah and attached teachers room. Each classroom featured a bank of windows, which allowed natural light to enter from the left side of the students, and had battened ceilings with a central ceiling vent. A photograph from 1920 shows casement windows, with fanlights, sheltered below window hoods and a tiled, gable roof with a central ventilation roof fleche. Verandah corners were enclosed with dark-coloured weatherboards, centred four-pane windows, and light-coloured, vertically battened timber balustrades and trim. Costing £3,556, the school building was designed to accommodate 120 pupils.