Four new state schools costing almost $330 million will open their gates to students in south-east Queensland next week, as the region grapples with the pressures of soaring population growth.
The campuses include South Rock State School in Logan, Ripley Central State School and Woogaroo Creek State School in Ipswich, and Palmview State Secondary College on the Sunshine Coast.
Seven more schools are in the pipeline for south-east Queensland in 2024, as nearby schools reach capacity.
University of Queensland demographer Associate Professor Elin Charles-Edwards said post-pandemic internal migration was putting extra strain on existing infrastructure.
"We've gone from a period of really quite low net internal migration growth to this high level, and obviously we see increasing population pressure when we have numbers that high," she said.
"The growth areas are really still on the suburban fringe, and they really represent some of the last major greenfield sites.
"Places like Yarrabilba, the Ripley Valley, Caloundra West, and in the future Caboolture West as well, we're going see a lot of growth."
The population of Greater Brisbane is projected to reach 3.1 million people in the next decade.
The $68.6 million South Rock State School has been built to cater for the growing community of Yarrabilba on Logan's outskirts, where up to 20,000 dwellings will eventually be built.
Principal Aaron Jones said about 80 students were enrolled so far, but that number was expected to climb steadily as more people bought homes in the area.
"They are families moving in for affordable housing, they're moving from all over the place," he said.
"We've got people as far as Perth, Victoria, north Brisbane, bayside ... moving here to have their own home."
The primary school has capacity for about 750 students and expansion plans could see it eventually accommodate 1,200 children.
Amy Hamilton's son Zachary and daughter Madeline will be among the foundation cohort.
"I'm really excited that they're going to be a part of that," she said.
"We've actually been doing practice walks up there with them, waiting and watching the school as it slowly grows."
Her family of six relocated from inner-city Brisbane to Yarrabilba in 2019 in search of housing affordability and a better lifestyle.
Already, she's seen extraordinary growth in her neighbourhood.
"When we were at the previous school [in Yarrabilba], it went from a few hundred to nearly a thousand kids at that school," Ms Hamilton said.
"Starting out, this new school will be a lot smaller and I think they're really going to flourish there."
Last year, the Queensland government announced funding in the budget to open five more primary schools in the south-east corner in 2025 and 2026.
