History

1862  -  Forbes Public School was listed as being opened in October 1862 with an enrolment of 126 pupils, with a total average attendance of 68.                                           

This was a non-vested school, which means that no buildings were supplied, but the teacher's salary and funds for basic equipment were supplied by the Board of National Education.            

1865  -  Land for a vested school was granted in November but this land was submerged by floods in 1868. Some years later, in 1870, one acre of land on the reserve occupied by the Court House was granted.

1872  -  In August the new school building was occupied. This was on land bordered by Sherriff and Brown Streets where the Technical College Building now stands. fees were one shilling per week, and sixpence for other children in the same family if the parents were able to pay.

1874  -  One (or possibly two) sheds were erected.

1875  -  Enrolment now stood at 170. 113 boys and 57 girls.

1877  -  A vested residence for the teacher was completed on the corner of Browne and Harold Street. (Now the site of the present TAFE office.)

1880  -  A separate infants' schoolroom was completed. A separate Infant's Department was established and Miss Emily Hordern, the assistant, was appointed Infants' Mistress.

1881  -  The enrolment was now 151 primary children and 135 infants.  A floor was put into one of the 1874 weather sheds, so that, except in winter, it could be used as a classroom.                                                                                                                                               1883  -  A new infants' room was   built.  

1888  -  The school became a Superior Public School. This meant that it had post-primary classes, their were 20 pupils in this category.

1889  -  The school now had an enrolment of 437, 289 of which were primary children.

1891  -  Necessary repairs and additions were made to the buildings.

1895   -    The primary enrolment was now about 480 and it was decided to establish separate boys' and girls' departments.

1896  -  The school residence was improved and enlarged.

1900    -  One new classroom was built.

1905  -  The school was constituted as a District school, providing two years of secondary education.

1907  -  Three quarters of an acre of land on the corner of Browne and Sherriff Streets (the site of the present Infants' Department) was purchased for seven hundred and fifty pounds.

1910  -  In January a new building for the Girls' Department was in use, the old building being left for the boys. One room was equipped as a science room for post-primary pupils.

1917  -  A High School of three classrooms and a science room built on the same block of land as the Girls' Department. Later in the year over three and a half acres of land facing Lake Forbes was acquired by Government Grant, and a further one acre was purchased and used as a school farm.

1922  -  The Methodist Hall was rented for one pound per week to provide additional accommodation.

1923  -  Extensions to the buildings were completed at a cost of two thousand and ten pounds.

1925  -  The C of E Hostels (established in 1922) now accommodated some 60 children thus enabling an increasing number of country children to attend the High School.

1926  -  Further land between Browne Street and Lake Forbes resumed.

1928  -  Methodist Hall and Kindergarten room s rented at 25 shillings per week for secondary classes.

1930  -  Two additional classrooms for the (now) Intermediate High School built at a cost of two thousand and thirty pounds.

1932  -  A double portable classroom building was moved from Parkes to Forbes.

1942  -  A new Boys' Primary Department was built. This is the present Primary Block 1.

1945  -  Opening of the SW Jones Memorial Library. Mr Jones was the foundation President of the Forbes Parents' and Citizens' Association and father of Mr Bill Jones, a retired teacher.

1955  -  The Intermediate High School was raised to the status of a full High School and the Primary and Infants sections reconstituted as a separate Primary School with Mr Cecil Fiels as Principal.

1957  -  To cope with increasing numbers from an expanding district a new Primary School was opened at Forbes North.

1961  -  The new Girls' Department building was occupied (now Primary Block 2).

1962  -  The Centenary of the Forbes Public School celebrated  -  Sydney Chad, Principal.

1964  -  The Forbes Primary School became co-educational. Mrs J T Hood, Mistress of the Girls' Department became Deputy Principal of the school, a post she still held until 1980.

1965  -  The Forbes High School moved to its new site on Turner's Hill. Subsequently the two storey high school building on the Browne Street site was demolished and plans drawn up for a new Infants' Department to be built.

1969  -  The Infants' Department moved into its present buildings, thus leaving the old site across the way in Browne Street, used by the Technical College. The Principal's Residence, however, remained in use. Apart from the new infants classrooms, the former Home Science block was remodelled as an office and classroom block plus store and staffroom, while the former Manual Arts building became a double kindergarten room.

Also in 1969 the Primary Block 3 building was completed as were the canteen and extensions to the Jones Memorial Library.

1974  -  Foundation work was completed and bricklaying commenced on the new Administration Block.

Forbes Public School has come a long way since 1862 when it had just thirty one students.

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