A TWIN Towns School built because of an emergency will celebrate its centenary in February next year.

The Coolangatta State School is unique in Queensland in having had one name but three locations and will celebrate 100 years on February 10, 2019.

The school was established when the Spanish Influenza epidemic of 1918-19 spread to Australia, causing 10,000 deaths.

The Queensland Government closed the Border Gates between Coolangatta and Tweed Heads in an emergency measure to stop the spread of the disease. This left 70 Coolangatta children who attended the Tweed Heads Public School without classes.

The Coolangatta Town Council made its Municipal Hall behind its Chambers in Griffith and Warner Streets available as an emergency school.

The Queensland Government accepted the offer and appointed Mr J.Kavanagh, of Brisbane, as the first principal when the school opened on February 10, 1919.

However the government had a serious problem in finding flat land for a permanent school because most of Coolangatta and Kirra was either steep hills or swamp.

The only suitable site was on Kirra Hill. This meant a superb view but a very restricted playground. It was underlain by basalt rock that took 18 years to level.

The permanent school opened on February 1, 1920, with Claude de Jersey as the first principal. He remained there for nine years before being transferred to Goombungee on the Darling Downs.

The school on Kirra Hill was a classic Queensland design with wide verandas, high ceilings and an unusual internal assembly hall formed by two sets of ceiling to floor folding doors. This was used for music, films and functions.

However by the 1970s the 'School on the Hill' became overcrowded and a new one was built on a site bounded by Stapylton, Miles and Appel Streets at Kirra. It opened in November 1977.

The school on Kirra Hill became a Special School until it too closed. It is now a Community and Cultural Centre administered by the Gold Coast City Council.

The Queensland Governor, His Excellency Paul de Jersey AC, whose grandfather was a principal of two of the schools, will be the guest of honour on February 10, 2019 at the school on Kirra Hill and unveil a centenary plaque.

Former and current students and families have been invited to a fete at the Stapylton Street School on Saturday, 9 February 2019 and the plaque unveiling at the School on Kirra Hill at 2pm on Sunday, February 10.

The plaque will honour the principals, teachers, staff and pupils who have attended the three Coolangatta State Schools over the century.

Ironically children from Tweed Heads West now cross the Queensland border daily because the Stapylton Street school is the closest.