Our school is situated on the left bank of Sandy Creek in the Parish of Chelona. Chelona State School was opened on 23 January 1893, with twenty-nine children attending on the first day. Mr O'Brien was the first Head Teacher and he lived in an enclosed section of the school’s verandah.
School records from 1898 show that the school was closed for 33 days that year for a variety of reasons including - flooding, cyclones, ploughing, influenza and an outbreak of measles. The Principal reported, "...from June to December cane crushing keeps almost half the school away, to either actually help in the cane fields or to allow those who would have home duties to be free to take part in the crushing."
Over the years, Chelona School has had many upgrades to its facilities. The Principal’s residence was constructed in 1937, a septic toilet block replaced the thunderbox toilets, verandahs were enclosed to form another classroom, an extension created the computer room, and in 1988 the increased enrolments resulted in the Prep/Year 1 modular classroom being built.
In 2011 our new building at the rear of the school was opened. This provided the new library, a classroom and teacher resource room. There is also a computer area for students to conduct internet research when working in the library.
Many of the 110 students currently enrolled at Chelona State School have parents, grand-parents and great grandparents who have attended the school. The Chelona Family binds our school community together to create a valued place for learning.