Burleigh State School opened in Tabilban Street on 19 March 1917 with 11 students. The school building soon became inadequate for the growing number of students. The headmaster Frederick Perrett proposed that the school be "temporarily" moved to the recently-built Church of England Hall. This move was approved and school began in the chuch hall on 25 January 1927. On 16 July 1927 the school was renamed Burleigh Heads State School. After eight years in "temporary" accommodation, on 30 August 1935 the school moved permanently to its current site.