(Sections taken from HARVEY BLANKS book, "THE STORY OF YEA")

For the children of Yea district, school began in a tent in Whatton Place in 1857. In 1860 the Presbyterian Church assumed control and school for the 26 children (aged between 5 and 15) was conducted in the Presbyterian Chapel. According to Education Department records, Yea School, No 699, was formally established on 1 January 1860, with Mr Patrick B. Loane as first head teacher. By 1863, 39 students had registered. Parents paid a total of £46 a year in fees. By the late 1860's, the Presbyterian chapel had become too small and the building was sold. Residents established a building fund and in 1870 submitted plans for a new school. This was completed in September 1872, at a cost of £230, the Government contributing £115 as a grant. 

The diphtheria epidemic of 1874 struck Yea heavily, killing between thirty and forty of the children in a matter of months and causing the school's temporary closure on several occasions; on some days attendances totalled only 14 or 15.  The 'unhealthy' school site was held partly to blame and the old Presbyterian chapel was once more rented as a temporary measure pending the construction of a brick school on a different site on the Semicircle. The new building was finished in June 1877, at a cost of £510. Additions were made in 1885 when the enrolment had increased to about 100. Within a few years the average attendance had further risen to 164, with an enrolment of 240, and the old Boundary Creek schoolroom was moved to Yea to help relieve the pressure on accommodation. Even this proved insufficient, for by 1900 attendances had reached 192, and the Masonic Hall was rented until a further extension of the building could be undertaken in 1901.

As the town grew, so did demands for secondary education. The first classes in the Higher Elementary School syllabus were held in 1921, and 2 years later the new HES building was occupied in Station Street.   Primary school enrolment, less than 100 at the beginning of World War 11, climbed to250 by 1960.  When the new high school was completed in 1964, the old HES building was used for primary education, and the original school building which had served for so many years was bought by the Council and used by various organizations.

The enrolment for the year 2008 is 124 students.