In the early years, children living at Leigh Creek were taught by their mothers or sometimes attended school in Beltana, Copley or Farina. As the coalfield grew the need for a school quickly became apparent. When the first school opened on 16 March 1947 it had just one teacher, 25 enrolled pupils and a dirt cricket pitch. School enrolments increased steadily until an additional two classrooms where added in 1954. ETSA developed secondary education facilities in 1962 and student numbers continued to grow until the mid-1980s when over 600 attended the Leigh Creek Area School.