The post-WWII period was a time of enormous population growth Australia-wide and was accompanied by a shortage of building materials. The Department of Public Instruction was largely unprepared for the enormous demand for state education that began in the late 1940s and continued well into the 1960s. This was a nationwide occurrence resulting from immigration and the unprecedented population growth now termed the "baby boom". Queensland schools were overcrowded and, to cope, many new buildings were constructed and existing buildings were extended. After WWII the overriding concern for the Department of Public Instruction was the need to erect school buildings as expeditiously and economically as possible. Queensland schools were faced with enormous overcrowding and a lack of resources. However, the Queensland Government and community saw education as a low priority and provided the department with only a small budget. Also, educationalists rejected the previous designs of school buildings, considering them outdated, and favoured "lighter, loosely grouped, flexible" buildings. At Sherwood State School, additional classrooms were required to accommodate the growth in pupil numbers - from 519 in 1945 to 856 in 1955. In 1951 a classroom was added to the eastern end of Block C. Plans for the new classroom show it was formed in the sectional school manner by moving the gable end wall and inserting a single-skin partition, with centred double-leaf door, between the existing and new classrooms. The southern wall had casement windows, with fanlights, and the north-facing verandah was extended, with the hat room relocated to the new eastern end. Double-hung sash windows were installed in both the new and existing verandah walls. Plans for a new domestic science and manual training building were drawn in 1951. Previously children caught the train to Milton State School one day per week to learn these skills. Vocational education was a Queensland Government priority to support the development of primary industries; this evolved after WWI into a variety of subjects. Vocational training within primary education began in 1895 with drawing classes and expanded to include domestic sciences, agriculture, and sheet metal and wood working classes. The subjects required a variety of purpose-built facilities and were initially gender segregated. The Queensland Government continued its focus on vocational education during the 1950s and 1960s. New vocational centres were opened at East Brisbane State School and Sherwood State School in 1952, with one also planned for Eagle Junction. Manual arts and domestic science classes were generally conducted in prefabricated Boulton & Paul buildings in the early 1950s, and in 1954 the DPW introduced a new standard design for a timber-framed vocational training building.