28 June 2018

Newsletter Articles

Principal’s Report

As we enter the upcoming winter holidays it is a good time to reflect on the hard work across our school community in order to work towards our vision and ensuring every student receives a world class education. Much of the work over the last 18 months can be seen in the school’s 2017 Annual Report that has been uploaded to our school website.

Staff News

Alison Fahlbusch, Deputy Principal will continue her appointment at Palm Beach Currumbin High School as Acting Head of Junior School until the end of Term 3. Michelle Flynn will continue her appointment as Acting Deputy Principal in Alison’s absence. Danielle Stewart has been appointed to Acting HoD Junior Secondary whilst Michelle is in the Acting Deputy Principal role.

Heath Fox, HoD Student Engagement will be on leave for term 3 with Tiffany Grant appointed as HoD Student Engagement during Heath’s absence.

Robyn Croft, one of our long term Teacher Aides has made the decision to retire at the end of this term. Robyn commenced her employment at Miami High in 1999 and for the past 17 years Robyn has worked in RTC.

Ty Dowker, former Sports Coordinator at Miami High has been permanently appointed as HoD Physical Education at Varsity College.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank both Robyn and Ty for the service they have given to Miami State High School during their appointment.

I would like to communicate with you that I will be on Family Leave as of Monday 25 June 2018 through to Monday 23 July 2018. During my absence Deputy Principal, Jason Cross will be Acting Principal.

Change to Morning Timetable – Semester 2

In semester 2 we will be removing 10 minute rolling marking and notices prior to period 1. The purpose behind this is to not double up unnecessarily on roll marking and to maximise teaching and learning time at the most productive time of the day. This is an internal change that will not affect arrival times of students in the morning, with the warning bell ringing at 8:45am followed by period 1 commencing at 8:55am. It is imperative that every child arrives at school on time ready to commence period 1.

School Uniform

Senior Pants – The school is designing in consultation with the P&C a school winter tracksuit for 2019 onwards. In the meantime due to the overwhelming number of requests by senior students to wear navy blue pants this winter due to the current cold snap a navy track pant can be worn this winter by senior students (years 10, 11 and 12). The pants must not have any additional colour or pattern through them and must be a match to the navy skirt/short. Any variance to this will look un-unified and send a poor message to our school and wider community about our standards.

I would also like to bring to your attention that the P&C has endorsed a Junior School Formal Uniform for 2019 onwards. The design will be generated in consultation with Student Representatives and the P&C Association. This is much needed for our junior students particularly when they represent the school off campus at important formal events.

Semester 1 Reports

As Semester 1 draws to a close the teachers are very busy with assessment. A reminder that with our moderation processes reports will be emailed out to parents/carers during Week 1 of Term 3. Once you have received the report, please take the time to discuss the results and particularly any positives with your students and to engage with the classroom teachers whenever possible.

As students prepare for a two-week break, I encourage everyone (including parents) to take a well-deserved rest and prepare for Terms 3 & 4; particularly our seniors who have numerous assessment milestones to conquer prior to graduation.

On behalf of the team at Miami State High School – I wish you all a relaxing break. See you all on Monday 16 July 2018 for the commencement of Term 3.

Mrs Sue Dalton
Principal

Dates to Remember

Interact Trivia Night

Miami State High’s Interact Club is hosting our 3rd annual Trivia Night on the 1st of August. Trivia night over the last 2 years has been lots of fun with plenty of great prizes and has raised money for much needed and appreciated resources for IAfrika, which is a grassroots organisation that provides holistic care for boys who have been left to fend for themselves on the harsh, unforgiving streets of Nairobi, Kenya. IAfrica aims to take street boys out of this hopeless situation and provide shelter, food, clothing and schooling. This year we will again be supporting this orphanage for homeless boys in Nairobi. Over the past two years, we have been able to raise enough to buy them a Cow (they named “Miami”), which helps keep the boys healthy and earns them much needed funds from milk sales and we have also been able to help them build a playground for the boys to have a safe and wonderful place to play. This year we want to help buy music equipment, such as a new keyboard, guitar and microphones for their newly formed choir, this equipment will support and encourage their talent.

Trivia night will be held in the Great Hall and gates will open at 6pm for a 6:45pm start. Tickets are $10 each payable at the gate, the tables are for 6. There will be a BBQ available on the night serving Kenyan curries as well as a bar, snacks, raffles and other fantastic prizes up for grabs. Register you team by emailing Karen Purdy at kpurd12@eq.edu.au or phoning the school on 07 5554 0333. So get organised and get a team together, for a great fun night and help us put a smile on the faces of the boys from IAfrica.

Chaplaincy Fundraiser

The year is flying by so why not get in the Christmas mood a little early and in the process support our school chaplaincy (‘Chappy’) service. This combined schools event promises to be a great night as we eat, chat, be entertained and hear stories of the contribution chaplaincy is making in our local schools. Profits from the night will be distributed equally between the participating schools and guests will also have the option of giving a tax deductible donation to the school/s of their choice. Get some friends together and come along and support our school. We hope to see you there.

Mr Shane Scott
Chaplain

Miami High Excellence Programs

The school has been an absolute buzz over the last 6 weeks as the trials, auditions and exams have taken place for 2019’s Excellence Programs. The number and quality of the applicants has been exceptional and program coordinators are busily preparing their offers for successful students. All students who completed the application and trial or audition process will be notified of the outcome via email in Week 1, Term 3.

I would personally like to thank all students who applied for stepping outside of their comfort zone and making an investment in their future at Miami High.

Applications for 2019 positons are now closed. Should there be a second round of applications required information will be released through both the school website and school Facebook page.

Mr Rob Petersen
Dean of Students - Enrichment

9 Drama

The Year 9 Drama students demonstrated the importance of Arts in education recently through their Theatre in Education Production for children of our neighbouring child care centre. The production included student devised performances focusing on important messages for their target audience such as pool safety, stranger danger, saying kind words and how to respond to bullies. It was a wonderful morning of education, colour, scripted performances, activities and singalongs with their young audience actively involved in the production. Congratulations Year 9 Drama students!

Ms Miranda van’t Hof
Teacher – Dance and Drama

Year 8 Dance Excellence

The Year 8 Dance Excellence students recently completed their percussive dance choreographic task which required the students to each choreograph a sequence of percussive dance then work collaboratively with other students to join all of the sequences together to create a cohesive routine that included body percussion, vocalisation and hip hop dance movements. The students produced some outstanding routines which will be performed next term at the Dance Excel Showcase.

Ms Miranda van’t Hof
Teacher – Dance and Drama

International News

International have had a busy term hosting 2 Study Tours.

Phuket Wittayalai Study Tour – 22 April to 4 May

Phuket Wittayalai School in Thailand was Miami’s first time hosting a Study group from Thailand. We provided homestay for the group of 20 from 22 April to 4 May.

Phuket Wittayalai – Melissa Wilson, Head of International receiving a school gift from the Phuket Wittayalai School teachers.

Lizen Study Tour - 22 May – 5 June.

Lizen High School from Taiwan visited us for the 16th year running.

Thank you to all of our Buddies who looked after our guests and to all of our Homestay providers for taking care of our overseas students, without your support our program would not be so successful.

1. Reef Herewini, Ned Etherington, Mason Low, Jake Budiasa-Moon, Bryce Daley, Kurt Cullen, Joel Miriklis and Lizen Wayne.
2. Channel Ada and Amber Coppen with buddy Cherry.
3. International Ambassador, Connor Brooks and buddy Andrew
4. Ryan Cook and buddy Ray
5. Mady Hall and Danielle Moffitt and buddy Janice.
6. Jayden Guarnacia, Troy Ottoway and Matthew Maher instructing students in the Nutbush dance.
7. Group photo of Lizen Study tour and buddies.

At the end of this term we say goodbye to 26 International students. These students have been staying here in homestay for either 6 or 12 months. We wish them farewell and our very best!

Term 3 we welcome 34 new internationals. This will bring us to a total of 53 students in total across 11 nationalities.

Ms Belinda Bradshaw
International Homestay Coordinator

Languages

From the 21st -31st of May, Miami High students in years 8-12 studying Spanish and Japanese competed in the Language Perfect World Championships.

Language Perfect is an online software program that helps with language acquisition by quizzing students on their language knowledge. Students try to get as many points as they can by answering questions correctly. In the World Championships this is done on a global scale with 1,476 schools and 189,367 students from countries such as the UAE, the UK, the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, the USA and New Zealand, all vying for the prize of best school as well as many individual prizes.

Out of 1,476 schools, Miami was in the top 30% in the world. For Japanese, Miami was in the top 16% and in Spanish the top 13%. On a local level, in Qld, Miami was in the top 10 schools coming 8th for Spanish and 14th for Japanese. These are all great achievements in Miami’s first year in the competition!

The following students are the merit award recipients. These awards are given to students who achieved a high number of points in the competition.

With a high score of 3,809 points, Claire Payne is this year’s Miami State High School Language Perfect Champion – well done Claire!

This is just the start of some exciting events for Languages this year. In August the annual Gold Coast Languages Speech Competition will be running and in September there is both a Languages poster design competition and a Japanese Short Film making contest. As entries for these will close soon, if you are interested in any of these events please see one of the Language teachers.

Obento Day and a Spanish food day will also be returning in Semester 2 due to popular demand.

Congratulations to all of the Merit Award winners as well as all of the language students who participated this year to give Miami such a great standing in this global competition!

Ms Tasha Damon
Japanese Teacher

AFL News

On the 9th- 13th of May, Teagan Levi, Jorydn Rhodes and Ashleigh Irvine all competed in the QLD School Sport 13-15 Girls AFL championships in Cairns. An honourable mention to Rubi Chapman who was also selected as a shadow player for the South Coast Team. All three girls not only represented South Coast School Sport with pride but also Miami SHS. All three girls have played for several years in our Miami SHS school teams and have developed into successful athletes. In addition, the girls have also played in club football teams and development squads. Whilst South Coast didn’t come away with the trophy in the Grand Final against the Sunshine Coast region, all three girls played their roles perfectly and showed grit and determination during some very challenging games. Congratulations to Teagan and Ashleigh who made the Queensland team who compete in Adelaide in July.

On the 29th of May, our junior and senior Miami SHS girl’s teams competed in the annual AFL Queensland Schools Cup Regional Finals at Carrara AFC. Whilst the junior teams couldn’t secure a win on the day, Miss Innes and Miss McGinniskin were very impressed with their development and sportsmanship. For a lot of our junior girls, this was their first time playing AFL and are to be commended on their commitment to training in the lead up to the carnival. Rubi Chapman was named best on ground for the juniors, despite playing out of her usual position.

The senior girls are on to the next stage, the Qualifying Finals in July, where they will play two games to determine who progresses to the next level. The senior team was undefeated the whole day and showed real versatility. An honourable mention to Deniz Ada, Pia Plagans, Lucy Emerton and Lucy Single who were named best on ground throughout the day. All four girls played their individual roles well which led to an outstanding performance for the whole team. In 2016, most of the girls who played in this exact team, were crowned the State Champions in the Junior AFL Q Schools Cup. Miss McGinniskin looks forward to training these girls further to see if they can achieve the same success again.

Ms Pippa McGinniskin
Physical Education Teacher

Need for Feed

The beginning of this term saw the final cooking class for the Need for Feed cooking program. The classes have been held after school each Tuesday last term and has been a great learning opportunity for a group of students who have learnt new kitchen skills. Need for Feed is funded by Diabetes QLD and it’s a hands-on approach to cooking which exposes students to a variety of dishes, basic skills involved in preparing and cooking meals from scratch and improves students’ awareness healthy eating. There has been some great feedback from not only the students but their parents, as the students are now more confident and excited about what foods they create. Thanks to Diabetes QLD for offering such a great program and also thanks to Simranjot, from year 12 Hospitality, who was a great Assistant to Ms Purdy, helping and supporting the students get to know their way around the kitchen.

Ms Karen Purdy
Hospitality Teacher

MSHS Early Departure Policy

We, at Miami State High School, value the education of your students and believe that every lesson is crucial to the academic success of our students. As a result, we wish to remind parents and students of our Early Departure Policy as outlined on page 6 of our Student Planner (see below).

If a student requires an early departure from school, they must:

• Present a note from their parent/carer requesting permission to leave school to their Dean of Students for approval prior to 8:45am
• Once the note is signed, the student takes it to the Student Services office to collect a leave pass
• Please be aware that any other early departure from school needs to be approved by a Deputy Principal

Student Absentee Line

For all student absences please call our direct number on 5554 0334 or email absences@miamishs.eq.edu.au.

Leaving Forms

Parents, please note: If you are planning on leaving the school at the end of the year, please contact Christine Nowicki at Student Services on email cnowi1@eq.edu.au or 5554-0333 for the leaving form before the close of term.

Finance Office Trading Hours and Payment Options

Opening Hours: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday from 8.00am to 12.00pm (closed Friday).

Student Payment Times: Before school or during first break

Receipts will always be given for payments made over the counter and will always be available on request for payments made by Internet Banking or Credit Card over the phone

Kellie Johnston
Business Services Manager

Important Information from TransLink

Translink suggests using TransLink’s online journey planner to find the best travel options for your child to travel to and from school. Our helpful tips for journey planning for school services makes planning your child’s school journey even easier.

Alternatively, you can also use the school timetables search if you already know your bus route number.

Travel to school with go card

When your child travels to and from school on public transport with go card, they can save at least 30% compared to the cost of a single paper ticket. That’s in addition to the 50% discount that school students pay compared to adults. These savings quickly add up!

Grab a go card for your child online or at selected retailers today.

Visit the TransLink website for full details on school transport, tickets and fares.

Is your child eligible for STAS?

The Queensland Government provides eligible school students travelling to and from primary and secondary schools with assistance via the School Transport Assistance Scheme (STAS).

Find out if your child is eligible and beat the rush – apply now and pick up your child’s travel pass from your local operator today!

Kind regards

TransLink Customer Relations

Update your Contact Details

ARE YOUR CONTACT DETAILS UP TO DATE – INCLUDING EMERGENCY CONTACTS?

We have been experiencing a number of students presenting to sick bay with serious illnesses/injuries to warrant the school needing to urgently contact a parent/guardian or an emergency contact but with no success. Could you please make sure that your contact details are up to date and ensure your emergency contacts are available if you’re not able to be contacted. This is especially important for when parents are travelling away during the school term and leaving students with guardians. Please feel free to contact the school either by email admin@miamishs.eq.edu.au or telephoning 5554 0333 to confirm your current details.

Parent Contact

NOTE TO PARENTS/CARERS

The school database program can only allocate ONE address per student. If a student is residing equally between two addresses, the parents/carers must decide which address will be allocated as the main address for the student. The second address can be noted on the student’s hardcopy personal file.

If a second report is required to be emailed, please contact the school in order for us to record this.

Kellie Johnston
Business Manager

RTC SMS Text – Home Communication

To improve the communication between parents and the school, Responsible Thinking Classroom (RTC) SMS text messages will be sent daily for all students referred to the RTC. This will provide immediate feedback for parents allowing them to discuss issues with their student, and if they have any concerns, contact the school for clarification. The following texts will be used:

SMS text for daily RTC referral.

Dear parent, please be advised your student was referred to RTC today. Please discuss with your student and contact Miami SHS 55540333 if concerned.

SMS text for student reaching RTC Level 3.

Dear parent, your student has reached Level 3 on RTC. Please support by discussing this with your student. Thank you from Miami SHS.

SMS text for student reaching RTC Level 5.

Dear parent, your student has reached Level 5 on RTC. Please contact Miami SHS on 5554 0333 to arrange an intervention meeting time asap. Thank you.

SMS text for student reaching RTC Level 7.

Dear parent, your student has reached Level 7 on RTC. One more referral may result in suspension. Your urgent support is appreciated. Thanks Miami SHS 5554 0333.

Please take the opportunity to discuss this with your student, should you receive a text message regarding RTC. Your support is greatly appreciated.

Heath Fox
Head of Student Engagement