21 February 2025

Principal’s Message

2025 School Explicit Improvement Agenda (EIA):
Curriculum – English
Multi-tiered Approach to support
Curriculum – Math V9

Dear Miami State School Community,

What a fantastic start to the year we’ve had! As we settle into Term 1, it’s wonderful to see students fully engaged in their learning and embracing our three expectations—being safe, respectful, and active learners. Our school is buzzing with activity, from musical rehearsals in full swing to students diving into Oceanic Swimming carnival. Programs such as TSP, JEP, and STEAM are well underway, providing incredible opportunities for students to extend their skills and passions. It’s been a joy to see everyone settling in so well, and I look forward to an exciting and productive term ahead!

Student Leadership Induction Assembly

It was a pleasure to formally congratulate and present our 2025 student leaders at the recent Year 6 Student Leadership Assembly. This special event was a proud moment for our school, as we recognised the dedication, responsibility, and enthusiasm of our new leaders. Each student who has taken on a leadership role has demonstrated a strong commitment to our school values—being safe, respectful, and active learners.

Stepping into leadership is both an honour and a responsibility, and I have no doubt that our school captains and student representatives will lead with integrity and inspire their peers throughout the year. Congratulations to all our student leaders—I look forward to seeing the positive impact you will have on our school community in 2025!

QParents

As part of our school’s progression towards online consent management Miami State School is asking our parent community to register for QParents.  This is the first step required for parents to be able to provide online consent for a variety of school activities/events.  This year, all permissions will be via QParents, therefore student will be unable to attend exursions, sporting events, etc. without online consent via QParents.

The QParents web and mobile application provides a more convenient, easier way for parents and legal guardians of Queensland state school students to interact with their child’s school. Registered parents will have secure, online access to their child’s student information, anytime, anywhere, through a smartphone, tablet or computer.

The benefits of QParents

Convenience and time savings for parents

QParents allows parents to connect instantly with their child’s school to access and manage their child’s student information, including:

• Attendance and absence details, as well as the ability to notify the school of an absence
• Academic report cards
• Viewing unpaid invoice details, payment history, and making payments online
• Viewing and updating personal student details, including medical conditions and address
• Enrolment details

What is a QParents Account Owner (QPAO)?

The school will nominate parents or legal guardians for each student to be QParents Account Owners (QPAOs). QPAOs will be able to register for QParents to access and manage the student’s information online, view the student’s information and submit requests to update some of the student’s details.

QPAOs will also be able to invite other people (such as another family member), to view the student’s information. Once invited, these people can register for QParents as “delegated viewers”. A delegated viewer can see the student’s details, but cannot make updates.

Registering for QParents

You will have received an invitation email from us containing your unique invitation code. Simply follow the instructions in that email or letter to complete the QParents account registration process. Initial registration and addition of students to your account must be done on a desktop or laptop computer. Once registered, you will then be able to access QParents using your mobile device (via web browser or by downloading the iPhone or Android App).

Our friendly office staff are always available to support parents in setting up their QParents account if needed.  Identity verification evidence is required to do this. Please contact the school if you have any queries.

Family Air Conditioning Voluntary Contribution – $30 per Family

Miami State School is committed to providing the best possible learning environment for our students. Thanks to the hard work of our P&C and school community, we successfully raised funds to install air conditioning in our classrooms. To help cover the ongoing costs of maintenance and operation, we invite families to make a voluntary contribution of $30 per family.

Key Points:
✅ Purpose: Funds collected will go towards maintaining and running the air conditioning units.
✅ Voluntary Contribution: This contribution is entirely optional and is used to enhance school facilities.
✅ Community Support: The amount and use of funds are reviewed annually with the P&C.

How to Contribute:
💰 Pay $30 via direct debit using your child’s name and "AC" as the reference.

Bank Details:
📌 BSB: 064445
📌 Account: 00090027

Your support helps keep our classrooms comfortable for all students—thank you for your contribution!

P&C AGM

The Annual General Meeting of the P&C Association will be held on Monday 10^th March 2024, at 2:15pm in the STEMosphere.

Executive positions to be submitted by Monday 3^rd March 2025

To make for smooth running of the AGM the current committee is asking for all nominations for the executive positions be submitted no later than Monday 3rd March 2025.  Submission to be handed into the school office.  Please see below for a list of positions.

President: The President provides leadership and is the accountable officer of the Association. Their role is to act as a representative of the Association, encourage communication between the Association, school administration and the community and encourage participation in the Association

Secretary: The Secretary collates the agenda papers for each meeting, (including subcommittee reports) and assists the president in preparing an agenda for each meeting. They prepare and present minutes of the Association’s meetings, record and deal with correspondence in/out as directed and generally organise, record and maintain information pertaining to the activities of the Association

Treasurer: The Treasurer has the overall responsibility for the financial management of the P&C, including all subcommittee accounts.

Full position requirements can be found at; http://www.pandcsqld.com.au/pc-resources/executive-roles/

If you are interested and would like to find out more, please contact the school office  on 5595 4888 or email at office@miamiss.eq.edu.au

Have a wonderful week ahead.

Warm Regards

Jemille Malouf
Principal

Deputy Principal’s Message

Welcome to Week 4

What a busy few weeks it has been at Miami State School!  I continue to be impressed by the students of Miami who are continuing to shine.  This week our Year 6 Leaders received their Senior Leader Badge.  It was great to see families celebrating their child’s achievements, in this special final year of Primary School.  I am delighted to say on behalf of the Year 6 Teachers and myself, we were very proud to see our Leaders receive their badge and recite their Leader’s Pledge.  I know we are going to have a wonderfully successful year with our Year 6 Leaders.

PBL

Don’t forget, Miami State School is Positive Behaviour for Learning (PBL) school.  It has been great seeing so many of our students collecting and trading their tokens and stamping their passports on their way to earning prizes from the Rewards Menu.

Schools which implement the PBL framework make sure all students are explicitly taught the expected behaviours and establish clear and consistent boundaries. Staff take a proactive, preventative approach to ensure all students receive the appropriate level of support to help them to be successful at school. Student outcomes are monitored so identified students can receive additional support when needed, and a minority of students can access intensive support to enable them to engage successfully at school.

• Universal focus – to create a preventative, positive learning environment for all students
• Targeted interventions – to improve social-emotional skills for students who need additional support
• Individualised intensive supports - for students who have experienced academic and behavioural difficulties over an extended period of time.

Together, this three step process is known as developing a continuum of support. PBL uses a tiered intervention framework which uses varied levels of support for students based on their needs. The tiered approach addresses these needs through:

• investing in prevention for all students
• identifying and providing targeted supports for individual students who need more support
• providing individualised and intensive interventions for students with significant support needs.

Again, I remind you to please take the time to meet your child/ren’s teacher over the coming weeks.  Strong, meaningful communication between school and home keeps everyone on the same page and helps eliminate grey areas.  Our classrooms have an open door policy however at times an appointment may need to be made to discuss factors of your child’s education more in depth.

Until next fortnight

Ben Edmunds
Deputy Principal Year 4 - 6

Deputy Principal’s Message

Teaching Your Child to Be Kind

At Miami State School, we believe that kindness is one of the most important values a child can learn. Encouraging kindness at a young age helps children build positive relationships, develop empathy, and create a welcoming school environment for everyone. Here are some simple ways you can help nurture kindness at home:

Lead by Example

Children learn by watching the adults around them. Show kindness in everyday actions—whether it's helping a neighbour, saying "thank you," or showing patience in a difficult situation. Your child will notice and follow your lead!

Encourage Thoughtfulness

Talk to your child about how their actions affect others. Encourage them to say kind words, share with friends, and help those in need. Simple phrases like “How do you think your friend felt when you helped them?” can foster empathy.

Praise Acts of Kindness

When you see your child being kind, acknowledge it! Saying, “That was really thoughtful of you to help your friend,” reinforces positive behaviour and makes them feel good about being kind.

Practice Gratitude

Encouraging gratitude helps children appreciate what they have and be more considerate of others. Try sharing something you’re grateful for each day and invite your child to do the same.

Teach Conflict Resolution

Kindness doesn’t mean avoiding all conflicts, but it does mean handling them respectfully. Teach your child to use words to express their feelings, listen to others, and find peaceful solutions to disagreements.

By fostering kindness at home, we create a caring and supportive school community where every child feels valued. Thank you for partnering with us to make Miami State School a place where kindness grows!

Julia Hoy
Deputy Principal Prep – Year 3

Office/Finance News

Communication: It is important that all communication relating to change of personal details and payments are directed to our office@miamiss.eq.edu.au email address.

DEBTOR STATEMENTS (Please see example below)

Debtor statements will be issued at the beginning of each month.  A statement will show all of your enrolled students at Miami State School on the one statement.

If you don’t receive a statement, it means that you have nothing owing on your student’s account. 

If you receive a statement and it shows a (-) negative sign in front of the $ amount, it means you are in credit on your account.  PLEASE DO NOT PAY.  When future invoices are issued, please advise the school and we can apply the credit to your invoice.  If you would like the credit on your account applied to a current invoice that is showing on your statement, you will need to notify the school for us to apply this credit.  If you have any queries, please email the office on office@miamiss.eq.edu.au or call on 5595 4888. 

Please ensure when you are making a payment, that you pay it against the original invoice NOT against a statement.

Just a friendly reminder, if you haven’t signed up to QParents yet, please do so asap.  This is the best way to view what is currently outstanding on our student account or any credits you may have.  If you require assistance in setting up QParents, please email Michelle Engler on mengl57@eq.edu.au or phone 5595 4888.

QParents is now available at Miami State School! We currently have 634 families registered with QParents. As of term 4, all permission slips and consents will need to be completed on QParents. If you have not yet registered, please take the time to complete the process. It takes no longer than 10 minutes. If you are experiencing any difficulties with the registration process, please contact Michelle at mengl57@eq.edu.au

What is QParents?

QParents is a free digital platform that enables parents to conveniently access and view a range of your child's school data and efficiently complete school-related administrative processes.

Benefits of QParents

QParents provides parents with 24/7 online access to:

• receiving and responding to consent requests and automated reminders
• receiving and paying invoices
• academic reporting data

Third Party Consent forms 

Third Party Consent forms have been sent out via QParents. Please check your app and provide permission for your child/ren.

Excursions / Incursions :

Payments

Please ensure when making a deposit into the school bank account you put your students name and invoice number as a reference.  This ensures we can apply it to your invoice promptly.

No late payments will be accepted, please note direct deposits can take up to 3 business days for funds to clear.

If you are experiencing any financial difficulties, please contact our office (office@miamiss.eq.edu.au) to request a payment arrangement.

How to record a Student Absence

• Option 1 - Text our SMS line on 0427 904 333 with student’s full name, class and the reason for absence (This is our preferred method). As the SMS text automatically goes into our school system.
• Option 2 - Email absentee@miamiss.eq.edu.au, with student’s name, class and reason for absence.
• Option 3 - Contact our office on 07 5595 4888 and press 1 to leave a voicemail informing students full name, class and the reason for absence.

If you receive a text message for an unexplained absence, please reply to the text ASAP with a reason for absence to avoid us contacting you and interrupting your busy day.

Thank you 😊

Office Staff

HPE News

Oceanics Swimming:

On Thursday our Miami Swim Team headed to Southport Aquatic Centre and competed for a spot on the Oceanic District Team. Our swimmers did an amazing job and showed such determination and put in a huge amount of effort in the pool. I am extremely proud of every swimmer; we are now just waiting for confirmation of times and if any of our swimmers have qualified for the district team.

Huge congratulations to the following students for their efforts: Grace P, Mahani H, Cedar H, Amelia C, Mia M, Airlie H, Evie H, Indiana C, Mikha B, Beau C, Finn M, Joshua S, Ethan W, Lucas P, Nate K, Mason A, Noah B & Jake P.

State Trials:

Congratulations to Lucas P who competed for South Coast at State Aquathlon trials. Lucas outperformed many athletes in the U/12 age division. This is a huge achievement as Lucas was competing in his U11 age group and placed. Lucas has now qualified to represent Queensland at Nationals, this is a huge achievement, and we wish him all the best.

Term 1 Trials:

It has been an extremely busy term so far holding numerous trails for various sports. Our students in Year 5 & 6 have had the opportunity to be selected Netball, League, Basketball, AFL & Rugby 7’s. Thanks to all our staff who have volunteered their time to run each session and help select our players. We wish all our athletes who have been selected in their chosen sports to best of luck in their endeavour to represent their district. All information will be sent home to those athletes once it’s been received from Oceanics. Please inform Mr Crilly if your child is not taking part in any trial as he would love to pass on that opportunity to another child.

Mr Crilly is seeking any student in Year 5 & 6 interested in trials for U/12 boy’s netball to please notify him of their interest.

Ben Crilly-Hargrave

PBL Focus Week 3

PBL Focus Week 4

Office Notice Board Week 4

Prep E's beautiful artworks were the first to go on display in the office this year. Great job Prep E colouring within the lines!

Miami State High School Parent Information Session & Tour

Tuckshop

Our wonderful tuckshop is always looking for an extra pair of hands to help out. If you have a little spare time, they would love for you to pop in and give them a hand.  Please contact the tuckshop via,

email:  miamisstuckshop@gmail.com

After School Programs

Please note these programs are facilitated by external providers and you are required to make any enquiries or bookings directly with the relevant provider. Please ensure you are on time to collect your student from the relevant location. Collection of students from the oval and multi-courts to be via Pizzey Road tennis courts (not through the school).

TERM 1 – 2025 AFTER SCHOOL ACTIVITES

CWA Morning Tea & Social Craft Morning

Chaplain Shane Scott (Chappy)

Welcome to the 2025 school year and a special welcome to our new families. My name is Shane Scott and my role as chaplain (Chappy) is to support you and your child in this school community. Chaplains provide a listening ear and caring presence to help students and families navigate some of life’s challenges.

I am employed by SU (Scripture Union) Australia, the largest employer of school chaplains. I work in the school at the invitation of the principal and with the support of the P&C.

Chaplaincy can provide a broad range of services including:

• One on one support and assistance for the students, parents and staff.
• Student programs that help develop self-esteem, resilience, social skills, and to cope with issues such as loss and grief, and anxiety.
• Liaison between the school and community groups/agencies/churches.
• General involvement in the life of the school community to help create a positive, happy and safe environment. 

Individual or family support provided is voluntary and available to everyone in the school community regardless of their religious beliefs. Such support only includes a religious/spiritual component if requested. The chaplain does not provide religious education in the school.

I am at Miami State School on Monday and Tuesday. I welcome you contacting me at the school or by email shane.scott@suchaplaincy.org.au

Please visit www.suqld.org.au/services/chaplaincy/ for further information on school chaplaincy.

Shane Scott (Chappy)

Pancakes

Pancake Mornings are back in 2025!

Years 4-6 will be Monday 3rd March (wk.6) and Prep–3 Tuesday 18th March (wk.8).

We serve from 8.15am until 8.45am.

We serve 300+ pancakes at each morning and value the generous donations from families to help us with this. Can you help us stock up?

We need:

Pancake shake mix           (original/traditional): home brand mixes sell from $2.20.                                         
Paper plates:                    (Coles or Woolworths) - packs of 80 = $5.00, 50 = $3.15 or 20 = $1.50                           
Maple Syrup:                   (home brands) - $2.50

Donation Item/s can be dropped at the front office. Thank you for your generosity and support.

*(Chappy always has Gluten free pancakes available for students on request).

Shane Scott (Chappy)

JEP ART

Mrs Goldstein's JEP art team are working on these multimedia artworks to kick off the year. We are incorporating oil pastel blending, drawing, painting and printmaking in our gorgeous bunny projects. We will assemble our bunnies next week in a collage process. 

 A great start to 2025. Amazing, creative work team!!