Miami State High School

Miami State High School is a secondary school in the suburb of Miami in the City of Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia). It is currently the Gold Coast's second oldest state school, second in age only to Southport State High School.
The traditional custodians of the land on which Miami State High School rests are the Yugambeh language group of the Bundjalung nation.
Originally named South Coast District State High School, Miami High was officially opened in April 1963. It soon became known as Miami High and, after a number of years, the more compact name was officially adopted. It was built to meet the needs of the rapidly expanding population on the Gold Coast. At the time, the only public high schools were Southport High School and Tweed River High School, about apart, with the site of Miami High about midway between the two on the Gold Coast Highway at the very northern end of Miami.

Infrastructure

Initial Construction

The chosen site presented a number of construction challenges because the southern half was a swamp and the northern half was on the steep slope of Nobby's Headland, an upthrust of schist about 50 m high at its highest point. The challenges were met by the simple expedient of blasting the slope and dumping the rubble in the swamp, but with a consequent complete loss of topsoil that created enduring problems for many years.
It construction in the sixties always stayed behind the needs of the students for three reasons:

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competition with established schools for resources;

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Baby Boom Generation

1965 and 1966 saw open underschool areas, originally intended for protection from sun and rain, being converted to temporary classrooms and several flimsy demountable buildings being installed as other temporary classrooms.Despite their nominally temporary nature, many of these structures were still in use twenty years later.

Buildings

The school has a assembly hall with a 1,500 seat capacity. This assembly hall as the first venue on the coast that could seat more than 1,000 people. It has hosted performers such as AC/DC, Sherbet, Skyhooks, and Hot Chocolate.
In 1967, the Australian federal government built a two-story, four-laboratory science block, as part of a program to improve the teaching of science throughout Australia. Several of the laboratories were promptly pressed into service as regular classrooms.
In 2014, construction of a multi-storey learning facility for years 7 and 8 was completed, as part of the “Flying Start” program, which brought year 7 students into the Queensland high school system. The building has two prominent brick murals composed of brickwork in a standard grey mortar with recessed joints, dually functioning as cladding and a piece of artwork. The northern elevation has a brick mural depicting a breaking wave. The pattern is said to be a surfing metaphor for "the need to focus on the task at hand from start to finish and achieve the best outcome for you.", similar to the principles of surfing a tube which requires "a good start, stay calm and composed in the middle, before ending the journey in one piece, albeit a changed and inspired person." The western elevation, facing the highway, has a "binary wall" mural, featuring a binary computer code spelling out the school's slogan and motto, "Miami State High School, Learning through a team effort, Semper Costa Floreat". The architect, Conrad Garget, described it as "a cost effective, artistic, inspiring, character enabling, durable and low maintenance structure which both describes the story of development in education through the use of computers."
The building prompted the then school principal, Jim Baker, to have the word ‘Inspire’ rise vertically on the western elevation of the entry building, and, subsequently, to similarly name all the school's existing buildings.

Sports

Miami State High School possesses an all-weather playing surface featuring four basketball, four netball and three volleyball courts, a sports field, fully equipped gymnasium and 25 metre swimming pool.
In January 2024, The Sports Centre of Excellence was officially finished and open for school and approved community usage. Students can utilise the building's world class sports facilities to develop their athletic abilities and excel in their chosen sports.
The new hall features two sports courts, a kinesiology lab and theory room, three learning areas and a staff room. There are also additional amenities and equipment storage, office space, a performance stage and a kitchen with kiosk facilities.
An exciting addition to the sports courts are professional glass backboards for basketball, which were jointly funded by the school and the Department of Education.
A total of $13.2 million was invested to deliver the new multi-purpose hall.

AFL Team Achievements

Senior Female (Years 10-12)

'''AFL Queensland Schools Cup'''
Junior Female (Years 7-9)
'''AFL Queensland Schools Cup'''
Hollywood Sign

Miami's most iconic landmark is the school's yellow ‘Hollywood-style’ sign. Exerect in 1979, the sign was the brainchild of then principal, William Callinan, and was designed to cover the scarp face, once the site of a rock quarry. After a trip to Los Angeles, Bill was inspired by the Hollywood sign to build the school's sign in the same design. Originally, it read 'Hi Miami High', but it now reads simply "Miami High". The school's sign on the side of the hill is listed on the Gold Coast Local Heritage Register, due to it being "historically significant in demonstrating the important fun and fantasy phase of development on the Gold Coast.".

Fencing

The school grounds are enclosed in a 2-metre tall spiked black steel perimeter fence. The fence was constructed in 2022, as part of a state government initial which saw similar fence erected in 140 school in 2021. The reason for the fence was attributed to the general "rise in crime around state schools in south-east Queensland".

Curriculum

Exchange Academy

Miami State High School offers a number of Excellence and Specialisation programs for high achieving and goal driven students in the following fields: Academic, Cultural and Sporting.

Exchange Program

Miami High has introduced an international exchange program with students from all over the world now attending the school.

Aviation

Since 2025, they canceled the courses.

Languages

The school's language department offers Japanese, Spanish, and Auslan.
As part of it extra-curicullar program it organises international trips to Japan and Spain.

Administration

Staff

As of 2025, the school has a teaching staff of 122 and a non-teaching staff of 61.

Principals

The following is a full list of the school's principals since the schools inception:

Tenure	Name	Ref
1963-1966	Claude Rayner
1967-1968	John Rowe
1969-1985	William "Bill" Callinan
1986-2016	Jim Baker
2017-2023	Susan Dalton
2024-Present	Clint Curran

In 2025, the current principal of Miami State High School was Clint Curran and the deputy principal is Michelle Flynn.

Students

Years

In 1964, Queensland's primary schools ceased to teach year 8, which was transferred to the high schools. The "infant" Miami State High School went from catering to year 9 to catering to years 8–10, causing the school to be barely being able to provide enough classrooms for the start of the year.
As part of a 2013 trial, officially implemented in 2015, year 7 was subsequently included, so that Miami State High School now catered for years 7–12, to align Queensland with the other states, as part of Anna Bligh's state-wide "Flying Start" program.

Student enrolments

In 2026, Miami State High School was reported to have a maximum student enrolment capacity of 1,536 students.
The trend in school enrolments has been:

Cultural Diversity

Indigenous

The school is located on Kombumerri Saltwater People people's traditional Country, part of the broader Yugambeh nation.

Multiculturalism

The recent trends in multicultural composition been:

Year	Indigenous	LBOTE	Ref
2014	4%	12%
2015	4%	8%
2016	3%	13%
2017	3%	13%
2018	3%	15%
2019	3%	15%
2020	3%	12%
2021	3%	12%
2022	3%	11%
2023	3%	12%
2024	3%	11%
2025	4%	16%
2026	TBA	TBA

Notable alumni

The following are notable alumni of the school:

Name	Achievement	Ref
Anna Bligh	Former Premier of Queensland
Richard Black	Former Chief Technology Officer, Bank of England

Name	Achievement	Ref
Amanda Ware	Australia's Next Top Model Winner
Kim Watkins	TV Presenter

Name	Sport	Top-level team/affiliation	Ref
Maddison Levi	Australian rules football Rugby sevens	Gold Coast Australia
Teagan Levi	Australian rules football Rugby sevens	Gold Coast Australia
Lucy Single	Australian rules football	Gold Coast
Scott McGrory	Cycling	Australia
Heidi Piper	Fencing	Notre Dame
Sharon Jaklofsky	Long jump	Netherlands
Alex Glenn	Rugby league	Brisbane, New Zealand
Wayne 'Rabbit' Bartholomew	Surfing	Australia
Benjamin Schulte	Swimming	Part of the contingent for Guam at the 2012 Summer Olympics.