Milpera News, March 2025

Watch, be alert and stay safe - Cyclone Alfred

For those potentially in the path of Cyclone Alfred - please be alert, stay up-to-date with warnings and take the essential steps to Get Ready – know your risk, make a plan, pack a kit. 

 For more info: Get Ready Queensland

Message from our Principal, Ms Julie Peel

Dear Parents and Carers,

We have had a wonderful start to 2025. Our students have settled well and are working on growing their English for the next level.

We recently announced an exciting initiative starting at Kingston State College. Students who live in the Logan area will now be able to enrol at Kingston to complete the final 10 weeks of their language program. This will be exactly the same program that students study at Milpera. After completing that program students will make a choice to stay on at Kingston or move to their local school.

With one hundred new students, we have been working hard to build cohesion in our classes and to teach our students the way to be at Milpera - Ready, Kind, Respectful and Hardworking. Please discuss these values with your child.

Our swimming program is nearly finished and has supported around 200 students to become safer in the water. Our many extra-curricular activities also support our students to build relationships with each other and grow their social English.

I would like to thank all staff, students and volunteers for a fabulous start to the school year. We look forward to updating you about student progress through a School Report delivered in Week 9 at our Parent/Carer Interviews. Please feel free to visit or call Milpera at any time with any questions you have.

Message from our Deputy Principal, Mr Sam Dilly

Respect for all: a key to a peaceful school and society

To the Milpera community,

At Milpera, we are lucky to have students from many different cultures, backgrounds and beliefs. Respecting these differences is important because it helps create a peaceful and fair school and society. The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) reminds us that everyone, no matter where they come from, deserves to be treated with dignity and respect.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, created by the United Nations, says that all people have the right to be respected, no matter their race, culture, religion, or language. These rights also come with the responsibility to show respect to all and to help resolve conflicts in peaceful ways.

When we respect people from different cultures, we build understanding and reduce conflict. We learn from each other’s traditions and ways of life, making our communities stronger and more united. It’s important to remember that we are all human, and our differences make us unique and special.

As students and members of the Milpera community, we can practice respect by listening to each other, learning about different cultures, and celebrating the things that make us unique. Respecting all cultures helps ensure that everyone feels valued, safe, and free to be themselves. Every student’s unique background offers a chance for everyone to learn and grow. By appreciating different customs, traditions, and ways of communication, we become more open-minded and accepting of others.

As Deputy Principal at Milpera, one of my jobs is to work with students to fix problems. I’m very lucky that there are so many students at Milpera who help me to do my job. At the end of each term, we recognise these students with a Peace Award.

Peace Awards go to students who work with students from all cultures, helps fix problems and show respect to all students and staff. We look forward to welcoming many of our students up on stage to receive a Peace Award at the end of term. 

School -based GP - Meet Dr Miriam Wellauer

Milpera was very fortunate to be chosen to have a doctor based at our school every Tuesday. Dr Miriam Wellauer was appointed in 2022 and has settled well into our unique school environment. She is available to see students about any health or medical problems. She has a particular interest in women's health and adolescent health and enjoys seeing many teenagers at her usual practice at Graceville Medical. She can see patients for all aspects of physical and mental health, as well as minor procedures.

Dr Miriam is based at Milpera every Tuesday. This means that students are able to see a doctor without needing to travel or find time outside of school hours. She will also teach students how to find their own doctor locally, after they move on from Milpera. Dr Miriam will communicate with doctors and other health professionals already involved in each student's care and will help students to transition to their own local doctor, with a health summary at the end of their time at Milpera.

Outside of working as a GP, Miriam has three young kids and enjoys singing in a local choir and sewing her own clothes.

School Based Youth Health Nurse Service

In addition to the school-based GP, Milpera also has access to a Youth Health Nurse on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  Children’s Health Queensland’s School Based Youth Health Nurse (SBYHN) provides free and accessible healthcare services to state secondary school students. It is a confidential, voluntary, brief intervention service. Students can book private appointments with our nurse and talk about a range of topics.

SBYHNs respect the student’s privacy and will not share personal information with anyone unless there is a safety concern. The nurse will continue to encourage students to discuss their questions or concerns with parents and school support staff.

The service helps students by:

• promoting positive health and wellbeing
• delivering health education in the classroom
• working with school staff and community services
• talking to students one-on-one about their health concerns
• providing referrals to other health services as required.

The SBYHN can help with:

• Growth and development
• Smoking, vaping, alcohol, and other drugs
• Feeling sad, worried, or angry
• Healthy eating and exercise
• Personal or family problems
• Relationships and sexuality

How to get help from the SBYHN:

• Students can ask to see the school nurse themselves.
• Parents can ask for their child to see the school nurse.
• School staff can also ask for a student to see the school nurse.

You can contact the school nurse in different ways including:

For Students: To self-refer, email: nurse.milpera@health.qld gov.au

For Parents and other health professionals (such as school guidance counsellors):  refer students by completing the Young Person Referral Form and emailing it to sbyhreferral@health.qld.gov.au

Water Safety Program

This term, many students in Post Beginner and Prep 1 are taking part in our Water Safety program. Over five weeks and ten lessons, students build essential swimming and survival skills—an invaluable opportunity for our migrant and refugee students who may not have had the chance to learn to swim before.

With small, skill-based groups and dedicated instructors in every session, students are supported while being encouraged to step outside their comfort zones. Throughout the program, they complete a series of assessments to gauge their survival ability in the water. By the end, students not only gain confidence but also develop a love for the water!

Cooking Club

Students at Milpera State High School participate in cooking during their program. Students may participate in cooking in the following ways:

• As part of their English language or Science program
• For whole school healthy eating days
• As part of a cooking club
• To help prepare for special events.

Cooking classes can provide opportunities to develop social skills and class cohesion, improve language skills, allow opportunities to share recipes from different cultures and help students develop, healthy eating habits.

School Camps

This term, Senior Prep 1 students will experience Stanley River Camp. Every term, Milpera students attend camp to grow friendships and build connections with their new lives in Australia. The camp program offers a chance to experience the outdoors and learn the perspectives of Australia’s first peoples. Students go canoeing and make damper in the fire. They also get the opportunity to meet a kangaroo!

We encourage parents to allow their children to take advantage of this opportunity to learn more about Australia and the environment. Going on camp allows children to learn life-skills such as teamwork, listening and taking responsibility for themselves. 

Maths Program - Number intervention

When students first commence school at Milpera, they undertake some diagnostic Maths testing to identify students who need help in basic number understanding. This is gauged by their results in the Maths diagnostic test as well as their teacher’s recommendation. Ms Josie Parkes runs the program providing support to 1-2 students, every lesson. Each student receives targeted support at their individual point of need, 3 lessons a week. This term, 12 students are involved in this program. Ms Parkes works tirelessly with these students bringing lots of positivity and energy into the sessions.

Rail Safety Excursion

The students of Milpera participated in the Rail Safety Excursion in Week4 this term. The students walked to Chelmer station and travelled on a train to the Roma Street station. They learned about safety rules while taking the train, respectful behaviours while on the train and the importance of listening to announcements/instructions. Parents can help us by reminding their children of these rules as well. It is a very important part of our settlement program for our students to learn how to travel safely and respectfully on all forms of public transport.

Bike Program

Milpera SHS provides an opportunity for students to participate in a bicycle safety program during each term of the school year. This program has been operating at Milpera SHS for many years and is currently offered to students in PREP 2 classes.

Practical riding sessions are conducted each Wednesday afternoon between 2.15pm and 3.45pm. The program teaches students to ride safely on Australian roads.

A qualified cycling instructor from Cycling Australia delivers the program each term. All instruction and riding skills practice is conducted within the school grounds and supervised by a staff member from Milpera SHS.

Students who cannot ride a bicycle are taught to do so.

At the end of the program students are given a second-hand bicycle, a new helmet, a bell, a bicycle lock and a tyre pump to keep as their own.

Equine Assisted Learning

Milpera State High School students have participated in an Equine Assisted Learning program with the Reason To Thrive organization since 2021. Students are generally nominated by the HEAL therapists and the student support team at the school and participate as a cultural group. This feature ensures that all instructions/directions that are given by Reason To Thrive staff can, where necessary be translated into the student’s first language by a multilingual staff member from Milpera SHS.

Equine Assisted Learning (EAL) is a hands-on, innovative and practical way for a person to learn about themselves and build essential life skills. All learning takes place in an outdoor classroom with a horse as the teacher. Horses are very good at helping students to self-regulate. They are masters at reading body language and are aware of energy shifts around them because as prey animals they are constantly assessing threats to their safety.

Together through positive interaction and teamwork participants and equine teachers work through a series of objective-driven, ground-based activities (no riding) to achieve specific outcomes. Each person learns about their strengths, their personality and the energy they give out to everyone around them.

Welcome Assembly

The students of Milpera warmly welcomed the new students who arrived at the school in Term 1 during the Welcome assembly on 11^th of February. The students creatively displayed key values of being hard working, respectful, kind and ready for learning.

Milpera facilitates good settlement and a strong sense of belonging through carefully chosen learning experiences, an extensive extra-curricular program and by valuing the cultural identity of each student. Milpera's many bilingual teacher aides provide cultural support as well as helping students with their acquisition of English. Additionally, the school has developed one of the Department of Education's largest volunteer teams, essential in supporting the students in our classrooms and intervention programs.

Football

Are you interested in Football? Football is on, after school at Milpera this term, every Wednesday from 2:45 – 3:45pm. Students meet on the soccer field, outside room 26 at 2:45pm.

A coach from Football Queensland is coming to run the session.

To play students need to have a signed permission form. The forms are at student services. Students also need to wear closed in shoes and bring a water bottle.

There is no cost, it’s completely free!!

Volleyball Club

Milpera Volleyball Club has started on Tuesday afternoons at the HBB. Boys and girls of all ages and skill levels are welcome to join an afternoon of fun exercise and learn to play the game of Volleyball.

Sessions begin right after school at 2:45pm and end at 4pm, but students can leave earlier to catch the 3:45pm bus. Students can expect to spend half the session training and the other half playing in casual games.

The sessions are free and run by David Esteban who has many years of volleyball experience and enjoys sharing the love of the sport.