Miami State High to get spectacular new $11m sports centre

A Gold Coast high school is to get a massive new $11m sports centre to help train the next generation of Olympic champions. FULL DETAILS

ONE of the Gold Coast’s oldest high schools will gear up for the Olympics with a major new indoor sports centre designed to help train the next generation of champions.

The Sports Centre of Excellence at Miami State High School will include two multi-purpose sports courts, a kinesiology theory room, kinesiology lab and three general learning classrooms.

Environment Minister and Gaven MP Meaghan Scanlon said the $11m project was a major milestone for the school, which first opened in 1963 and now has a roll-call of more than 1500 students.

“Miami State High is the second oldest high school on the Gold Coast and now it’s going to have the newest sporting facility,” Ms Scanlon said.

“... With the Olympics just on the doorstep it’s important that we have these sort of facilities to train young people.

“(Sport) is a big part of schools now and we need to make sure the facilities are fit for purpose.”

Artist's impression of new $11m sports centre at Miami State High School.

Ms Scanlon said facilities at many state schools now matched or even surpassed what was available at their private counterparts.

“This financial year there’s $80m being invested to upgrade and deliver new school facilities on the Gold Coast, which makes sense because the city is just growing and growing and we need to make sure that schools are keeping pace with the increased population,” she said.

“... I think some of our state schools are exceeding what the private sector is doing. We should have a universal education system that means it doesn’t matter who you are and where you come from, it has the facilities that everyone needs to have a successful future and I think that’s what buildings like this will do.”

School Captains Tyrone Fitzgerald, 17, and Isabella Hope, 18, with Environment Minister Meaghan Scanlon, Miami State High School Acting Principal Jason Cross and School Council Chairman John Campbell at the sod turning for new $11m Sports Excellence Centre. Picture: Glenn Hampson.

Acting Principal at Miami State High, Jason Scott, said it was hoped work on the new sports centre would be completed by the middle of next year, complimenting the school’s sixtieth anniversary celebrations.

“We’re extremely excited, particularly because we’re the second oldest school on the Gold Coast and we’re celebrating our sixtieth anniversary next year,” he said.

“It’s going to be a fantastic initiative for our school and indeed for our community.

“I’ve been connected to this school for 20 years.

“The school has changed so much in my time and this is just going to be awesome.”

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