The incredible achievements of teacher Mia Pinnington from Coomera Rivers State School are testament to her awe-inspiring commitment to STEAM.
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Her most recent feat was winning a Peter Doherty 2018 Outstanding Teacher of STEM Award in August. 

In 2017 Mia was selected by Apple Australia to visit a range of cities and regions across Queensland as part of their travelling roadshow to share her knowledge and understanding in the areas of design and technologies.
She has also presented at two Apple conferences, encouraging fellow educators to build their capacity in using Apple technologies in their lessons. 

​Displaying her commitment and drive to make digital technologies as accessible as possible for her students, Mia was successful in obtaining the Entrepreneurs of Tomorrow Grant and the Advance Queensland – Engaging Science Grant for her school.

Mia with Tony Cook PSM, Queensland Director-General of the Department of Education accepting her Peter Doherty Award.

With the Entrepreneurs of Tomorrow funding Mia created the innovative Year 6 myDesign Solutions program which is delivered every year in her STEAM specialist lessons. In this program students create a company based on a robot or drone model then design and create marketing materials and 3D-print a logo. Since implementing the program, CRSS has seen a notable increase in students results across STEAM subject areas.

The Advanced Queensland funding allows Mia to facilitate the iDesign with STEAM program, where primary teachers can access lesson resources to use in their own classrooms. The program has received excellent feedback from participating teachers who have seen increases in knowledge and enthusiasm of their students.

In her role as the senior years STEAM teacher, Mia writes engaging units of work and creative design challenges, incorporating the latest digital technologies to all learning activities.

In previous years Mia has facilitated ‘Days of Excellence’ and ‘Higher Order Thinking’ events such as a CSI: Forensic Science challenge, encouraging students to become critical and creative thinkers.

Mia’s colleague and nominator Julie Parker says Mia’s high-quality leadership in the area of STEAM has been pivotal in delivering the best outcomes for her students.

“She is a demonstrated instructional leader who creates and leads high performance in order to sustain a learning culture,” says Julie.

Her impact on student learning resonates well beyond our school gates, and is evident within schools across our region, across our state. This level of impact is nothing short of inspirational.

Mia really values the relationships she makes with key stakeholders and has built up working relationships with a local graphic designer, design & technologies students from the local high school, and LEGO Education as well as with Linda Pitt, the Apple Development Executive for K-12.

Congratulations Mia on your QCT Excellent Leadership in Teaching and Learning Award nomination. ​