October 18th, 2025Exploring robotics and STEM

Students from Forest Street Primary School are exploring robotics and STEM thanks to $30,000 in support from the Sponsorship Grants for Student Science Engagement and International Competitions, a part of the Inspiring Australia – Science Engagement Program.

Forest Street’s robotics program began in 2024 with one Lego Spike Prime Robot which the students would share while learning to build and code.

The program was hugely successful and a $15,000 grant has enabled the school to purchase 12 robots, so that every child can work independently exploring, building and creating missions for their robots. This year, the program has been setup as an extracurricular program on Thursday afternoons to enable more time for exploration.

The school’s first foray into STEM competition was also successful, when they defeated six other schools last year to win the inaugural Lego League Challenge at Ballarat’s Australian Catholic University.

Despite winning the competition last year the school lacked the funding to progress to the next stage of competitions in Sydney. They have since received a $15,000 grant to support future travel and accommodation to compete at a higher level.

This year’s competition has the theme of “Unearthed”, focussing on archaeology, and the students will be required to present their projects to the judges as they defend their title.

More information about the Inspiring Australia – Science Engagement Program is on the Department of Industry, Science and Resources website.