{"id":117064,"date":"2025-11-03T04:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-11-02T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/?p=117064"},"modified":"2025-10-30T15:53:41","modified_gmt":"2025-10-30T04:53:41","slug":"robotics-goes-up-a-gear-at-forest-st-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/robotics-goes-up-a-gear-at-forest-st-school\/","title":{"rendered":"Robotics goes up a gear at Forest St school"},"content":{"rendered":"

STUDENTS at Forest Street Primary School are exploring science, technology, engineering and mathematics through robotics, backed by $30,000 from the Federal Government’s Inspiring Australia Science Engagement Program.<\/p>\n

Grade 4 and 5 students are preparing to defend their title at the Lego League Challenge regional competition at Australian Catholic University on 19 November, with the prospect of further competition in the state’s capital beyond that.<\/p>\n

They’ve built the robots themselves, they’ve programmed them and now they’re busy practicing their robotic missions.<\/p>\n

The local school’s robotics program began last year with one Lego Spike Prime Robot which the students would share while learning to build and code.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It proved hugely successful and the first of two $15,000 grants under the federal program then enabled the school to buy 12 robots, so every child could work independently building and creating missions for their robots.<\/p>\n

This year, the school’s robotics program has been setup as an extracurricular program on Thursday afternoons to enable more time for exploration, with the school’s first foray into STEM ( Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) competition also successful.<\/p>\n

They defeated six other schools last year to win the inaugural Lego League Challenge at Ballarat’s ACU.<\/p>\n

Despite winning the competition last year the school lacked the funding to progress to the next stage of competitions in Sydney.<\/p>\n

But they have also received another $15,000 grant to support future travel and accommodation to compete at a higher level.<\/p>\n

\"\"
This year\u2019s Lego League Challenge competition has the theme of Unearthed, focusing on archaeology.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

This year’s competition has the theme of Unearthed, focusing on archaeology, and the students will be required to present their projects to the judges as they defend their title.<\/p>\n

Visiting the students recently to see more of what they’re achieving, Federal Member for Ballarat Catherine King said sparking an interest in STEM from an early age is critical in ensuring young people look forward to studying and working in these fields.<\/p>\n

“This Lego League Challenge encourages children to innovate, explore and think both critically and creatively, setting them up to take on more challenges in the future,” Ms King said.<\/p>\n

Forest Street Primary School learning specialist Gerard Brick said participation in the Lego League Challenge is enabling the students to develop their teamwork, communication and presentation skills while learning all about STEM and it’s place within archaeology.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

STUDENTS at Forest Street Primary School are exploring science, technology, engineering and mathematics through robotics, backed by $30,000 from the Federal Government’s Inspiring Australia Science Engagement Program. Grade 4 and 5 students are preparing to defend their title at the Lego League Challenge regional competition at Australian Catholic University on 19 November, with the prospect […]<\/p>\n

Read More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":244,"featured_media":117069,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-117064","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nRobotics goes up a gear at Forest St school - Ballarat Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Forest Street robotics students gear up for the Lego League Challenge, showcasing STEM skills and innovation in Ballarat.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/robotics-goes-up-a-gear-at-forest-st-school\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Robotics goes up a gear at Forest St school - 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