Lost and Overdue Library Books
We request that students return all library books to the school library by Thursday 1 December as our library stocktake will commence on Friday 2 December.
If there are outstanding books after this date, a note will be sent home requesting the return of the book(s) or the payment to replace the book if it has been lost. Lost book payments can be made at the school office.
Lost Property
A special thanks to Wendy Diamond (mum of Thomas, Maya and Will) who has managed a final clear out of the lost property room. All named items have been returned to children.
Please come and check lost property if you are missing any clothing. There are a number of items without names still remaining.
As of Friday 9 December, all unclaimed items will be removed, washed and put on the second-hand uniform rack for sale.
Grade 6 Graduation – RSVP for the Parent Function at CH James
All Grade 6 parents are invited to a cocktail evening at C.H. James (86 Station St, Fairfield in the Valensia Room) from 7:30 – 9:30pm, while their children enjoy a meal and disco as part of their graduation celebration. A selection of canapés will be served and drinks can be purchased at the bar. The cost is $37.50 per person.
Please book your ticket via TryBooking. The last day to purchase tickets is Sunday 27 November.
Got questions? Contact your class liaison—Kathryn, Jenny, Amy and Liza.
Robotic Competition—A Successful Performance
This Sunday, ‘The Bobs’, a local community team of five Fairfield PS and two Northcote HS students (Tim Crichton, Josh Thorpe, Julian Lynch, Will Grage-Perry, Red Maher and Rohan Lynch and Nic Rodda), were one of 35 teams competing in the Melbourne regional division of the F.I.R.S.T. Lego League (FLL) Challenge, hosted by Swinburne University. It was a very full day beginning with settling into their ‘pit’ (each team had a base where they could set up their practice mat) ahead of the opening ceremony.
The Bob’s first event was demonstration and explanation of the design and programming aspects of their robot to judges, with praise for their sturdy design and multiple add-on components, as well as constructive suggestions for next year’s build. Not long after was the first of the three ‘runs’ the team would have, pitting their pre-programmed robot against a series of tasks. While the robot didn’t perform as smoothly as it did on its home ground, it made a respectable showing.
Next it was time to prepare for the presentation of The Bob’s ‘real world project’, the Super Anti-Swooper (swooping magpie countermeasure headwear). The hat was an engineering triumph, with a holstered bicycle handbrake cabled into a deconstructed ‘bubble gun’ hidden in the top of a modified fedora. In an all too familiar experience to experienced presenters everywhere, there was the unexpected but ultimately catastrophic breakdown of the trigger mechanism literally minutes before the presentation. Last minute repairs were attempted by the tech team while a back-up plan was formulated. Happily, the FLL competition’s aims are to foster innovative thinking and promote courteous professionalism and The Bob’s composure under pressure with a simple explanation of the technical difficulty and substituted solution was very well received. Apart from a break for lunch, the rest of the day was fairly busy with refinements to the robot ahead of the final two ‘runs’, visits by judges assessing the team’s Core Values, and the robot ‘runs’ themselves.
Congratulations to The Bobs team! There is an enormous learning curve that goes along with a multi-faceted project like this and the team put a tremendous amount of time and energy into it. They showed a fantastic work ethic and wonderful, good humoured team work. Every team member had a significant role to play—some gravitated toward the writing and performing aspects of the project, while others shone on the tech side. Each member saw each other’s contributions as invaluable!
~ Beth Croce, The Bobs Team Mentor
