Since Fairfield Primary School was first established in 1885 it has been part of a community that has grown from a small village some distance from the city of Melbourne, to a thriving, residential inner city suburb. It has witnessed its families torn apart by war and a great economic depression, but united by community events like the grand opening of the Grandview Hotel Coffee House in 1888; regular boating and canoeing carnivals at the Fairfield Park Boathouse; and the rescue and rehabilitation by the Darebin Parklands Association since the early 1970s of the area’s surrounding bushland. The FPS community has also seen its area blossom with the post-war immigration of European families seeking a safe and prosperous life.

Many of its families have been living in Fairfield for two generations or more and have seen tremendous changes to the physical, social and cultural landscape. They attended Fairfield Primary School as children and sent their own children to the school when their time came. Some families are even seeing their grandchildren at this school.

In 2010 FPS celebrated its 125th anniversary. Some of the current students have discovered much about the former families of the school and their local community. They have learnt to be historians by asking questions of people, documents, maps and photographs and by looking carefully at the clues to the past left by their schools historical markers.