Inside the Canberra primary school turning 55 students into robot whizzes

The day before the RoboCup Junior national finals in October, Indie Lawn's iPad "blew up".

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Indie, a year 6 student at St Michael's Primary School in Kaleen, had written the code for her team's 'onstage' robotics routine, set to be performed at nationals, on the iPad.

The team, made up of Indie, year 6 student Zara Cameron, and year 4 student Hailey Denford, received the 2026 'Resilience Award' at nationals for their recovery from the iPad disaster.

Their teacher and the mastermind of St Michael's robotics program, Jessica Hallahan, said that robotics is all about resilience.

The Wiggles robotics team, Zara Cameron, Hailey Denford and Indie Lawn, show off their trophies and robots. Picture by Keegan Carroll

"The biggest thing that kids learn through a year of robotics is problem-solving skills and perseverance," Ms Hallahan said.

Indie, Zara and Hailey performed (via their robots) as 'The Wiggles' at the ACT Regionals competition in September, taking first place in the Novice Onstage category. In preparation for the competition, they built the robots, designed code to make them dance and created a map on which they could move.

The routine featured a number of dancing Wiggles characters and a sequence in which the Big Red Car breaks down, before being quickly fixed by a swift pit crew and carrying on along the road.

The robots' performance was meticulously choreographed in code by the primary school students, with the guidance of Ms Hallahan, who has been teaching robotics at St Michael's for eight years.

Two other teams from St Michael's took home second and third place in the Riley Rover Rescue Line category, which requires robots to navigate an obstacle course and 'rescue' a silver can from a danger zone on the map.

Ms Hallahan teaches robotics to 55 children, a third of the entire school.

A third of the student population at St Michael's Primary School is involved with the robotics program. Picture by Keegan Carroll

"We begged and begged and begged Ms Hallahan to let us join when we were in year 3," said Zara. At the time, it was only offered to year 5 and 6 students.

Now the students are ACT champions, and developing a passion for STEM along the way.

"To me, robotics is a chance to try something new," Zara said. "I can code, build, design, and get creative."

For Hailey, it's all about the problem solving. "I like when something doesn't work, and I have to try figure out what went wrong and how to solve it."

Zara Cameron, Hailey Denford and Indie Lawn stand with their teacher and robotics coordinator Jessica Hallihan. Picture by Keegan Carroll

When Ms Hallahan first started the program, only four students joined. Since then, robotics has become a staple of the school, with St Michael's attending the RoboCup Junior nationals every year since 2023.

"For some of our kids, they have disabilities that mean they struggle in a social environment, and robotics has become a really important zone for them," she said.

"It helps with their sense of belonging."

Ms Hallahan's team is made up of mostly girls, a phenomenon that she said was mostly a "natural progression".

"I've had teachers from other schools ask me how I got so many girls involved in robotics, but it's just a momentum that's grown by itself. The girls see their friends join and all of a sudden they're doing robotics too."

Hailey said she probably never would have developed such an interest in STEM if not for the robotics program. Like her, many former students have found their passion in robotics.

"One of my girls from my first robotics team just got offered early entry into an engineering course at the University of Canberra," Ms Hallahan said. "We've had a little boy who's gone into drone technology."

The girls pointed out that Ms Hallahan received the ACT RoboCup 'Outstanding Teacher' award in 2025.

"She gives up her time for us just so we can achieve our goals."

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