All Story Factory programs align closely with the syllabus to support teachers achieving their goals.
We work with schools in many ways:
- One-off workshops: bring a class to visit us for a two-hour blast of creative writing inspiration at our beautifully-designed creative writing centres in Redfern or Parramatta.
- Term Programs: book us to come to your school. We can work with you to deliver a writing program once a week for a term, or multiple terms.
- Residency Programs: once you’ve tried the above, apply to become a Story Factory Residency School. We’ll commit to working with your students for at least a year, working with multiple classes, to create a culture of writing throughout the school.
All programs, whether they run for two hours or a term, end with the publication of students’ writing in a handsomely bound book which they can take home to share with their family and community.
Enquire for a free writing workshop series via: info@storyfactory.org.au
One-off workshops
Robot Bird
- Stage 2 and 3
- In person
At Story Factory we’ve wrestled (in a totally gentle and bird friendly way of course) birds and writing into the mechanised, robotic 21st century. In this workshop students will begin by creating their own fantastical Robot Bird, a creature that represents some special aspect of their own personality, then write a story sharing the tale of their first meeting with the Robot Bird.
Freedom Machines
- Stage 3 and 4
- In person
What is freedom to you? It means different things to different people at different times. What if you could build your very own freedom machine? What would it look like? How would it move? Where would it take you? In this two hour workshop students will explore Kirli Saunders and Matt Ottley’s beautiful picture book, The Incredible Freedom Machines. They will use this as an inspiration to design their own freedom machine. Students will then write a 1 to 2 stanza narrative poem describing their machine and where they would use it to go to feel free.
An Ounce of Joy
- Stage 4 and 5
- In person
Looking for an opportunity to promote student wellbeing through positive, achievable and supported writing experiences? In this workshop students will ideate and reflect on the things in life that bring them joy and happiness. The mentor text and inspiration for their own short and personal piece of writing will be an Instapoem by acclaimed British-Indian writer and illustrator Nikita Gill This workshop is ideal for reluctant writers.
Reading To Write
- Stage 6
- In person
Looking for practical and engaging ways to enrich your students’ understanding of the relationship between reading and writing? In this two hour workshop students will be exposed to diverse and appealing mentor texts (including contemporary poetry, multimodal and digital texts) and engage in short and achievable activities that build their knowledge of imaginative, discursive and informative writing. This workshop is designed to engage reluctant writers and readers.
Craft of Writing (Discursive Focus)
- Stage 6
- In person
Looking for a way to inspire and motivate your Year 12 students as they tackle Module C? In this two hour workshop students will engage with a rich mentor text by a contemporary Afro-American music writer and draft short and achievable responses that accumulate to build a personal and HSC style response for Module C. Students will actively engage in the craft of writing as they learn about and apply the form and language features that empower them to create hybrid pieces of personal writing that utilise elements of informative, persuasive, imaginative and discursive writing. They will respond to unseen stimuli, ideate and reflect on the significance of the past calendar year for them and develop effective strategies for reflecting on their own writing.
Craft of Writing (Imaginative Focus)
- Stage 6
- In person
Looking for a way to inspire and motivate your Year 12 students as they tackle Module C? In this two hour workshop students will engage with a rich mentor short story by African-American author Alice Walker and draft short and achievable responses that accumulate to build an HSC style response for Module C. Students will actively engage in the craft of writing as they learn about and apply the form and language features that empower them to create their own imaginative piece with all elements of narrative within the space an exam response. They will respond to unseen stimuli and develop effective strategies for reflecting on their own writing.
Term-long workshops
The Secret Life of Stuff
- Stage 2
- Term 1, 2026 (term-long)
- In person
Have you ever wondered what your regular, everyday classroom objects get up to when you leave the room for the day? Well, wonder no longer! In The Secret Life of Stuff, students will use The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt (pictures by Oliver Jeffers) as a mentor text to create characters from personified objects who get up to all sorts of mischief.
In this workshop series students will engage in character building based on the objects they see every day. They will plan and create letters, postcards and fictional texts as they engage with metalanguage around literacy and emotional literacy.
Enquire Now!
The Pirate’s Guide
- Stage 3
- Term 1, 2026 (term-long)
- In person
“Fasten your tricorns and polish your blades. This three-week program will arm every young swashbuckling scallywag with the literary skills they need for a creatively narrated life of sea-faring, kraken-killing and treasure-nicking.
In this workshop series students will craft vivid descriptions, create nuanced characters, and plot persuasive mutinies. So you want to be a pirate? Let’s get st_AAARRRRRRRR_ted.”
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Wizards and Lizards
- Stage 4
- Term 1, 2026 (term-long)
- In person
Wizards and witches and lizards, oh my! In this workshop series, students will immerse themselves in the joy of fantasy world-building. Students will create their own realm and populate it with lore, creatures and characters. This modular series will captivate students with non-digital gamification and other creative constraints to playfully explore the mechanics and conventions of the fantasy genre.
Students will engage, individually and collaboratively, with a variety of language forms and features to explore and create components of a fantasy narrative. Students will compose different texts each week and edit two pieces to be published in the class anthology, which will function as a fantastic compendium of the rich and imaginative worlds they have invented.
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Sonnets
- Stage 5
- Term 1, 2026 (term-long)
- In person
It’s a sonnet, Will, but not as you know it! In this workshop series students will engage and experiment with the form of the sonnet and explore how this “little song” can be the means to develop and share a “big voice”. Students will build their skills and understanding through a series of scaffolded and shorter writing activities so that they can utilise and ‘own’ this significant form to confidently communicate their unique experience. They will engage with a diverse range of contemporary and more canonical sonnet forms from around the world and across time, and produce a collection of their sonnets for publication.
Enquire Now!