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 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.
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 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.
Term-long workshops
Food Glorious Food
- Stage 2
- Term 4 (term-long)
- In person
Let’s celebrate the most delicious things in life! This program is the perfect ‘taster’ course to students who might be new to working with Story Factory. Through different workshops week to week, all themed around food, students will be introduced to different literary devices, work with model texts and scaffolds, and bring their own tastes and passions to the table. There will also be games, jokes, drama activities and more!
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Pixie Power
- Stage 2
- Term 4 (term-long)
- In person
Do you know how toasters work? What about microwaves? What about a vending machine? Or a school bus?! It turns out a lot of the everyday machines we interact with don’t run on electricity, or petrol, or microchips – it’s pixie power! Students will explore the secret, magical inner workings of machines, modes of transport, and the English language itself! In this workshop series students will grow their capacity to transfer creative ideas into writing and develop an understanding of concepts of characterisation and narration.
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Deadly Lyrics
- Stage 3
- Term 4 (term-long)
- In person
Looking to share contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voices with your students? Each week students will explore a track by contemporary First Nations artists and use it as inspiration for their own lyric writing. They will learn about Indigenous cultures and languages from diverse communities around Australia, and will explore their own experiences and values as they write lyrics in such forms as rap, narrative lyrics and lullabies. This workshop provides rich opportunities to develop an understanding of a range of sonic and figurative devices applicable across a range of types of writing.
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Oz Odyssey
- Stage 3
- Term 4 (term-long)
- In person
In this workshop series, students are asked to imagine they receive a call to action from a natural element. They adventure through Wiradjuri Country, Ngarrindjeri Country and Burramattagal Country, where they are given an opportunity to learn about the land, the history and the wonderful First Nations languages. Throughout this journey of self-discovery, the students ultimately learn what home means to them.
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Let’s Get Crafty
- Stage 4
- Term 4 (term-long)
- In person
In this workshop students will create short pieces of writing that will include poems and microfiction that explore their personal views or experiences. They will have the opportunity to get crafty and transform these fragments of writing into multimodal texts with visual elements. This workshop is ideal for rewarding and re-energising students as they reach the end of the school year.
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Deadly Writing
- Stage 5
- Term 4 (term-long)
- In person
In this workshop series students will explore and respond to a range of quality texts written in a range of forms by contemporary First Nations writers from Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander and Pasifika communities. They will be inspired to use this writing to reflect on and write about their own experiences, interests and concerns as they produce a personal anthology. Students will learn about and experiment with a variety of editing strategies as they prepare their own writing for publication. Deadly, unna?
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Sonderful
- Stage 5
- Term 4 (term-long)
- In person
SONDER: (noun) The realisation that each random passer-by is the main character in their own story, living a life just as complex and vivid as your own.
Sonder is the underlying concept of this series of workshops in which students will create a unique central character of their own, going beyond mere description and drilling down into their motivations, vulnerabilities, idiosyncrasies and relationships. They will play with narrative voice, description, setting and dialogue to create complex and vivid scenarios in which their unique character interacts with their environment and others. You and your students will find this program “character-building” – Literarily!
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Rough Cuts
- Stage 5
- Term 4 (term-long)
- In person
Rough Cuts builds on the characters students created during Sonderful, inviting them to explore storytelling through the medium of film. Drawing inspiration from a range of film texts, students learn to think like filmmakers and write with a cinematic eye, imagining their character as the subject of a short film.
Throughout the program, they experiment with director’s shot lists – considering how camera angles, movement, sound, and mise-en-scène shape meaning and emotion – then use these exercises as a springboard for writing prose filmically. Students compose scenes with authentic dialogue, exploring how subtext and action enrich what’s spoken, and step into their character’s voice through monologues, sharpening their ability to capture perspective and emotion on the page.
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