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
Term-long workshops
Matchbox Treasures
- Stage 2
- Term 3, 2026 (term-long)
- In person
Ever thought about how some of the most precious things in the world are small enough to fit inside a matchbox? In this term-long series, inspired by Paul Fleischman and Bargam Ibatouline’s picture book The Matchbox Diaries, students will reflect on matchbox sized objects that are special to them and which hold their stories, hopes and dreams.They will play with figurative language devices to create a series of stanzas that will come together to showcase the enormity of tiny objects which tell big stories.
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Planetology
- Stage 3
- Term 3, 2026 (term-long)
- In person
Planetologists, prepare for lift-off into the outer reaches of the solar system to discover and name a new world! In this program, students engage in deep worldbuilding to invent their planet’s environment, focusing on hyper-detailed descriptions and poetic techniques. They’ll practise character development by creating an alien species, crafting reports and survival-critical care guides. Students will blend informative and imaginative speculative writing to document their exhilarating cosmic encounters.
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Toasts and Roasts
- Stage 4
- Term 3, 2026 (term-long)
- In person
In this eight week long workshop series students will have the opportunity to both vent, roast and complain and to toast, praise, compliment and celebrate! They will create a varied suite of short pieces that may include poetry, short narratives, informative writing and multimodal texts. All this writing, which will include odes and anti-odes, will afford students fun and engaging opportunities to develop ideas, experiment with writing strategies as they let off steam, give sick burns and then take off their hats to their passions and enthusiasms.
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Olfactory
- Stage 5
- Term 3, 2026 (term-long)
- In person
“Smells like teen writing…”
In this workshop series students will be introduced to the features and pleasures of discursive writing by engaging with accessible and provocative texts that inspire a series of short responses about students’ experience of the olfactory world. This series breaks down and chunks discursive writing into achievable and satisfying segments that will be assembled to create a longer personal essay. From surveying their peers as to what is the most pukeworthy smell to developing their very own “personality fragrance” students will develop their writerly voice and share their personal connections to the world of smells, odours and fragrances. Lynx Africa, anyone?
Enquire Now!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.