For Primary school students
We get kids excited about writing. Our programs are designed to spark students’ imaginations and channel their energy and enthusiasm into the writing process. We share, we talk, we laugh and we write.
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
Hey, where’s my school?
- Stage 1
- Term 3 (term-long)
- In person
What happens if you go to school one day, and it’s not there? Where did it go, and how might you get it back? Students explore and adventure together in this wonderful series, navigating different locations and terrain across Wiradjuri Country. Created by our Wiradjuri Storyteller, this workshop series takes students on adventures in Marrambidya (Murrumbidgee River) through to Wambuul (Macquarie River), exploring the Wiradjuri language, all in the name of locating their missing school. The writing activities will include practising their inventive spelling, creating short poems and narrative pieces as well as a quirky profile of their school.
The Secret Life of Stuff
- Stage 2
- Term 3 (term-long)
- In person
Ever wondered what happens in your home or classroom when the lights turn off? Do you think the objects we interact with daily are happy about the job we give them? Students this term will investigate the Secret Life of Stuff: bringing character and personality to their everyday surroundings. Students explore writing techniques such as character development and voice, anthropomorphisation, and text types such as lists, letters, postcards, and picture books to bring to life the thoughts and feelings of our everyday objects!
The Pirate’s Guide
- Stage 3
- Term 3 (term-long)
- In person
Fasten your tricorns and polish your blades. The Pirates Guide will arm every young swashbuckling scallywag with the literary skills they need for a life of sea-faring, kraken-killing and treasure-nicking. In this program, students will engage in creating nuanced character narratives, developing exciting worlds, plotting persuasive mutinies, and crafting vivid descriptions. So you want to be a pirate? Let’s get st-AAARRRRRRRR-ted.
The students find it difficult to find their voice in this world but the workshop allowed them a safe and free space to express themselves. They just soared.
Teacher
Sydney Secondary College
For High school students
Our experienced storytellers use research-informed approaches to promote discussion, engagement and motivation to write for all our high school students. We offer a range of programs, from year-long projects with extremely reluctant writers to shorter programs with motivated writers looking for opportunities to hone their craft and get their voice out into the world.
Term-long workshops
Pride Inside
- Stage 4 (Engagement and Advanced)
- Term 2 (term-long)
- In person
Looking to share contemporary and significant Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voices with your students? Each week students will explore a range of mentor texts crafted by First Nations artists and use it as inspiration for their own 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 a series of short pieces of writing.
Magic Realism
- Stage 5 (Engagement)
- Term 3 (term-long)
- In person
Imagine a world where people experience the emergence of strange and wondrous sights, sounds and fragrances from their smartphones. In this series, students will learn about and write in the genre of magic realism. They will explore diverse visual and written texts from a range of cultures and apply a range of drafting and editing strategies as they craft their own magic realism short story.
Olfactory
- Stage 5 (Advanced)
- Term 3 (term-long)
- In person
“Smells like teen writing…”
In this workshop series students will learn about features of discursive writing and create a series of short responses or segments that will accumulate to become a personal essay about the olfactory world. From surveying their peers as to what is the most pukeworthy smell to developing their very own “personality perfume” students will reflect on and share their personal connections to the world of smells, odours and fragrances. Lynx Africa, anyone?
Student will learn about and employ such features as anecdotes, figurative language, factoids, allusion and anaphora.