Chickens In Shalvey Public School - & More Stories - Story Factory

One of the most popular things to do at Shalvey Public School, near Mt Druitt, is  look after the chickens. The school has a coop with eight of them. In The Secret Life of Chickens, one of our favourite programs this past term, the  year 3 and 4 students wrote about what the chickens do in the day (sleep, play  in the dirt, lay eggs) and what they do in their surprisingly active secret lives at  night (eat curry, have a pool party, dance to Lil Nas X's Old Town Road). As you  can see below, Isabella wrote that: "the chickens steal all the classroom keys  from Mrs Lee's office so they can go into the computer room and play Minecraft  and Roblox. None of the kids are allowed to play so the chickens say 'ha ha!'"  We've been working with these fantastic kids - and their equally fantastic teachers and support staff - for nearly a year now. Their confidence as writers, and their willingness to engage at school, has improved tremendously. DANCING WITH BANGARRA DANCE THEATRE This past term, we've been working with students at Chifley College Dunheved and Granville South Creative and Performing Arts High School as they write creative responses to dance, and learn more about the artform. We're doing this in collaboration with Kaine Sultan Babij, a former dancer with Bangarra and choreographer, as part of Art, Write, Light, a three-year project generously supported by The Balnaves  Foundation. Recently these students visited the Sydney Opera House and were blown  away to see their first Bangarra performance (one student said: "I never knew you could go inside the Opera House"). This week Kaine returned  to dance a commissioned piece at the students' schools, based on stories  from his country about the caterpillar. It was a profound cultural and artistic experience for many of them. Here's an extract of the collaborative poem the students at Granville South CAPA wrote in response to Kaine's dance: caterpillars move the landscape his body was rising the land was being sculpted a stiff body wiggling around, it looked as though it wanted to hatch.   Students from Chifley College Dunheved outside the Sydney Opera House, before seeing a performance by Bangarra Dance Theatre. Huge thanks to Bangarra for the tickets!

ACCOLADES FOR CATH We were thrilled that our co-founder and executive director, Cath Keenan, was awarded an Member of the Order of Australia in the Queens Birthday Honours List. The official citation was "for significant service to children as an advocate for improving literacy and creative learning, and to the community of Redfern." Cath said: "I am humbled by this award but it really should be shared by everyone who makes the Story Factory the special place it is: our staff, board, volunteers, supporters and most of all, our amazing kids." Our co-founder and executive director, Cath Keenan, with Zara, a student in our Year of Poetry workshop.   TEACHERS - BRING A FRIEND FOR FREE TO OUR PROFESSIONAL LEARNING PROGRAMS THIS HOLIDAYS We've been running our fun and engaging creative writing workshops for seven years now, and in that time we've developed a huge range of innovative strategies to get young people writing. These tried and tested methods work with young people of all ages and abilities. We love sharing them through our NESA-registered Teacher Professional Learning Programs - and teachers love them too! This holidays only, teachers can bring a friend to one of our workshops for free! From 15-17th July, we're running three workshops on Matchbox Poetry, Modular Odyssey and Craft of Writing. If you know a teacher, please let them know! It costs just $150 (plus GST) for TWO people to come to a program. Each program is 2 hours of NESA-registered PL and comes with a swag of classroom-ready resources to take home. An independent evaluation of these programs found that 100% of responding teachers had implemented what they learnt in the classroom, and 82% had noticed an improvement in their students' writing. To find out more, click here. Teachers participating in our professional learning programs. See you again when Term 3 gets underway! Thanks for being part of our Story Factory community. With warmest wishes, Cath Keenan and all the Story Factory board and staff. Donate Now

MEET OUR SUPERSTARS OF THE MONTH STUDENTS OF THE MONTH: INTAN, REECE & SIU These three legends are in Year 12 at Alexandria Park Community School, and we've been working with them in their English Studies class to write pieces that define what it means to be Australian. They were so good we published them on our website right here so you can read them in full. There is a new arrival point of view from Intan, a fictional take from Reece, and an Aboriginal perspective from Siu. We have been blown away by their commitment and thoughtful writing. Fun fact: We've been seeing Siu and Reece in workshops, on and off, for four years now! VOLUNTEER OF THE MONTH: ROBA AWAD Roba started volunteering at Story Factory in January last year, and is currently studying to be a primary school teacher. She is an incredibly generous and talented volunteer who set the bar high at Liverpool Public this term. She does an amazing job of supporting all of her students; from the moment she steps into the workshop you can feel the buzz of positive energy. She is warm and welcoming and her whiteboard art skills make her such an asset in any workshop. Roba, you are a huge inspiration, thank you so much for all that you do! TEACHER OF THE MONTH: REBECCA LI  Rebecca teaches at Matraville Sports High and is a total superstar! She says, "Being part of the students’ writing process and watching them grow has been an absolute delight. The Story Factory workshops have privileged me in seeing the potential that may not be so noticeable in the usual classroom. In particular, the workshops have really given our students a rare opportunity to improve their craft of writing and pursue their stories by sharing ideas and working with peers and volunteers. Even for the students who face instability each day, being able to see their proud smiles when they receive their final bound book confirms the reasons why I chose to become a teacher." Thank you Rebecca for all that you do!

Pen To Paper Challenge - Story Factory

Sign up to the Story Factory Pen to Paper Challenge 2019 and WIN!

23rd-26th May
 

Just two weeks from now Story Factory supporters are challenging themselves to complete a fun writing task in one wordy weekend. It’s all about raising vital funds for Story Factory by asking friends and family to sponsor a blast of creativity. Just like a fun run, except for writing!

Fifty fabulous supporters have already signed up, and they’ve raised over $25,000. Our goal is $60,000. Will you join the fun and help us get there? Help us change the lives of hundreds more kids in Western Sydney. Sign up now at pen2paper.org.au.

Plus there are great prizes to be won for our top, and most creative, fundraisers

"While I love writing, it also happens to be something I struggle with most and something that I haven't done in the longest time."

Zoe, a student studying social work at UNSW, is excited about stretching her creative muscles and has committed to a 3000 word short story in the Pen to Paper Challenge 2019. Her friends and family have already pledged to donate $1,006.64 to Story Factory if she does it. Go Zoe!

 

Story Factory Results: 2018

THE RESULTS ARE IN! At the end of last year, we conducted an independent evaluation of Story Factory's creative writing in-school residency programs. The evaluators collected feedback from 301 primary school students in 16 classes across seven schools. The results were overwhelmingly positive!  On average, students rated the workshops 9.3 out of 10. 68% of students gave the workshops 10 out of 10.  The percentage of students who said they were ’very confident’ about their writing increased from 43% before the workshops to 63% afterward  The percentage of students who said they ‘really enjoy’ writing increased from 55% before the workshops to 74% afterward.  These increases were especially strong among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students -  41% of ATSI students said they were ‘very confident’ about their writing before the program and 77% were 'very confident' after it.  Consistent with preliminary findings, one of the workshop’s greatest strengths is the ability to engage those who are not naturally predisposed to such a collaborative and creative environment.

Download full report

We are truly excited to share such wonderful results. None of this could have been achieved without the help of our amazing team of Storytellers, our fantastic volunteers, and wonderful supporters like you. Thank you! With warmest wishes, Cath Keenan and the Story Factory board and staff Click here for previous post

Join Our Inkwell Community - The Story Factory

Dear Community,

The Story Factory: Join Our Inkwell Community