Yes! Thanks to the generous support of our funders, our live, interactive programs are provided free-of-charge to schools with an ICSEA under 1000, as listed on the My School website. 

We work with under-resourced schools in regional, rural and remote areas. If your school is not on the My School website, or you think you might be eligible despite not having an ICSEA under 1000, please contact programs@storyfactory.org.au

If your school’s ICSEA is over 1000, you can still access the free resources in our Teacher Resource Hub.

Our free creative writing resources for teachers, including classroom videos, worksheets, professional development videos and podcasts, can be accessed via our Teacher Resource Hub. To sign up, all you need to do is enter your name and email address. These are available for all teachers, regardless of your school’s location or ICSEA. They’re also great for homeschool educators.

Some of our featured content includes Symphony of Stories to celebrate the CBCA’s 2026 Children’s Book Week, and Megafauna Corner.

Yes, we’ve partnered with Opera Australia to equip teachers with low-prep Book Week activities to celebrate the CBCA’s 2026 theme ‘A Symphony of Stories’. 

Our multimodal creative writing resources include live recordings of Opera Australia’s orchestra in their iconic Trackdown Studios. They can be used to enhance learning through independent student work, small group work or whole group lessons. Between character parades, selecting exciting books, wrangling author visits and organising rotations we know Book Week can get even busier than your regular busy school week, so we’ve made accessing these resources as easy as possible. 

All you need to do is sign up to our free Teacher Resource Hub by entering your name and email address, and head to Classroom Resources to access your:

• Educator’s Guide: we’ve done the planning so you can concentrate on the teaching

• Scaffolded worksheets: printable in colour or black and white 

• Videos of Opera Australia’s orchestra as creative writing prompts: 

  • Setting: students will be immersed in orchestral music, using their listening experience to create a soundscape in a cross-curricula lesson that converts music to words. 

  • Character: students will listen to a range of evocative, orchestral tracks creating characters that this music would soundtrack. Like the music itself, will their characters be frenetic, boisterous, lush, playful, or moody? 

  • Plot: students continue their mindful creative expression as they create line drawings of iconic operas, giving them a playful, accessible entry point to confidently explore the highs and lows of plot.

Each of our one-off workshops and three-week programs lives on our website, where you’ll find more information, including syllabus outcomes and student writing samples. You can also sort by key text types, themes, or Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander content. 

Primary programs are found at: https://www.storyfactorydigital.org.au/primary-workshops

High school programs are found at: https://www.storyfactorydigital.org.au/high-school-workshops

Both one-off workshops and three-week programs provide fun, engaging entry points to creative writing, designed to encourage your class to experiment and practice new and/or familiar writing skills. Three-week programs also provide the option to create a class eBook to celebrate your students’ writing!

For more information or if you have unique class or curriculum needs you can also talk to Samantha Todd, our Digital Engagement Officer, by emailing: programs@storyfactory.org.au

We often recommend starting with a one-off workshop as a taster session, if scheduling is difficult for your busy class, or if the topic just calls to you! These live, interactive sessions will inspire creativity, generate writing ideas, and can work nicely as entry points to new units of work, themes and text types. They also work well as rewards towards the end of term. 

Your students will likely have a collection of ideas and partial draft by the end of the workshop, with their creating brains activated! Teachers tell us they often like to dedicate time for editing or continue to polish student writing in the lessons after the workshop. You’ll know what works best for your class. 

For more information or if you have unique class or curriculum needs you can also talk to Samantha Todd, our Digital Engagement Officer, by emailing: programs@storyfactory.org.au

Our three-week programs run for 1-hour per week, over three consecutive weeks (e.g. Tuesdays from 9-10am, three weeks in a row). These live, interactive programs will inspire creativity, allow ideas to percolate and develop, and encourage more writing. They also offer more opportunities for each student to build rapport with the Digital Storyteller, which further builds their confidence in writing. The three-week programs are modular, so if you have transient students or attendance is sporadic, they don’t need to catch up on missed work and will still get an opportunity to participate fully. You’re more than welcome to continue working on the writing activities between workshops, but it’s not required!

As these three workshops give your students more time to build on their skills and ideas, you might like to dedicate an extra lesson or two thereafter to editing and polishing student writing. This can be sent to us so we can create a class eBook, fostering a sense of achievement for students and pride in their writing. We highly recommend printing a copy for the school library, to celebrate your students’ writing! 

For more information or if you have unique class or curriculum needs you can also talk to Samantha Todd, our Digital Engagement Officer, by emailing: programs@storyfactory.org.au

No; our one-off workshops and three-week programs are live and interactive with just one class at a time i.e. your class! 

Occasionally, we offer Live Events that are hosted in a webinar format (e.g. for Harmony Week or Book Week). If you’d like updates about these, sign up to our eNews

We understand that many classes, particularly in our regional and rural areas, have mixed-stage classrooms, and we specialise in working with a range of ability levels. 

You’re still welcome to book a workshop, particularly if the majority of your students straddle Stages 2 and 3 (Years 3-6), or Stages 3 and 4 (Years 4-8). 

We do not currently run programs for Stage 1 students (K-2/P-2), although if you have a particularly enthusiastic or extended Year 2 class, you’re welcome to contact us at programs@storyfactory.org.au and we’ll see if we can find a suitable program. 

Similarly, if you have Stage 5 students (Years 9-10) you think could benefit from our program while enjoying the thematic content, please reach out. 

You can also check out our Teacher Resource Hub, where we have units of work designed specifically for multi-stage classrooms, providing more flexibility in your teaching while still including scaffolded worksheets and engaging video content. 

We do not currently run programs for Stage 1 students (i.e. K-2/P-2), although if you have a particularly enthusiastic or extended Year 2 class, you’re welcome to contact us at programs@storyfactory.org.au and we’ll see if we can find a suitable program. 

You can also check out our Teacher Resource Hub, where we have units of work and resources you might like to use or adapt for a younger class. 

We do not currently run programs for Stage 5 and 6 students (Years 9-12), although if you have a Year 9 or 10 class you really think could benefit from our program while enjoying the thematic content, you’re welcome to contact us at programs@storyfactory.org.au and we’ll see if we can arrange something. 

You can also check out our Teacher Resource Hub, where we have units of work and resources you might like to use or adapt for an older class. 

If you have a particularly enthusiastic writer in your class, we also recommend checking out our online after-school programs and our school holiday programs. 

We'd love to have your children in some Story Factory workshops, and we endeavour to run at least one combined group of primary aged homeschool students, and one combined group of high school aged homeschool students, in Story Factory Digital programs each term. 

These combined homeschool groups include a minimum of 15 participants. They are organised by HERRD Kids founder, Jillina Whittaker, who then liaises directly with us on behalf of the group. Jillina is extremely experienced and has partnered with us for years. 

Students are very welcome to join HERRD Kids for the Story Factory Digital workshops with no obligation to join the HERRD Kids Learning Portal. However, Jillina would absolutely love to welcome you into the Learning Portal if it feels like a good fit for your family. 

If you would like to know more, you are welcome to email Jillina directly at jillina@homeschoolhotline.com.au or check out the website at www.homeschoolhotline.com.au. 

You can also check out our Teacher Resource Hub, where we have units of work and resources you might like to use or adapt for an older class. 

We also highly recommend joining our Open Programs, including our online after-school programs and school holiday programs. 

To book a one-workshop, click on this link. 

1. Select the year group relevant to your class. 

2. Select the one-off workshop you’d like to book. 

Note: one-off workshops are listed first, followed by three-week programs. 

3. Scroll down to choose your preferred appointment date and time, and click ‘Select and continue’.

4. Complete the Workshop Registration form and confirm your booking. 

5. Once confirmed, look out for an email that will include your Welcome Pack and Student Enrolment Form.  

If you have any issues or need assistance, please watch this ‘how to’ video or contact programs@storyfactory.org.au

Our three-week programs run for 1-hour per week, over three consecutive weeks (e.g. Tuesdays from 9-10am, three weeks in a row). Booking a three-week program has a few more steps than booking a one-off workshop, so we recommend watching this quick ‘how to’ video, before reading on.

To book a three-week program, click on this link.

1. Select the year group relevant to your class. 

2. You will see a list of all programs available for that year group, including one-off workshops first. Scroll down to select the three-week program you’d like to book. 

3. Scroll down to choose your preferred appointment date and time for the first workshop. Then, from the dropdown menu, select ‘Select and make recurring’. Adjust ‘Times to repeat’ to 3. Confirm your selected times by clicking ‘SEE AVAILABILITY’ in the top-right corner of the dialogue box to ensure all times are available. 

4. Then select ‘ADD APPOINTMENTS’ and scroll down and select ‘continue’ to lock in your appointment slots.

5. Complete the Workshop Registration form and confirm your booking. 

6. Once confirmed, look out for an email that will include your Welcome Pack and Student Enrolment Form. 

If you have any issues or need assistance, please watch this ‘how to’ video or contact programs@storyfactory.org.au

Yes, you can! Our three-week programs run for 1-hour per week, over three consecutive weeks, but it’s okay if they need to be on different days each week, due to timetabling constraints. Booking an irregular three-week program has a few extra steps, so we recommend watching this quick ‘how to’ video, before reading on. 

To book a three-week program, click on this link.

1. Select the year group relevant to your class. 

2. You will see a list of all programs available for that year group, including one-off workshops first. Scroll down to select the three-week program you’d like to book. 

2. Scroll down to choose your preferred appointment date and time for the first workshop. Then, from the dropdown menu, select ‘Select and add another time’.

3. Choose your preferred date and time for the second workshop. Then, from the dropdown menu, select ‘Select and add another time’. 

Note: Scroll down to see your appointments so far under ‘TIMES ADDED’.

4. Choose your preferred date and time for the third workshop. Then, click ‘select andcontinue’ to lock in your final appointment slot.

5. Complete the Workshop Registration form and confirm your booking. 

6. Once confirmed, look out for an email that will include your Welcome Pack and Student Enrolment Form. 

Again, if you have any issues or need assistance, please watch this ‘how to’ video or contact programs@storyfactory.org.au

You’re welcome to make a booking on behalf of your faculty or other classes, but you can only book one class at a time. Note that each workshop has a maximum participant number of 30, and engagement is usually strongest when the students are working within their normal class/peer group. 

We recommend entering contact details (first name, last name, phone and email) for each individual classroom teacher, each time you book a class, to avoid confusion and make liaising with their Digital Storyteller easier. 

If you would prefer to be the only point of contact for your school, then please use the ‘Anything else we should know?’ box at the bottom of the Workshop Registration form to inform us of the names and corresponding classes for each classroom teacher, so that our Digital Storyteller knows who they’re working with on the day. 

If you’d like to cancel or reschedule your workshop more than an hour before your workshop you can do so through the initial confirmation email received after booking. This will take you back to the confirmation page, where you can make the necessary changes. 

After cancelling or rescheduling, you’ll be taken to the scheduling page with a message confirming the cancellation or updated appointment details. This will be followed by an appointment confirmation email. 

If you’d like to cancel or reschedule your workshop less than an hour before your workshop, please contact our team on (02) 8859 0353. 

If you have any issues or need assistance, please contact programs@storyfactory.org.au

For ways to test your Zoom setup independently, visit Testing your audio settings for Zoom meetings. 

If you’d like to test your Zoom setup with one of our Digital Storytellers, you can do so once you have booked a workshop. Your Digital Storyteller will offer you technical support in their introductory email - all you have to do is let them know of a time that suits you! 

For ways to troubleshoot when you can’t join a Zoom meeting, visit Zoom support.

If you have joined your Zoom meeting and you can’t hear your Digital Storyteller, you may need to select another speaker. This usually happens when connected to an Interactive Whiteboard. 

To do this, click on the upwards facing arrow to the right of the mute button. Then, select another speaker until you hear your Digital Storyteller more clearly. 

If you still experience this issue after troubleshooting, let your Digital Storyteller know either through the microphone or via chat. 

All of our staff have valid New South Wales Working With Children Checks. Story Factory is a child safe organisation. Learn more in our Statement of Commitment to Child Safety.