STORY FACTORY ENRICHING THE LIVES OF YOUNG PEOPLE

A $16,093 donation from Canterbury League Club to run Story Factory’s creative writing workshops has helped build confidence and creativity in students from three local schools.

Story Factory, a not-for-profit creative writing centre, worked with 164 students from Punchbowl Boys High School, St Michael’s Catholic Primary School Belfield and Chullora Public School to deliver creative writing programs.

“All programs were designed to be fun and inspiring. Students were supported by our expert Storytellers – teachers and creative writing experts – to start writing their own creative work, which they then finished in class,” said Angelina Grien, Communications Manager from Story Factory.

“In the long-term, we aim to help young people in Canterbury-Bankstown build their creativity, confidence, and literacy. We know that the pandemic has caused huge upheaval for young people, including disruptions to their education. The creative writing programs funded by Canterbury helped us to keep the students we worked with engaged in learning, giving them the opportunity to develop the skills needed to write themselves a brighter future,” said Angelina as she shared their long-term goals of the creative writing program.

Angelina also elaborated the challenges of delivering programs digitally during pandemic times, “One of the challenges of delivering programs digitally was that we were not able to include volunteer writing tutors. Volunteers normally play a key role in our programs, helping students with their writing and encouraging their ideas. To mitigate this challenge, we had an extra Storyteller join each of our programs to make sure all the students are able to be fully supported in their writing activities and take pride in their own writing.”

“It’s amazing to see organisations like Story Factory re-engage younger generations impacted by the pandemic into learning and developing new creative writing skills, as well as building their confidence,” said Peter Winchester, Chairman of Canterbury League Club.