Story Hunter Program

We currently offer our programs to all primary-school aged schools who are located in the Newcastle, Lake Macquarie and Hunter region. 

However, it’s the priority of Story Hunter to provide creative opportunities to children living in the Hunter who experience some form of disadvantage. In the Australian education sector, the Index of Community Socio-educational Advantage (ICSEA) is a widely used benchmark of school advantage/disadvantage. A school’s ‘ICSEA rating’ takes into account the family backgrounds of students (including parental education levels and occupations) and the characteristics of schools (including geographical location and proportion of Indigenous students). The average ICSEA rating is 1000; higher ratings indicate more ‘educational advantage’ among students at a school, lower ratings indicate more ‘educational disadvantage’. Click here to find out more about school ICSEA ratings.

Story Hunter will prioritise resources each term to schools with the most need, and to prioritise working with schools with an ICSEA rating below 1000. We also consider other logistical factors such as geographical isolation, ease of access to schools and levels of teacher/principal support for our programs.

You will need to submit an Expression of Interest form to indicate that you would like your students to participate in a Story Hunter program. A team member will get back to you within 5 days with further information and confirmation details.

We currently offer our paid programs to all primary-school aged schools who are located in the Newcastle, Lake Macquarie and Hunter region. We run these programs in classrooms and do this in partnership with schools or educational institutions in the region. 

Any teacher, librarian, support worker or Principal who works within a school or educational institution with primary school aged students from the ages of 8-12 can submit an expression of interest form to have our writers visit them. We will always follow up to ensure the program suits your needs.

As a parent, carer or P&C committee member you may put in an EOI on behalf of your school, but you will need to have spoken with a teacher or Principal and will need to include a contact within the school that we can follow up directly with.

Currently we only offer our programs to Stage 2 & 3 students, this is generally children aged 8-12.

We know that the ages of 8 – 12 are crucial in a child’s social, emotional and learning development, and will have the greatest impact.

Access to the creative arts, particularly writing, in children under 12 significantly increases their communication skills, social connectedness, creativity and empathy, among an array of other learning, social and emotional benefits.

No, we do not run any creative writing programs outside of our schools’ programs. There are such a range of incredible writers and organisations doing this work and we want to continue to support the work they do.

We are currently funded through workshop fees and a range of philanthropic, corporate and government support. 

We are always looking to develop partnerships that share our vision of a Hunter region where every child can confidently express themselves and share their own stories, ultimately subsidising student costs and reducing financial barriers to participation.