But what happens when school goes online, and you’re one of the 13% who don’t? Or what if you have limited data and – to give one example we heard this week – four siblings and only mum’s phone to access it?
What if, in addition, school was where you got breakfast, and felt most safe? And what if the chats you had with your teachers every morning were crucial to helping you get through your day?
This week we caught up with some of the amazing teachers we work with (HUGE props to all of them, they are working tremendously hard right now) and they told us many sobering stories about the reality of the widening digital divide. At one high school, only 10% of students have logged into Google Classroom. But the teachers’ greatest worry wasn't getting through the curriculum; it was losing that vital connection with their students, that bond that keeps a student engaged and can play a massive part in their wellbeing and self-perception.
While COVID-19 is cruel for all school students, it’s especially cruel for those in marginalised communities. These students are already, on average, approx. three years behind their more advantaged peers. The current situation could be catastrophic for them.
The teachers we know are brilliantly problem solving their way through this, and we will assist in whatever way is best. Our storytellers are preparing to run programs in Term 2 in a variety of formats, from paper workbooks that can be posted out, to short videos that can be watched on a phone anytime. For those of our students who can get online, we’ve launched a range of after-school programs run through Zoom, and from Term 2 we’re running mini Professional Learning programs for parents and teachers.
When life is disorienting, writing and creativity matter more than ever. We are determined to maintain our bonds with young people, however we can -
to help them write the incredible stories they have to tell, and know they are not alone.
Dr Cath Keenan AM
Executive Director and Co-Founder
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Shout out to Auburn Girls High School Year Seven students, pictured here with some of their work from our Perzines program. That IS awesome.  After-School Online Workshops
Our after-school, online workshops are officially our favourite part of each day. Designed for high school students aged 12 - 17, these workshops allow students to connect with each other, as well as our storytellers, to develop their own creative writing projects. And they're 100% free.
If you've got a young person in your life who has something to say, and whose voice we need to hear, then click through to read more. Click here for further details Creative Writing Prompts for Kids
Everything is a story if you think about it, but we've suggested some promising places to start writing to get you in the swing of things.
Try this one: Watch a favourite movie then talk about what the characters might get up to after it ends. 
Help your child write this into a script and perform it for the family. Click here for creative writing at home
Supporting kids worldwide
While we're working hard at Story Factory to rethink how we reach marginalised young people and support their writing and making a swag of resources available for free we're inspired by the parallel activities of our sister and brother organisations around the world, all part of the International Alliance of Youth Writing Centers, and all doing the same.
Explore 100 Story Building (Melbourne), 826 Valencia (San Francisco) and Ministry of Stories (London)
You've got mail... Martian mail!
When all the after-school and school holiday programs in Willmot were cancelled due to the new public gatherings rules, Story Factory produced one hundred Martian Mail
creative
 writing packs. Our good friends from Together in Willmot are now mailing and delivering the packs to kids in their community to keep their creativity pumping. We included a special letter from our Story Engineer, Bilal, encouraging them to keep writing, because we're already missing their stories about killer hamburgers, and slime machines, and pet sharks, and tickling robots. Especially the tickling robots. Have you ever seen a rainbow fish?
This beautiful piece of Magical Realism came from Edina at Liverpool Girls High
this term.
"They say that throughout a person’s lifetime they’d see the flying rainbow goldfish five to six times.
Almost twenty year of age and I’ve never seen its glistening scales. Never been blinded by its shimmering reflection." Click here for further reading
Fancy a cuppa?
We hosted our first virtual gathering for our wonderful volunteer community this week, to create a space where we can
 check in with each other over the coming weeks. Story Factory is exploring opportunities of connecting our networks - with us, and with students in workshop spaces. Watch this space!
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