Want to know more?

Term 1 Activities

Early Harvest in Term 1 has a dual focus:

1. Dynamic in-school experiences to help students build key storymaking and literacy skills that will lay the groundwork for them to create and edit their work for submission.

2. Teacher Professional Learning support to introduce 100 Story Building’s writing approach and help create narrative units that integrate with the program.

Term 2 Activities

In Term 2, the Early Harvest school program really comes to life! Students start to develop the written work that they will eventually submit for consideration, teachers delve into further professional learning, and children’s authors discuss their inspirations and the craft of writing.

(Past authors include Maxine Beneba Clarke, Andy Griffiths, Davina Bell and Andrew McDonald)

Term 3 and Beyond

The final outcome of the Early Harvest program is a professionally published print anthology of amazing student stories, comics and other content created throughout the year. Selection of stories for publication is a student-driven process.

With the help of 100 Story Building resources and strategies, your students will curate and submit the best stories from their class to Early Harvest’s student editorial committee. That committee then reviews submissions, gives feedback to writers and selects the content that will be featured in the book.

The Editorial Committee is a team of Year 5/6 students drawn from each of the program’s participating schools. Applications for this key role open during Term 2, and the team meets weekly throughout Term 3 to craft the book. We will work with your team to identify which of your students are best suited to this opportunity, which is primarily targeted at students from underrepresented backgrounds, specifically those falling into the bottom quarter of socio-educational advantage.

What year levels can participate?

The program is designed for Year 5 and 6. With some adaptation and extra allowance of time and effort from teachers, students from Years 3 and 4 are welcome to participate.

What is the cost of participating?

The fee for each participating school is either $1,250+GST or $2,350+GST depending on which package your school chooses.

Can we pick and choose which program components our school is involved in?

We ask that every participating school commit, at minimum, to communicating plans for their narrative unit and curating each class’s story submissions. However, how each class makes use of program resources may vary.

Who delivers the professional learning and the webinars for teachers?

Webinars are delivered by 100 Story Building’s Program Manager Simon Conlon and our program facilitator team. They collectively have more than 30 years of experience in creative programming. We develop all PL materials in consultation with former participating teachers and publishing industry professionals.

How do the interactive video workshops compare to the live workshop sessions?

Our programs team have developed these interactive classroom video modules as a means of reaching more students with our work. These workshops are designed to stimulate the same student engagement and capture the same magic that our 100 Story Building facilitators create in classrooms across Melbourne.

What are the technical requirements for the video-based parts of the program?

As long as you are able to stream or download videos and play them in a way that is visible for your students, as well as submit responses and submissions via email or Google Forms, you should have no trouble taking part in all elements of the program.

What happens after students submit stories?

The stories will be collected and read by the Young Editorial Committee (see above), a group of young editors who will read each submitted story and curate a collection for publication. All students who submit work will receive feedback from the editors regardless of outcome. Selections of student work from each school will be featured, celebrated and shared in print or online.

To enrol in Early Harvest, your school can choose between two packages:

Essentials Package - Best for remote learning or non-Victorian schools - $1250 (+GST) per school

Experience Package - In-school experience best for Victorian schools - $2350 (+GST) per school