Story Hub: Geelong East & South Geelong
We’re sharing the stories of our 2023 Hubs in this series of articles.
The Daydream Machine
Our Geelong Story Hub was a partnership between Geelong East Primary School and South Geelong Primary School. Two “Daydream Machines” built through a co-design process between students and local Geelong artist Laura Alice.
The student co-design team officially launch the Daydream Machine at a school assembly at South Geelong Primary School.
Twin strange objects appear in nearby schools. Nobody knows where they came from or why. But they have some ideas…
They are otherworldly, colour shifting, holographic and emit a strange light. Whoever sits in the light starts to experience vivid daydreams.
These spectacular crystal monoliths use light projection and sound to transform classrooms into a magical space of learning and inspiration. In Geelong East and South Geelong the whole school fossicked up amazing ideas for what an imaginative space needed. A co-design working group was formed with student representatives from both schools to connect these ideas with identified themes - cosy nighttime dreams, nature, magic and kindness. Our facilitators then worked with the students to shape their plans into a design brief for the artist. Local artist Laura Alice expertly combined and honoured the student’s ideas, while giving the Story Hub a cohesive aesthetic.
Laura Alice and the student co-design team coming up with the Daydream Machine concept.
With our trusty 100 Story Building facilitators Brendan and Laura leading the way through engaging school workshops and activities designed to discover how students feel about creativity and what encourages creativity in their school, student voice and agency was put front and centre in the process. Over the course of the project, students developed their creative learning skills and agency over creative decision-making.
“I’m looking forward to learning more about anime, and meeting the artist and creating more stuff to inspire the school” Geelong Story Hub student.
Daydream Machine concept design by artist Laura Alice
Working with a professional artist to develop their own ideas and applying 100 Story Building techniques to teaching and learning the co-design process felt deeply collaborative and contributed to a strong sense of pride of their Story Hub in the students.
"they love getting into collecting inspiration... they put it on the manila folders just like the 100 Story Building team showed us." Geelong Story Hub Teacher
Once the Daydream Machine was up and running, it was the teachers’ turn to build creative habits and to collaborate with our facilitators on ways to centre student voice and agency through creative practices in their classrooms.
The South Geelong Primary School and Geelong East Primary School Story Hub is now in its second year of the project, working with teachers to nurture the sparks of creativity in their schools.
You can apply now to have a Story Hub in your school, with registrations for 2025 intake open now.
