Enrichment
Inspiring Young Writers Through Author Workshops
On Thursday 30 April, Grade 3 and 4 students participated in a one-day writing workshop with acclaimed children’s author Coral Vass, exploring the theme Dream, Imagine and Create.
Coral, best known for her award-winning book Sorry Day, guided students through the creative writing process, encouraging them to develop story ideas, build memorable characters and discover the incredible power of imagination.
Throughout the day, students were inspired to dream big, think creatively and grow in confidence as young writers. The workshop was divided into three engaging sessions:
Session 1 – Where Do Ideas Come From?
Coral shared several of her books and explained how her story ideas were developed. Students then explored their own creativity by workshopping story ideas inspired by personal memories, opening sentences and picture prompts.
Session 2 – Interviewing Our Characters
Students selected one story idea to further develop and learnt about the importance of creating strong, believable characters. Through “interviewing” their characters, students gained a deeper understanding of who they were writing about, helping them write with greater detail and purpose.
Session 3 – Forming Our Stories
In the final session, students learnt about story structure, including the story arc and character arc. They then applied these concepts as they began drafting their own stories.
On Tuesday 5 May, Grade 6 students took part in another exciting writing workshop, this time with award-winning Australian author Deborah Abela, focusing on Creating Compelling Stories.
Deborah Abela is a former teacher, television producer and writer, and the internationally published author of more than 30 children’s books. Her recent works include the CBCA Notable books Bear in Space and The Book of Wondrous Possibilities, along with her verse novel The Kindness Project, recently shortlisted for the 2025 Children’s Peace Literature Award.
Throughout the day, Deb shared her writing process through engaging activities, videos, images, games and examples from her novels. Students enthusiastically participated in the following sessions:
Session 1 – Character, Setting and Beginnings
Students explored how dialogue, descriptive language and strong openings can bring stories to life. Using guided writing prompts, they created their own characters and settings while learning techniques used by professional authors.
Session 2 – Drafting, Editing and Craft Choices
Deb demonstrated the importance of editing and refining ideas. Students revised their own writing using practical strategies to make their work more engaging, polished and effective.
Session 3 – Point of View and Powerful Expression
Students experimented with perspective by rewriting passages from different characters’ points of view. They also explored how to transform simple ideas into vivid and expressive writing before sharing their favourite pieces with the group.
Both workshops were highly interactive and provided students with valuable opportunities to share their writing, listen to students from schools across Victoria, and ask each author questions about their writing journey and creative process.
Unfortunately, the Grade 5 workshop has been postponed due to unforeseen circumstances. However, after the success of the Grade 3/4 and Grade 6 sessions, students have an exciting experience to look forward to later in the year.
These workshops were generously provided through Primary English Teaching Association Australia (PETAA)
Julie Tainsh
Learning Specialist (Curriculum) and Grade 5/6 Teacher