School Holiday Creative Writing
Summer 2025 Holiday Workshops - Book Now
Creative writing workshops for young people aged 6–15, face-to-face at Sydney Olympic Park (Field Studies Tower in the Education Centre, Bicentennial Park).
Our Summer Holiday 2025 program bookings are open now.
All times are for Sydney, Australia. Prices are in Australian dollars.
January 2025
Tuesday 21st January
Write Your Own Book creative writing workshop for 8-13 year-olds. Face-to-face at Sydney Olympic Park.
Is your head full of Big Ideas? How to set, plan, build and finish your own extended story. Create atmospheric settings, memorable characters and gripping plots. This full day will give you all the skills and inspiration you need to write your own book. Two breaks for recess and lunch. Bring a hat, lunch, snack (no nuts please), drink, and your curiosity!
Tuesday 21st January 10.00am - 3.30pm. $170. We accept NSW Creative Kids vouchers.
Places available. Bookings open.
Wednesday 22nd January, Morning
Future Inventions workshop for 6-9 year-olds. Face-to-face at Sydney Olympic Park.
Invent the most useful machines in the history of invention: devices that make life fun, easier, more exciting... but what if things don’t quite work out quite as well as you expected? Write your own stories of new inventions that go whirr, vroooom, clunk, and (maybe) ouch! One break for recess. Bring a snack (no nuts, please), drink, and hat.
Wednesday 22nd January 10.00am - 1.00pm. $1o0. We accept NSW Creative Kids vouchers.
Places available. Bookings open.
Wednesday 22nd January, Afternoon
Selective Schools and Scholarships Test Preparation workshop for students entering year 6 in 2025. Face-to-face at Sydney Olympic Park.
Build creative writing skills for the NSW Selective Schools Placement Test and scholarship tests. The workshop focuses on writing across a range of textual forms, flexible thinking, ideation, and showing your writing ability and potential in the test format. How to deliver your best on the day. Materials and notes provided. Short break only.
Wednesday 22nd January 1.30pm - 4.30pm. $120. We accept NSW Creative Kids vouchers.
Places available. Bookings open.
NEW Thursday 23rd January
Skilled Writers: Authors’ Secrets - Great Journeys workshop for 10-15 year-olds. Face-to-face at Sydney Olympic Park.
Learn advanced techniques in characterisation, setting, and voice. Build characters with motivation, resilience, and resourcefulness, and learn to control atmosphere and tone. This workshop - the most advanced offered in our holiday programs - will give skilled young writers new ways of thinking about writing and how stories work, and new strategies for reaching your writing ambitions. We offer a workshop for skilled young writers every holidays, with new content each time. Two breaks for recess and lunch. Bring lunch and a snack (no nuts, please), a drink and a hat.
Thursday 23rd January 10.00am - 3.30pm. $170. We accept NSW Creative Kids vouchers.
Places available. Bookings open.
Tuesday 28th January
Spy Stories creative writing workshop for 8-13 year-olds. Face-to-face at Sydney Olympic Park.
Ssshhhh! We can’t tell you too much about this writing workshop because it’s classified — but this is the one for you if you’d like to dive deep into the information trade, meet smiling double agents, create mysterious devices and secret codes… and trust no one! Two breaks for recess and lunch. Bring lunch, a snack (no nuts, please), a drink, a hat, and your curiosity.
Tuesday 28th January 10.00am - 3.30pm. $170. We accept NSW Creative Kids vouchers.
Places available. Bookings open.
NEW Wednesday 29th January
Persuasion and Rhetoric: Writing Your Passions creative writing workshop for 8-13 year-olds. Face-to-face at Sydney Olympic Park.
What topics do you care about most? Do you want to make a difference? Do you love to argue for argument’s sake? Whether it’s the beauty of nature, the mysteries of space, or the best way to cure the hiccups, this non-fiction workshop will help you write effective persuasive texts about your deepest passions. Explore the limits of logic and test your reasoning skills. Two breaks for recess and lunch. Bring lunch, a snack (no nuts, please), a drink, a hat, and your curiosity.
Wednesday 29th January 10.00am - 3.30pm. $170. We accept NSW Creative Kids vouchers.
Places available. Bookings open.
NEW Thursday 30th January
Modern Fairy Tales creative writing workshop for 10-15 year-olds. Face-to-face at Sydney Olympic Park.
Perhaps we still need dragons and fairies and princesses... or maybe now is the moment to bring the skills, craft, imagination and resonance of old-style stories into the 21st Century. In this sophisticated full-day workshop, you will create your own contemporary fairy tales and fables, complete with modern characters, surprising twists, and 21st century problems. What would a cybermermaid think of the human world in the 21st century? Can ancient curses ever be broken? What happens after happily ever after? Two breaks for recess and lunch. Bring lunch, a snack (no nuts, please), a drink, a hat, and your curiosity.Wednesday 29th January 10.00am - 3.30pm. $170. We accept NSW Creative Kids vouchers.
Places available. Bookings open.
NEW Friday 31st January, morning
What I Didn't Do in the Holidays: Inventive Stories creative writing workshop for 6-9 year-olds. Face-to-face at Sydney Olympic Park.
For those who dream of swimming through the air, walking on their hands, jumping a zillion kilometres and writing the most unbelievable stories on Earth. One break. Bring a snack (no nuts, please), a drink, a hat, and your curiosity.
Friday 31st January 10.00am - 1.00pm. $100. We accept NSW Creative Kids vouchers.
Places available. Bookings open.
100,000 participants, thousands of workshops, focused on each child
The Writing Workshop began in 2006. Since then we've inspired over 100,000 participants – from five years old to school-leavers – and read over half a million pieces of imaginative writing. Surely this is a record!
We want each child to develop skills in and enjoyment of writing. We aim to make it fun.
"Thank you for all the positive energy you put into the writing course. You really have a talent for engaging young writers. My son had a great time and it's great to see him write outside of the realms of his comfort zone. He has come home writing and already I can see some development in the area of characterisation and plot formation. He has asked to do another course which is fantastic. It was wonderful seeing so many children with a passion for writing in the same room." - Year 2 Parent.
More information
Learn more about our approach, meet our workshop leaders
The Writing Workshop takes COVID-19 seriously and will always prioritise the safety of participants, staff and our community. We are registered with the NSW government as a COVID-Safe business and follow NSW Health rules and venue (Sydney Olympic Park Authority) requirements.