Published on Tuesday, 28 October 2025 at 1:15:27 PM

Brookman Primary School: Empowering Diverse Voices Through Creativity

At Brookman Primary School, a vibrant community of over 330 students represents more than 30 cultural backgrounds — with one-third speaking English as an additional language. Recognising the rich diversity and unique learning needs within their classrooms, Brookman’s passionate Teacher and Curriculum Coach, Mrs Teegan Parry, partnered with The Literature Centre to design a tailored incursion that complements the school’s literacy goals with a strong focus on visual literacy and narrative writing.

🔍 Part 1: Becoming a ‘Viewing Detective’

Our incursion began by inviting students to step into the role of a “Viewing Detective,” exploring how images tell stories beyond words. Using powerful visual texts — including an evocative illustration by acclaimed artist Shaun Tan — students engaged deeply with colour, symbolism, composition, and visual clues.

Through guided inquiry, they developed skills to:

• Analyse visual narratives with greater depth and curiosity
  
  
• Recognise artistic choices and understand their impact on meaning
  
  
• Build comprehension through prediction, visualisation, and critical questioning
  
  

This immersive visual literacy experience fostered critical thinking and emotional engagement, helping students connect more meaningfully with stories.

✍️ Part 2: Writing Mini Stories with Big Imagination

Transitioning from observation to creation, students were inspired by Supposing by Alastair Reid and Joo Hee Yoon to craft their own Mini Stories — blending imagination with narrative structure. Facilitators modelled strategies for:

• Generating strong story ideas
  
  
• Building towards satisfying endings
  
  
• Applying writing techniques to bring stories to life
  
  

Supported by classroom teachers, students continued to refine and illustrate their narratives post-workshop, resulting in a collection of joyful, expressive stories reflecting their unique voices and growing confidence as writers.

💬 Teacher Reflections

Feedback from Brookman staff highlighted the incursion’s strong alignment with curriculum goals and its impact on student engagement:

“The workshop was incredibly effective and engaging — a phenomenal incursion by The Literature Centre.”
“It offered rich opportunities for high-level questioning and imaginative thinking perfectly aligned with our curriculum.”
“I appreciated the pre-lesson collaboration, where learning intentions were thoughtfully tailored to our needs.”

💡 Why This Matters

This partnership embodies The Literature Centre’s mission to ignite a lifelong love of storytelling and empower young voices through creative, curriculum-connected learning. By integrating visual literacy and narrative writing, we support academic achievement while nurturing confident, critical thinkers and imaginative storytellers.

We are grateful to Brookman Primary School for welcoming us into their learning community and look forward to seeing where their students’ creativity takes them next.

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