partnerships

schools

Story Island’s primary partners are the school communities we work with to deliver our creative storytelling workshops to young people. While some Story Island workshops are delivered in the wider Tasmanian community, the vast majority of our workshops take place in schools.

Which schools does Story Island work with and why?
The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.
– Franklin D. Roosevelt

While Story Island would love to work with each and every school in Tasmania, our resources don’t stretch that far… yet! This means we have to decide how to use our limited resources to make the biggest possible impact on the lives of young Tasmanians. With guidance from our board, we’ve worked out some principles to help us make fair and consistent decisions about which schools we prioritise, and why.

It’s the mission of Story Island to provide creative opportunities to young Tasmanians who experience some form of disadvantage. In the Australian education sector, the Index of Community Socio-educational Advantage (ICSEA) is a reliable, widely used benchmark of school advantage/disadvantage. A school’s ‘ICSEA rating’ takes into account the family backgrounds of students (including parental education levels and occupations) and the characteristics of schools (including geographical location and proportion of indigenous students). The average ICSEA rating is 1000; higher ratings indicate more ‘educational advantage’ among students at a school, lower ratings indicate more ‘educational disadvantage’. Click here to find out more about school ICSEA ratings.

After considering the ICSEA ratings of schools across Tasmania, and Story Island’s mission to target our resources to schools with the most need, we have decided to prioritise working with schools with an ICSEA rating below 960. We also consider other logistical factors such as ease of access to schools and levels of teacher/principal support for our programs.

Please get in touch if you’d like Story Island to consider working with your school..

Your donation will enable more young people to participate in Story Island creative workshops.

other organisations

Which Partners does Story Island work with and why?
Our business and community partners make it possible for us to achieve our vision of helping young Tasmanians harness the power of their imaginations so they can grow to be resilient and creative shapers of their own lives.

Our partners support us by:
– Providing financial assistance to develop, run and maintain our programs
– Partnering in events and programs
– Sharing their skills, resources and knowledge.

We are keen to partner with Tasmanian and national/international organisations who believe in our vision. While we assess each partnership opportunity on its individual merits, we seek to partner with organisations who:
– Are committed to supporting disadvantaged Tasmanians, in particular children and young adults
– Have core values which align our values of compassion, optimism, fairness, creativity and humour
– Have a reputation for quality products/services, and a strong commitment to community engagement
– Are financially viable and reputable organisations.

We seek from our partners:
– A commitment to the core values of the Story Island Project
– Support for quality events and products
– Openness and transparency in the way we work together and report on our activities.

Get in touch with us if you would like to find out more about partnering with Story Island.