join our volunteer community!
Volunteers play a HUGE role in the Story Island Project; they are at the heart of our workshops with young people.
Volunteering with the Story Island allows you to support the learning and wild imaginations of young Tasmanians, encouraging their creativity and confidence through story building and connection.
We aim to have a volunteer for each two or three young people in our workshops. That way, young people can get valuable individual attention and encouragement – that’s when the creative magic really happens!
“I can honestly say Story Island is a remarkable program. It digs into the students’ and volunteers’ minds and brings out thoughts, ideas and memories that might’ve been hidden for a long while. It brings them to the surface and creates epic stories! And when we see them come to life, the expressions on everyone’s faces tell me I’ve done something right.”
“I have served in many volunteering roles over the years, including school canteens, umpiring netball, charity work and cutting hair, but Story Island is definitely the most rewarding volunteering experience. I urge anyone who is looking for a rewarding experience to try Story Island.”
Story Island were the proud winners of Volunteering Tasmania’s Volunteer Group/Program of the Year Award in 2022!
It costs around $500 to train each new Story Island volunteer. Right now, we’re trying to raise $5000 to ensure that we have a group of well prepared, compassionate volunteers to help our students in 2026.
If you could make a contribution to training one volunteer, you’ll be giving Tassie kids the opportunity to build their confidence, creativity and wellbeing.
Volunteer recruitment 2026
We’re now recruiting for Term 4, 2026 at Bayview Secondary College
As part of our 2026 creative writing programs at schools in the Clarence Plains area, we’re heading to Bayview Secondary College in Term 4, where we’re running our Little Mysteries of Me autobiographical writing program with Year 7 students! We’d love your help to support and inspire our students.
These programs are supported by Arts Tasmania, and have been assisted by the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its principal arts investment and advisory body.
Each eight-week program consists of weekly 90-minute workshops that build young people’s creative skills and confidence, supporting their participation in authentic, ‘real world’ arts experiences.
And you don’t have to have teaching or writing skills to be a great Story Island volunteer. All you need a love of stories and a commitment to share the spark of creativity with young people. It’s heaps of fun, and incredibly rewarding. Trained story leaders plan and lead our workshop sessions. For more info, read our Volunteer position description.
We give our volunteers a free training session for volunteers before your first workshop. Please note that we require all volunteers to have a current Working With Vulnerable People card and to complete the Department for Education, Training and Young People’s Safeguarding Training for volunteers. We encourage all volunteers to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and to participate in COVID-safe behaviours.
Click here to sign up as a volunteer, or see below for some frequently asked questions about volunteering with the Story Island Project. Feel free to contact us if you have any other questions.
Volunteer spotlight: Zahra
As a recent school leaver, Zahra is very familiar with being in a classroom. But volunteering with Story Island this year has given her a new perspective on the school environment.
‘Rather than being a student guided by an adult, I am now in a position where I help guide students, answer their questions, encourage them, and help manage the group,’ she says.
Zahra’s experiences as a Story Island volunteer are particularly valuable, as she hopes to become a teacher in the future.
‘Being treated as an adult and having that responsibility has given me a new understanding of how students interact and how much thought goes into supporting and guiding them,’ she says.
‘This experience is giving me a strong foundation for my future career in teaching, while also reminding me that there is always more for me to learn.
‘I also see it as a valuable opportunity to develop my communication and interpersonal skills while contributing to something meaningful in the community.’
In her spare time, Zahra enjoys digital journalling, and sees stories as a way that we turn experiences into meaning: ‘understanding yourself, understanding other people, preserving moments that mattered, and making sense of how you've changed.’
She brings this thoughtful understanding about the personal nature of storytelling to her work with students in Story Island workshops, providing gentle encouragement to students to build their confidence week by week:
One student asked me to read her work aloud because she was uncomfortable sharing her own work... I encouraged her by reminding her that people ask for stories and perspectives for a reason—her experiences and ideas were valuable… After our conversation, she became more confident in sharing her story and recognised that her perspective was worth hearing. It showed me how important encouragement can be in helping someone find the confidence to share their voice.
Frequently asked questions
about volunteering with Story Island
What is involved in volunteering in workshops?
Download a copy of our Volunteer Tutor position description.
Our volunteers work alongside young people in our workshops, giving one-on-one support and encouragement to help young people with their writing. Workshops cover a wide range of areas, but all focus on creative writing. As a volunteer, you may work with young people on narrative fiction, poetry, a script, a radio podcast, a short film, memoir, letter, comic strip, or any number of creative projects.
Workshops are either one-offs or, much more often, a series that runs for 8 weeks through a school term. When signing up for a workshop series, we ask volunteers to sign up for the full series so you can work with the same students each week across the whole project.
Apart from workshop volunteers, we also need volunteers to assist with behind-the-scenes tasks like typing up students’ writing and other administrative tasks. When you sign up, please indicate if you have any other relevant skills that we could use!
Do I need to have teaching experience to be a volunteer tutor?
Not at all! Our volunteers come from a range of professional backgrounds. To be a great volunteer, you just need a love of the English language and a commitment to share the spark of creativity with young people. Trained storytellers plan and lead our workshop sessions; volunteers are there to offer individual support and encouragement to young people.
We give all Story Island volunteers a training/orientation session before their first workshop, and require all volunteers to have a current Working with Vulnerable People Card.
Where and when do workshops happen?
Most workshops take place in schools and community centres on weekdays between 9am–3pm.
I’d like to volunteer, but I have more questions!
Not sure if you’re a good match for us? Feel free to get in touch with us with any questions or concerns you might have about the volunteer roles, training process or anything at all! Michael, our Volunteer Coordinator, is happy to chat to prospective volunteers.
I’m in! Sign me up!
Wonderful! We can’t wait for you to join us. Just fill in our registration form; you’ll soon receive an email letting you know the next available training session dates, after which you’ll be eligible to volunteer at any of our workshops.
I’m not able to volunteer, how else can I support Story Island?
It costs around $500 to train each new Story Island volunteer, ensuring that they have the skills and mindset to allow students' creativity to flourish. If you could make a contribution to training one volunteer, you’ll be giving Tassie kids the opportunity to build their confidence, creativity and wellbeing.
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