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Welcome to The School Magazine

The School Magazine is Australia's leading literary magazine for young readers. It is published by The NSW Department of Education and Training.

The magazine has a distinguished 95-year history of providing engaging, quality literature with a strong Australian flavour and absolutely no advertising. Since 1916, Australian children have grown up with the magazine, and its emphasis on beauty and quality have won hundreds of thousands of hearts.

Each month of the school year The School Magazine's four titles provide a diverse mix of short stories, poems, plays, Indigenous tales, fables, nonfiction articles, puzzles, cartoons, graphic novellas and activities, all lavishly illustrated by leading Australian artists. With four separate titles for different age and interest levels, The School Magazine caters for early independent readers to advanced primary and early high school readers.

The four titles of The School Magazine are

• Countdown (reading age around 7-9)
• Blast Off (reading age around 9-10)
• Orbit (reading age around 10-11)
• Touchdown (reading age around 11-14)

Download a sample Countdown story: Yakka, Yip and the Yahoos by Geoffrey McSkimming, illustrated by Kerry Millard (published in Countdown #1 2009)

 Download a sample Blast Off story: Adoption by Jeni Jones, illustrated by Stephen Axelsen (published in Blast Off #4 2009), with accompanying teaching session

Download a sample Orbit story: Greta Bernice: Grammar Police by Katherine Pebley O'Neal, illustrated by Craig Phillips (published in Orbit #3 2009), with accompanying teaching session

 Download a sample Touchdown nonfiction article: The Story of Pompeii by Jonathan Shaw, with accompanying teaching session (text published in Touchdown #2 2009)

To assist with the use of The School Magazine in the classroom, Teaching Units are now available with every issue of every magazine. Visit the Teaching Units page for more information.

 Download a sample teaching session based on Yakka, Yip and the Yahoos (session written by Rowena Sierant)

 Making the Most of The School Magazine: the 2009 edition of our Guide for Teachers is now online at this link.

Writers: please visit our contributors page to find out how to submit your work for future issues, and read our Do's and Don'ts for Successful Manuscript Submission.

Artists: our eligibility list for 2010 is now closed. Find out how to submit an expression of interest for the 2011 list on our contributors page.

© State of New South Wales through the Department of Education and Training, 1999 - 2009. All rights reserved.

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