Lucky little reporters learn the ropes
Winning class is no sinking ship!
THE excitement was palpable when it was announced that the P5 of Crawfordsburn P.S. had won the Translink Little Reporters Competition.
On Wednesday, June 21, the winning class travelled by coach thanks to Translink, from the school to the Belfast Telegraph offices.
Unfortunately, the bus driver took a wrong turn but we got to our destination!
Upon arrival, the party were met by Lucy Dougan, the Head of Local Agency.
Miss Dougan then escorted the children into the building where they met the Managing Editor, Darwin Templeton, who then took them into the News Room and showed them layout detail from the current day’s paper and some content for the next day’s paper.
The walls of the News Room were covered in video screens showing news feeds from other news agencies, such as the BBC and Sky News. The staff were watching for indications on breaking news stories that could be used in the next edition of the newspaper.
The party then returned to the coach and were taken to the Titanic Museum where they had a short break and had their photograph taken. Following lunch they received a masterclass in journalism from Mr Templeton.
The children were then split into groups, and taken on a tour around the museum, which included a treasure hunt.
The highlight of the tour, however, was not the items on display about the world famous Titanic, but the “terrifying” Titanic ride which appears to have made the most impact.
Another favourite spot which made its mark was the gift shop, where the children eagerly exchanged their spending money for treats prior to taking the coach back to Crawfordsburn P.S.
Far from being a shipwreck, the school trip was a roaring success! ON Wednesday, June 21, the P5 pupils from Crawfordsburn Primary School got to go on an exclusive school trip to the Belfast Telegraph headquarters at Clarendon Docks. The pupils won the trip as a prize for a competition run by Translink as part of Bus & Train Week. We had to write a newspaper article on how useful public transport can be.
At 9.15am, the Goldline coach drove us to the Belfast Telegraph and we were greeted by the Managing Editor, Darwin Templeton. He then took us on a tour of the Telegraph offices. We were all amazed at the big TV screens, the size of the building and how quickly the journalists could type. It was really interesting to see how the pictures were put into the newspaper. Peter Rainey, the Picture Editor, kindly showed us how he found the pictures for the newspaper.
We thought it was awesome how he had two computers and how he could work between them both. I expected a newspaper office to look completely different to the big, bright offices we visited. I would not like to be a journalist, because it looked very hard work!
We then went to Titanic Belfast to have a masterclass in journalism from Darwin Templeton and Lucy Dougan, Head of Local Agency. They told us how to write a report. Then we had a tour of the Titanic Exhibition, which I thought was interesting and exciting.
Year 5 at Crawfordsburn Primary School would like to thank Translink, Belfast Telegraph and Mrs Meharg, for organising such a brilliant trip. We will remember our day out for a long time and we would recommend other schools to enter it next year.