A nose for the news
THE CHRONICLE VISITS A SCHOOL FOLLOWING IN OUR FOOTSTEPS IN SOME STYLE
A NEW generation of reporters is hoping its stories will inspire, inform and educate classmates.
The newspaper club at Birtley East Primary school brings youngsters aged seven to 11 together each week after school to plan, research and write articles to share with their peers.
Their paper, Kids 4 Kids, is published every half term and features everything from school council reports to ‘fact or fiction’ pages and stories about historical figures.
I visited the club on Monday to hear from the young reporters themselves – and to pass on a few tips.
Founded by teaching assistant Jenette Bennison, the club takes place after school, with the pupils giving up their free time to put the paper together.
Their passion and excitement is obvious and the whole group agrees there is nothing much better than seeing your name in print.
The club is still relatively new but has gone from strength to strength, with one new wannabe reporter joining the day I visit.
It is an excitement which is shared by the paper’s readers.
Mrs Bennison said: “For about a week before it is published, all I hear in the playground is ‘Is the newspaper ready yet, is the newspaper ready yet?”
So what is it they enjoy so much about Kids 4 Kids? Maddison Bell, 11, said: “It makes children engaged in reading. Some kids find it hard to read big thick books but because our newspaper is little little bits of stories they can enjoy reading it.””
Lacey Reed, 10, added: “Sometimes people find it more interesting to read about what is actually happening around them.”
Kiera Whitfield, 10, said researching and writing the articles is fun.
She said: “It is an opportunity to find out about things I would like to know about.
“When we did our first ‘author of the half term’ column I did JK Rowling and because I really like Harry Potter it was fun to find out more about her.”
The young reporters choose pictures, or take their own photographs, and design the pages using their developing IT skills.
Each group of students picks their own subjects for the half-termly editions.
Seven-year-old Lewis Malik tells me about his plan for an article about transport through the ages, while a group of students who enjoy history is planning a piece on Christopher Columbus.
Young artist Luke Clark, 10, writes and draws his own comic strip for the paper.
He told me: “I like drawing the comics because I like to express what is on my mind and use my imagination.”
The students even edit each other’s work.
Mrs Bennison says Elise Rowe, 11, is an ace copy editor, making sure everyone’s punctuation is up to scratch.
Mrs Bennison said: “I am really proud of all of them – they work so hard on putting this together.
“It is so helpful for their spelling and grammar, they use ICT skills and some of them have improved their handwriting by writing down interviews and planning the pages.
“There is so much they can get out of this, and they enjoy it, so I don’t think they sometimes even know how much they are learning.”
Visiting these young writers was a pleasure: it is obvious they love what they do and it is inspiring to see people so young working hard in their spare time to entertain and inform their classmates.
Their printed paper, in neat A5 size, is an impressive product, and it is handed out to students and displayed near the entrance to the school for visitors to read.
The group also practiced their interviewing skills on me, grilling me on how we choose what stories to write, how we choose pictures and put stories together and what made me want to be a journalist.
While I got to write about the group for the Chronicle, I know they are planning to write about me too, with Ava Watson, 10, taking notes throughout my visit. I cannot wait to read what they come up with.