Woolhampton School visited by BBC journalist

Pupils are creating their own newspaper

WOOLHAMPTON Primary School was paid a visit by an award-winning BBC journalist to help set up their school newspaper.

Journalist and anti-terrorist specialist Margaret Gilmore – who witnessed the fall of the Berlin Wall – gave a presentation to Year 6 pupils on Monday, explaining how her job had changed over the years, starting as a newspaper journalist before turning her hand to broadcast journalism.

She also explained to the pupils what makes a good photo for a newspaper and discussed the various names of newspapers today and the reasons behind those names.

Discussion then turned to what the name of the school’s newspaper should be – with suggestions such as The Rock, The Gateway and Inspire still on the table.

The pupils talked about who the target audience for their paper would be, before deciding that it would be focused on school news and written for their fellow pupils – but would also be available online for the wider community.

The newspaper will be produced termly and will feature news pages, sports pages and a jokes page.

Monday was the first of three visits to be made by Mrs Gilmore, who will also visit the school today (Thursday) and next Monday.

Today’s session will focus on writing and reporting – with the hatching of the school’s chicks a potential scoop – and the paper expected to be finalised on Monday.

Headteacher Kath Burns – who invited Mrs Gilmore to the school – said the children had thoroughly enjoyed the visit and were enthusiastic about producing their own paper.

She said: “The children loved it – they really enjoyed seeing the pictures of Margaret doing her television work.

“They responded really well to her and were very enthusiastic.

“They had loads of ideas and she was really good at categorising their ideas.

“I feel that bringing in experts in their field really enriches the children’s experience and as teachers it enhances our teaching.

“Here’s hoping that our youngsters are inspired to become future journalists and that the experience of running their own newspaper awakens that possibility.”