Newshounds in action at Holy Trinity Primary School, Weymouth (From Dorset Echo)

Newshounds in action at Holy Trinity Primary School, Weymouth

12:30pm Monday 5th October 2009 in

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The next generation of reporters, editors and anchormen have been honing their journalism talents at Holy Trinity Primary School in Weymouth.

A group of Year 4 pupils at the Wyke Regis school have undertaken a month-long project to produce a newspaper and a mock television news show.

And it seems the youngsters have been scooping the Dorset Echo – securing an interview with Santa Claus about the effect of the credit crunch and writing stories about cheetah sightings on the Rodwell Trail.

The pupils began their project by studying the structure and language of newspaper and magazine articles as well as thinking about how television news is made.

The junior news hounds then came up with their own make-believe stories – such as Santa’s reaction to the credit crunch – taking it in turns to interview and be interviewed by each other before putting the stories on paper.

By the end of the four-week project, the 29-strong class will have created their own publication – paying particular attention to spelling, punctuation and grammar as well as journalistic style.

In practising their skills, the budding reporters imagined how real-life news interviews might be conducted – even if the subjects were a little far-fetched.

Ben Robertson, aged eight, worked as a cameraman in the news studio as well as researching and writing news stories.

He said: “I’ve written stories and I’ve been the weather forecaster in the studio.

“I interviewed someone playing Santa Claus about the effect of the credit crunch.

“He said he didn’t like it because he can’t afford enough toys any more.”

Rosie Wright, also eight, took sole responsibility for producing a story about cheetah sightings on the Rodwell Trail.

She said: “I probably prefer writing news stories to being on television because I can get a bit shy sometimes.”

Teacher Nicola Banner said the work was part of a literacy unit and made use of role-play.

She said: “This has been a way to build up the pupils’ language and communication skills, although role-play is something that’s normally aimed at infants.

“I got the idea for doing this from my step-daughter, who is 10 but still role-plays, only it’s done in a more sophisticated way.

“It seems to work so well that I thought, ‘Why don’t we do this at the school as well?’