Hold the front page – Wem pupils launch school newspaper

Students at Thomas Adams School in Wem will be collecting, writing and publishing news from both in the school and the community every term.

An editorial team of six students have helped launch the first edition of The Lowe Down for the school, in Lowe Hill Road, after English teacher Amy Holmes came up with the idea last year.

She said: "We are really excited about the launch of the newspaper.

"The last time the school produced a newspaper or magazine was over 20 years ago so it has taken a lot of work to get it up and running, now we're there we have a format and we're looking forward to filling future editions.

"The aim is to produce the newspaper termly at the moment with a view to half-termly once we have a bit of experience.

"I introduced the idea as a way of bringing the students and staff together, and sharing ideas and news about the school and the local area.

"Also it's useful for students for their school CVs and to challenge and stretch them and improve their literacy skills."

The newspaper includes stories on sport, art, poetry, charity fundraising and house projects as well as quizzes, interviews with teachers, craft ideas such as baking and paper modelling, an agony aunt column and comment on items such as the Wem ghost and the terror attacks in Paris.

Seven students were interviewed for the role of editor and Year Nine student Philippa Greenwood landed the job. Assistant editor is Maya Balachandran, who also came up with the name and logo for the newspaper alongside Saskia Pickard and Caitlin Hall, who are all in Year Eight.

Miss Holmes added: "Other students attend our weekly meeting and write reports, competitions, sports updates, house updates, quizzes and more."