Telford pupils prove they've got a nose for news

More than 170 pupils from the Thomas Telford School took part in News Day, an annual event that aims to develop writing and team working skills.

Lynda Dennant, head of English, said that News Day gave pupils the chance to put into practice skills learned in Years 7 and 8.

She said: "The pupils learn news writing skills in those earlier years and then they apply what they learned to creating a newspaper or broadcast video on News Day.

The News Day project started six years ago and it was created to get pupils interested in newspapers and to develop their team building and communication skills.

News Day began with a presentation to the pupils by Jim Wildman, chief news editor of the Shropshire Star, who outlined the role of a journalist.

He described what elements make a good story and also showed the pupils a video of the Shropshire Star's 50th anniversary.

The pupils were then divided into 13 groups, each group having a dozen pupils, with three working on the video and the rest on the newspaper.

The group members working on the newspaper were divided into sub-teams to work on the cover, two inside pages and the back page.

Lynda Dennant said: "We used to guide the pupils on what style they should adopt for their paper, i.e. tabloid or broadsheet.

"But now we just leave it to each group to decide that and we still get a broad range of styles."

Just as in a real newsroom, the activity became increasingly frantic as the deadline for completing their paper approached.

But by the end of the day the pupils seemed to have enjoyed their day in the newsroom.

Chloe Bennett, 14, from Telford, said: "It's been a fun day, but we have also learned a lot about just what it takes to produce a newspaper.

"My responsibility was to produce the page two content and it has made me think working in journalism would be OK.

"It's also been good to work in a team with people you don't always spend time with; that has really helped to develop my communications skills.

Olivia Cunliffe, 14, also from Telford, said it was enjoyable to do something different to a normal school day. She said: "It was interesting to see how people reacted differently to the same question.

"I was working with Chloe on page two and it has also made me think I might consider a career in journalism."

Neil Patel, 14, from Wolverhampton, said: "It was great to get the experience of working as a journalist.

"I also enjoyed working as part of a team, pitching ideas and then developing them into a finished page."

Joseph Smith, 14, from Wolverhampton, said that News Day had shown that effective team work was the most important thing.

He said: "The thing I learned today was that working effectively as a team was the most important thing.

"It was really good for us to get this experience and it was interesting to work with different people.

"Our group decided to produce a modern style of newspaper, the kind of paper we would hope would appeal to younger readers."

With all 13 newspapers produced it was time for the judges to decide whose work was the best and the winners were:

Best newspaper: The Voice (group 9, teacher Tom Painter). Key contributors/page editors were Emma Cowdell, Ellie-Mae Read, Emma-May Gwilt and Megan Gardner.

Best story: Tunisia Terror by Emma Cowdell in The Voice (group 9).

Best front page: Telford Echo (group 2, teacher Gretta Barsby). Editor – Alicia Dhiraj.

Best back page: Rush Hour (group 8, teacher Gareth Howard). Contributors – Emily Newbrook and Lauryn Preece.

The idea for the News Day project came from Jill Barrow, a former head of ICT and deputy head teacher at the school.

Lynda Dennant said: "Sadly Jill developed Parkinson's a few years ago and died last week.

"She is fondly remembered at the school and she would be very proud of the work the students produced today."