Welwyn Garden City school launches newspaper club
The Press Gang from Homerswood Primary School and Sophie Blackman. Picture: Supplied. - Credit: Archant
A Welwyn Hatfield Times reporter visited a primary school’s newspaper club to answer their burning questions on journalism.
Sophie Blackman speaking with The Press Gang from Homerswood Primary School. Picture: Supplied. - Credit: Archant
Year 6 Homerswood pupils took on the role of a journalist to ask Sophie Blackman a series of questions and to gather some tips for the paper they are creating.
English teacher Sarah Dring set the club up, The Press Gang, so the children would have an avenue to get creative with their writing, art and even use maths when working out how much to charge.
Sophie, 21, a former Stanborough School pupil, spoke to the youngsters about what she does on a day-to-day basis, how she got into the industry and gave her tips.
The children loved seeing her shorthand notebook and found it fascinating to learn how to write some words.
The Press Gang from Homerswood Primary School. Picture: Supplied. - Credit: Archant
As many journalists have to be able to write shorthand at 100 words per minute the children took on the challenge to see how many words they could write in a minute.
They realised how difficult it was to write down what someone is saying accurately in longhand, Alexia won with 24 words.
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The group said: “Press Gang is a wonderful club. We get to know all the inside information and we learn a lot about the world around us.
“We really liked meeting Sophie and learnt a lot from the experience.
“We can’t wait to publish our first edition.”
Sophie started at the Welwyn Hatfield Times as an apprentice when she was 18.
She said: “At their age I would have loved to have asked a journalist some questions about the industry.
“The youngsters and Sarah are doing a cracking job and have come up with so many creative ideas.”
