BUDDING young journalists at Beech Grove Primary School in Wellington have produced their first school newspaper and are now working on a second edition.

Pupils in the newspaper club, led by teacher Sue Keates, visited the Wellington Weekly News in October last year to pick up a few pointers from the editorial staff. And throughout last term a dozen Key Stage 2 pupils met for half an hour a week to produce their four-page, full colour A3 publication on Microsoft Publisher.

This term 18 pupils, some from the first group plus new ones, are aiming to get another paper out by Easter. The aim is to produce a newspaper by pupils for pupils.

The first issue included stories on a school trip to Coldharbour Mill, a sleep-out at Wellington Rugby Club, the school’s entry in Wellington Carnival, a tea party held when the Queen became longest-reigning British monarch and the school choir’s performances. Sue said: “We wanted our newspaper to look as close to a real newspaper as we could print. The children got a sense of pride producing it and we have had lots of positive comments from parents.”

Fiore, who said she would like to be a journalist when she grows up and is helping to edit the next issue, said she enjoyed putting the pictures on the pages and seeing the newspaper when it was finished.

Mandie said: “I helped do the editing, checked all the spellings and chased all the people up for their stories.”

This time pupils hope to interview teachers, print a selection of poems pupils have written, report on their maths challenge, produce an item on the Egyptians and give readers a chance to match adult and baby photos.