MOVE over Helensburgh Advertiser... there’s a new local paper in town, and its young journalists are already making a difference in the community.
P6 pupils at Rhu Primary donned their creative caps to produce a December edition of ‘The Rhu Reporter’ - a festive-themed 24-page print-out packed with fun facts, short stories and activities.
The child-led project, which started off as a literacy and ICT based topic and grew along with the class’s enthusiasm, is part of this term’s focus on functional writing.
Every pupil in the class contributed to the first issue, producing feature articles covering everything from whales to world war women and mountain biking to Minecraft, with pupils then applying in writing for different positions in the production team.
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Children assigned roles amongst themselves and the editorial team arranged meetings with the head teacher, liaised with the printing room (the school office) about layouts, costs and deadlines, while the other teams filled pages with everything from step-by-step drawing tutorials to festive bin collections.
The paper, which is on sale at The Brae Shop in the village, costs £1 and more than 100 copies have been sold already, with P6 teachers Miriam Walker and Michelle Cowan hoping to produce one issue each term.
A donation from the sales will go towards the UK Sepsis Trust in memory of Rhu tot Eliza Woods, who tragically lost her life to the illness at the age of two in December 2019.
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Ms Walker said the project had been “such a fun, enriching experience for the whole class”.
Head teacher, Linda MacBeath, added: “I am delighted with the efforts all of the P6 pupils have made to make our school newspaper a huge success. I am so proud that the pupils are contributing to our school and wider community in such a positive way.”
One of the class pupils added: “We felt like a real newspaper team - our teacher even called us journalists!
“We had a deadline to stick to and were given so many responsibilities. It has definitely made me want to write more.”
For more details on how to buy a copy, contact Rhu Primary School at enquiries-rhu@argyll-bute.gov.uk.
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