ACS students: journalists of the future

Words by: Chelsea (10Q), Jiya (10S), Samira (10X) and Shivani (10P)

Media studies students from Alperton Community School visited The Guardian Foundation Education Centre on the 6th of February. This gave them the opportunity to further their understanding of the newspaper industry, its careers and also prepare them for their GCSEs.

Students were paired and tasked with creating a broadsheet newspaper front page using Mac computers and Adobe InDesign. This involved teamwork, working towards tight deadlines and decision making as they had to produce elements including the masthead, headlines, standfirsts and body copy. 

Y10 students creating their newspaper front page

The pairs were fed the day’s stories from the wire service which provides newsworthy information to The Guardian. They made editorial decisions by selecting which two stories they wanted to report on. Stories varied and included: the passengers quarantined on board a cruise ship due to the coronavirus, the 68th anniversary of the reign of Queen Elizabeth II and Nike’s Vaporfly trainers. Students carried out additional research online, just as a journalist would do, to ensure their facts were correct. They each wrote an article and incorporated suitable images and captions to anchor the preferred meaning. Each newspaper was named by the pair to give their newspaper a sense of brand identity.

By the end of the day students had completed their front pages, which were printed for them to take home as a memory of their experience. The media studies students had many positive things to say. Lucky (10R) said: “It was interesting and fun! There was lots to do and it was really interactive.” Shyam (10Q) was also very appreciative of the support provided on the day: “The task at hand was more difficult than I first thought, however throughout the day I was supported by Jan who was always willing to help.”

Miss. Patel, Head of Media Studies, took photographs of the class as she was so pleased to see the students engaged in the activities all day. “It was clear that they were really enjoying themselves, whilst also gaining experience and knowledge of the industry. By being producers themselves, it will give our students a better understanding of bias within the press and the intentions of media companies when targeting their audience.” Avan (10R) felt that he and his peers “showed so much creativity in their writing...they (the newspapers) were amazing and looked professional.” Student work will be displayed in the media rooms to celebrate their success.

Y9 students enjoying the challenge of editorial decisions

                                           

Students were also given an introduction into careers and working for a newspaper. They learnt that The Guardian has various offices in different parts of the world, such as the USA and Australia, in order to keep up with the latest news 24 hours a day. Journalism has plenty of opportunities for travel! The Guardian and Observers head office is located in Kings Cross, London. Of the building, Shayaan (10P) felt “quite overwhelmed” and thought it appeared “prestigious and sophisticated”. Many students could see themselves working there one day.

The Guardian Education Centre describes its mission to "empower young people to access, understand, participate in and critically analyse media." They are clearly meeting their aims according to Aksath (10S): “I think that the education centre was wonderful...it was a very pleasant experience and I learnt a lot from it.” The Centre itself is in such high demand that it gets fully booked for the academic year so students were fortunate to have experienced this.

Students attributed their successes of the day due to the wonderful guidance given by the “helpful, marvellous and lovely Jan” who taught them how newspapers are made, the editorial process and educating them about the technical terms used in the industry. This was one of the main purposes of the visit and everyone left happy and thoroughly enjoyed it.

A very special thank you from all of our class to Jan Trott who made the day one to remember.

Jan Trott providing students with feedback of their work

Visit theguardian.com/gnmeducationcentre or follow them on Twitter @GuardianEduCent
to find out more.

Read more reports from ACS students at http://acsbbcyoungreporter.blogspot.com/. All ACS students are welcome to report on the stories that matter to them.