Plucky pupil reporters quiz Gazette chief about his job

More than 20 year-five and six pupils from St Mary’s CE Primary School were asking reporter Tom Cotterill about his job and what it entails.

It was all part of the Brookpit Lane-based primary school’s project to create its own newspaper report on the recent purchase of 16 new, state-of-the-art iPads.

Tom said: “As a journalist a key skill you need is the ability to ask good questions.

“And the young pupils at St Mary’s did just that. They asked some really great questions that certainly kept me on my toes.”

The youngsters asked Tom about everything from his favourite news story and tips on how to structure an article to why he became a reporter and how tricky the job is.

“One cheeky youngster even asked me how much I get paid – which I had to have a giggle about,” said Tom.

All of this week the children have been writing a range of articles about how the new iPads have helped them with their school work.

It is hoped that once the reports are finished, they will be compiled into a small newspaper for parents.

Assistant head teacher Nick Matthews has been leading the project.

He explained it was all designed to get children to not only work together as a team and produce a paper but to also get them to work on their literacy skills.