JOURNALISTS from The Guardian newspaper paid a visit to Furness Academy to teach students all about the media and news-writing.

A group of 30 Year 9 students took part in The Guardian’s innovative, award-winning Behind the Headlines programme.

In this interactive workshop students spent the morning working with professional journalists from The Guardian newspaper, designing their own front pages which highlighted stories from within our Furness community.   

Seeking to empower young people to understand, critically analyse, engage with and participate in the media, students were able to take on the roles of both reporter and editor while choosing, researching and writing about local news stories.

Building on the skills learned in this session, Furness Academy will launch its first e-magazine designed, created, edited and published by students for their school community. 

Victoria Rogan, raising standards lead for English, said: “This has been an invaluable opportunity for our Year 9 students. They have gained an engaging and authentic experience of just one of the careers open to them in the creative industries.”