Young Reporter: Second mentoring opportunity

Participants in the Young Reporter scheme from Years 10, 11 and 12 took part in their second mentoring session with professional journalist Diana Jarvis, who writes for This is Local London– the online newspaper which the students are writing for, as a part of their online working experience programme.

The scheme invites pupils to write articles on local news. The programme runs over eight months, and those participating will write and upload one article for each of those months. During this time, participants receive multiple exciting opportunities, such as tickets to the press event for the launch of the Hampton Court Palace ice rink, in exchange for writing a review.

In the session, pupils were instructed on how to structure their articles, including how to reference people when using quotes, and how to engage readers with their first sentence. The importance of writing accurately was expressed, and we learnt about important topics such as defamation and libel, which professional journalists have to be acutely aware of. Diana also answered questions the young reporters had regarding their articles, as they are currently halfway through the programme. These questions covered topics from how to find ideas, to how to find a suitable title and the importance of writing in a concise and engaging style.

The session was informative and useful, as it gave the participants a more in-depth insight into what it’s like being a journalist. One of the participants, Jorjah Walters, described the session as “really beneficial” and each participant took away personally relevant advice, to help them progress on their journey as a journalist.

The young reporters have four more months on the scheme, after which, if they have met the qualifying criteria, they will be able to enter a national competition: The Young Reporter National Awards. Two of this year’s cohort have already had some of their work selected to be published in the Student Comet, an associated online publication.

We wish our budding journalists all the very best!

Beyza C
Year 10