Goodmayes youngsters visit the Recorder’s offices ahead of school newspaper launch

Their pages are filled with stories about Lionel Messi, astronauts and exotic sea creatures.

And Al-Noor Primary School’s newspaper club got a chance to see how the Recorder is put together during a visit to the newsroom.

Year 5 and 6 pupils from the school in Green Lane, Goodmayes, were invited to the Archant London offices in Ilford High Road on Friday to learn about how the paper is produced.

After a presentation from Recorder editor Chris Carter about the paper’s history – including seeing a front page from 1904 – the budding young journalists had the chance to grill reporters Harry Kemble and Laura Burnip about what reporters do.

Pupils asked about how to gather news, how to write stories how to beat off the competition.

And the Recorder team then turned the tables, asking the youngsters about the stories they were writing for their own newspaper ahead of the first edition going to print this week.

Members of the club – which was set up at the beginning of term by parent Erum Rashid – have each been conducting interviews with teachers and relatives to put in the paper.

And they have also been able to write stories about a subject of their choice, ranging from profiles of footballers such as Wayne Rooney and Lionel Messi to a piece about sea scorpions and Felix Baumgartne, the first man to freefall from space.

Mrs Rashid, who is part of the school’s Parent Teacher Friend Association, said: “The day was an opportunity to see how journalists actually work, and give the children an idea of how stories are put together.

“They’ve learnt about the steps and processes, and a lot about team work. You have to work with other people.

“To see that in a real life office, it opens their eyes to opportunities and ideas they wouldn’t even have considered.”