Who: a group of Y10 Media students.

What: attended an educational day.

Where: the Guardian newspaper offices in King’s Cross, London.

When: Monday 23rd September.

Why: to be introduced to some basic journalism techniques.

Understanding the importance of the ‘5 Ws’ – putting the key information of who, what, where, when and why in the opening paragraph – was one of those techniques that the students practised.

The day was designed to give students some experience working in a real newsroom environment. Working with a version of the Guardian’s live news feed, students had to first select news items that they thought were relevant before writing the ‘copy’ and selecting appropriate images. Using industry-standard software, they then took on the role of sub-editors by writing headlines and ‘kickers’ – lines that appear on the front page in order to promote stories inside the newspaper. The final result was a Guardian-style front page.

It was great to get out of the classroom and into a real working media environment.