Press gang up and running at Milne's schools
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READ all about it! – that is the aim of a group of pupils in Fochabers aiming to bring a new newspaper to the village.
Youngsters at Milne's High and Milne's Primary have just started pooling their talents to produce a new publication to cover news and events and not only within the two schools but in the wider community as well.
The project is the brainchild of Jemma Playfair, who is Milne's High rector and currently the interim headteacher at the primary.
She said: "Usually the headteacher writes the term newspaper so I thought it'd be a nice idea to get the pupils' perspective for a change.
"This is something the parents would be interested in, seeing what their children have been writing.
"It'll allow the pupils to develop a wide range of skills. For example, photography students could support them by showing them how to take proper photos rather than just ones taken on a phone.
"We're at a very early stage just now, we're bringing together P5/6 pupils from Milne's Primary and S1-3 ones from the high school. For the primary children, it will act as an early transition to the high school, and hopefully once we're fully up and running they can train some of the younger pupils so they can contribute, too. By focusing on the S1-3 age group we're giving ourselves a bit of continuity and longevity."
Helping guide the project through its early days are school librarian Kirsten Macleod and youth worker Alison Smith.
The team already have a few ideas on the board along with a resident agony aunt and comic strip artist.
Ms Macleod said: "At the moment we've 15 pupils signed up from the high school and some from the primary.
"The newspaper is something that we want the kids to lead as much as possible.
"We're hoping to cover a lot of different things, including generally what's going on in both the school and the community, sports, performances happening in the area and what's on in the library. Also, we'll have an agony aunt column and a comic strip, plus we'll be looking to get reactions to important items which are in the national news.
"At the moment, the aim is to have both print and digital versions."
Ms Smith added: "We haven't decided at the moment how frequent the newspaper will be but it will probably be at least once a term, maybe twice a term."
