When a pandemic strikes, Waitoriki school pupils make news themselves

The Lockdown News is packed full of the pupils own work.

A group of school children have been busy making the news while in lockdown.

The Waitoriki writing crew, a group of five pupils from Waitoriki school, have created their own, hyper-local newspaper to share with the rest of their school.

The youngsters, aged between eight and 10, have been working with teacher Deborah Jones to create the paper.

Whaea Deb says the project didn't start off as being a newspaper, but evolved into one from a writing task she had set them.

"I asked them to think about what was happening around them in their own homes and bubbles during lockdown. When the work started coming in, I looked at it and thought wow, this could form a newspaper."

From there, the children worked on creating interesting headlines for their stories before everything was put together into a newspaper called The Lockdown News.

The result is packed full of stories written by the five young journalists.

Jorja Tamblin (8) wrote about the impact of the pandemic on her and her sister.

Jorja's mum is a nurse, so Jorja and her sister moved in with their grandparents during level 4 to avoid any risk of being exposed to Covid-19.

"We had video chats with mum so we could still talk to her. Staying with Nana and Granddad was quite fun though."

Her article on it featured on the front page of the paper, along with an article on Stratford's heaviest Easter eggs by Toby Ryder-Jones (9).

Toby also wrote about a rare white pīwakawaka sighting in Stratford, which the Stratford Press also recently reported on.

"I saw the bird when we walked over the swing bridge in Stratford. I couldn't get a photo so when we got home we looked for a photo online."

The rare white fantail wasn't the only creature to feature in The Lockdown News. Other articles included a report on a high-speed chase between a bird and a dog, kittens attacking feet and some other dog stories as well.

Articles on making slime, unicorns and rearranged bedrooms also feature as well as a gripping account of a missing teddy bear.

Whaea Deb says the group has a daily online video call with her each school day.

"We start the day with that, and then they all get on with their school work during the day. The morning call is a way to check in with them and make sure they are all on task."

The change to online and home learning has received mixed reviews from the pupils.

Grace Davison (8) says she misses seeing her friends at school and uses a video calling programme to catch up with them all while she isn't at school. One of the friends she often calls that way is Zara Stevenson (8), who says while she misses her friends she finds the school days at home are shorter than at school.

Jorja is also using technology to stay in touch with friends, and says that unlike Zara's experience, her school days are actually longer at home.

"Once we have finished our written work, we also do craft stuff like collage that takes up a lot of time."

Lewis Jones (10) and Toby both say they are enjoying the online learning side of schooling at home.

Toby says it gives him the chance to gain more technology skills.

"I can do more with technology now and am learning more all the time. I prefer lessons on Zoom online than sitting in the classroom."

Lewis says he likes the technology side of learning as well. He has had his own YouTube channel for nearly two years and finds learning by video and online lots of fun.

"Plus you can do school in your pyjamas."