BUDDING journalists at a Preston school looked to The Citizen for inspiration this week after producing their first school newspaper.

Deepdale Junior School's Junior Star was hot off the press on Wednesday.

The first edition was put together by staff and year six pupils at the St Stephen's Road school after scouring The Citizen and other newspapers for ideas.

It is hoped the new eight-page publication on sale at the school for 30p, will be the first of many.

Teacher Diane Tyers, a journalist in Surrey for six years, said: "Being a former reporter I thought producing a school paper would be an excellent way to make learning fun.

"We looked at The Citizen for ideas on the types of stories used and its layout.

"It's very important the children get involved with things like this because not only does it help improve their writing but it also helps them think of their future careers.

"At the moment we've just produced the one edition but I hope to produce more in the future because the children enjoyed it so much."

Now many of the newspaper's young writers are hankering after careers in journalism.

Firdaus Adam, ten, from Fishwick, said: "I think being a journalist would be really exciting. It's fascinating how you can put all the information together and use language in different ways."

Classmate Mohsin Batan, also ten, from Deepdale, agreed: "You get to talk and meet different people. I really enjoyed it."

It is the school's first newspaper in more than five years and includes an interview with headteacher Gary McKeon as well as website reviews, jokes and fascinating facts, all written by pupils.

It took four weeks to complete and has four editors.

Editor Emma Wotherspoon, ten, from Ashton, said: "It was hard but we did most of it ourselves. It definitely took a lot of teamwork."