STYLE matters, as youngsters in a Blackburn school discovered during a news writing sessions with Newspapers in Education co-ordinator Rita Shaw.

The idea that everyone has a story to tell certainly proved true.

News of achievements, accidents and adventures poured from the pens of young journalists at St Bartholomew's CE Primary School, Ewood, as they turned interviews with class mates into news stories.

The Blackburn school linked up with our project in October when teacher Linda Rawstron ordered our latest literacy resource for KS1 and KS2, providing every year group with lesson plans and worksheets, along with a daily delivery of our newspaper.

As an extension of the resource, nine and 10-year-olds in class four were given tips on news gathering and writing in journalistic style, helping to cover the non-fiction strand of the National Literacy Strategy.

Picture: NIE co-ordinator Rita Shaw with St Bartholomew's pupils, from left, Heather McConnell, Donna Lock, Charlotte Riding, Lloyd Birch, Scott Moulden, Lee Piddington, Jessica Eastham, Zoe Walsh, Chloe Grimshaw and Natalie Davies.