BUDDING journalists at a school in Charfield have put the finishing touches on stories for their first newspaper, set to be distributed in The Gazette.

The first edition of the “Charfield Chatter”, created by pupils from years five and six at Charfield Primary School, will be distributed on the Thursday, April 14 edition of all copies of The Gazette Series, with all stories, photos, graphics and advertising done by the children.

Throughout the project, which has been running since November, the children have worked to create the paper with local professionals in their various roles as journalists, editors, creatives and advertisers.

On April 14, the students will be selling copies of the Gazette and the Chatter outside the school on a stall, with all profits made going back to the school.

Tess Wilkinson, director of the Castle School Premium Partners, who has been the driving force behind the project, said: It has been a fantastic experience for everyone to work on the Chatter, and I think everyone involved has got a lot out of it.

“It has been amazing to see how the students have stepped up to the mark and worked really hard in making it a worthwhile read. They should all be really proud.

“We have been very fortunate in having loads of support from local businesses, as well as the professionals who have worked hard to make sure their work was as good as it could be.”

Helping to fill the advertising slots has been Cromhall Media’s Claire Jaggard, who runs popular website “My Thornbury”.

She said: “I was so impressed with how quickly the kids sold all the advertising space. They were brilliant, responding to what we told them, and taking everything on board ready for the next call.”

The graphics and photography teams have been run by Damon Mahoney of Station Design, who is also putting the final copy of the paper together.

He said: “I have been really impressed with the talent shown by the creative and artistic teams, their work is going to look great in print.

“It is going to be fun putting it all together over the next week ready for everyone to see!”

Meanwhile, the journalists and editors have been working alongside Gazette Thornbury reporter Aaron Sims.

He said: "This has been a really fun project to work on, I think I have enjoyed it just as much as my budding reporters.

“Every time a new story was shown to me, it was amazing to see how much effort had gone into it.

“We had so many great stories flooding in that I was worried we wouldn’t have enough space.

Year five teacher Jo Thorne, who has been working with the journalists alongside Aaron, added: “I can’t wait to see the finished newspaper, with all the brilliant stories and photos.

“It has been brilliant working with such independent and resourceful children, the quality of the writing has really impressed me.”

The Charfield Chatter will be free with every copy of The Gazette on April 14.