Portsdown students get to grips with Reading Passport challenge using interactive board

Portsdown Primary’s Year 4 pupils have been getting their teeth stuck into The Reading Passport challenge, which is backed by The News.

Children taking part receive a pocket-sized booklet containing 15 educational activities with questions related to what has been featured in the paper.

And pupils at Portsdown produced their own interactive display with a fresh front page each week and addressing topics featured in the edition in that edition.

Students get to put their answers to questions related to stories on notes before sticking them up on the board.

Year 4 teacher Vicki King said the initiative was a huge success and had seen children take a keen interest in current affairs.

She said: ‘The main picture on the board gets changed to what the headline is for that week.

‘We get the paper and go through relevant questions and read different articles and adverts.

‘It’s been a huge help in terms of improving the children’s reading and knowledge of current affairs.

‘A lot of the class had not read a newspaper before, so for them it was incredibly exciting.

‘They look forward to getting their paper every Tuesday and they ask in the afternoon for the new one.

‘We’ve been discussing topics that wouldn’t normally come up in the classroom.

‘Things like terrorism, politics, the doctor strikes, and why they have done them.

‘Lots of British current affairs have been talked about.’

Ms King says the work has helped hugely in getting the children to create their own newspaper on the Battle of Hastings as part of their regular curriculum work.

‘The children are doing a newspaper report on the Battle of Hastings, so it’s helped in terms of getting to know the style,’ Ms King said.

The News has teamed up with CMC International and The News Foundation to launch the project.

Students get a certificate of achievement at the conclusion of the project.