STUDENTS met their deadline to produce a newspaper in a day. They transformed a classroom at The Meridian School, Royston, into a news room to produce a newspaper in a competition run by the Times Educational Supplement. Sixth-form students put together a

STUDENTS met their deadline to produce a newspaper in a day. They transformed a classroom at The Meridian School, Royston, into a news room to produce a newspaper in a competition run by the Times Educational Supplement. Sixth-form students put together a newspaper on Wednesday, and on Thursday it was the turn of students from Year 9 to Year 11. The sixth-form students just managed to meet their deadline, but those taking part on Thursday were less rushed, said Sarah Holmes, of the school's English department. "We certainly discovered a number of budding journalists during the course of the two days," she said. She added that the newspapers produced between the two groups did not have much to choose between them. "It was unlike last year when both were really different from each other." It is now four years since students at the school first entered the competition - and in that time they have earned two distinctions and have twice been highly commended. "They all showed a lot of news sense and worked like professional journalists," said Mrs Holmes. The editor for the sixth-form newspaper was Tom Pinnock, 18, and Amanda Bray, 16, took the editor's role in the other group. The students had to write and design a newspaper in a day, which showed their awareness of both national and international events, and local news. "They got the structure right and the language right," said Mrs Holmes. Students learn about current affairs as part of their citizenship lessons.