The journalists of the future had the chance to grill Herts Advertiser editor Matt Adams as part of their project on news reports.

Year 3 Quasars class at Harpenden Academy are studying the presentation of news throughout this term, and Matt came along to offer an insight into how a regional newspaper is put together, what sort of stories make the cut, and reveal some personal insights from his 20-plus years in the industry.

The youngsters also wrote their own reports, including one on a forthcoming visit to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory on the stage in the West End, and Matt and class teacher Kate Watson chose the best for publication in the Herts Ad.

Charlie and the Cool Quasars

Reporter Rosie Harman

During February 2016, Quasars, the Year 3 class at Harpenden Academy, will be going on an awesome trip to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory on stage. It will be set on stage in London’s Covent Garden. They will be going on Wednesday 10th February and the whole reason why they’re doing this is because they’re learning about chocolate in topic as well as reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

First of all they will be looking at the detailed train times to find out what train to get. After that they will be looking at Google maps to find the safest route from St Pancras to Covent Garden. Once they’ve done that, they will find out how long it will take to get from the station to the theatre. Several days later they will think about what to do if there’s a sudden delay. During English they will be planning the…

Quasars are so eager to go on this amazing trip! Alice in Year Three Quasars explained, “Without a doubt I’m sure the trip will be amazing!” As well as reading the book they have a special pop up book to get their imagination running. They are not just seeing the show, it is a musical. “I can’t wait to see Veruca Salt,” stated Alice in Quasars, just as much as Violet Beauregard.”

Go to London to watch the show and you might just bump into a very excited Quasar class!

Popchoc will be coming to town

Reporter Elliot Grose

Popchoc is a new type of chocolate which is coming out on the 11th February 2016, just in time for Valentine’s Day! This fabulous mouth-watering chocolate is going to made by Elliot Grose and Oscar Pickford-Wardle from Quasars class, Harpenden Academy. Quasars class will be making and selling chocolate. They will make the chocolate in the discovery room, a place where kids do cooking and science, and they will sell it in the playground. They will do this because the money will go to charity. In addition chocolate is their topic.

On January 28th 2016 they will go to a local shop to get information about what different chocolate people like and how much chocolate costs. A few days later they will create a budget in their maths lesson to calculate how much it will cost to make the chocolate. After that they will actually make the chocolate. Finally they will advertise and sell the choc-tastic chocolate.

Quasars are very flabbergasted about this fun and awesome event because it is cool. Tom A Leggott from their class exclaimed, “I think making chocolate is good because everyone likes chocolate!” Kate the class teacher declared, “It will be a good learning opportunity for them because after we finish they might be able to use an oven.”

So look out for Popchoc – it’s on the go!