NewsWise

Resource type: CPD course, Projects, programmes and workshops

Price band: Free

Key stage: KS2

Region(s): All of UK

The NewsWise project is designed to help pupils aged 7-11 develop the skills to access, understand, analyse and participate in the news. It has been set up as a collaboration between The Guardian Foundation, the National Literacy Trust and the PSHE Association.

All UK primary schools can access free resources to deliver the project in their school. These include:

Teacher Guides, lesson plans and supporting resources – these cross-curricular units of work are designed to be flexible and take between three to six weeks to deliver. They cover three main themes: understanding and managing feelings about the news; navigating the news; and reporting the news. There are two sets of resources – one for pupils aged 7-9 and one for pupils aged 9-11.
Online news literacy webinars for teachers.
Virtual visits from journalists.

In addition, UK primary schools that meet the required criteria (high rates of free school meals, small rural schools or schools with Service Children) can apply for the full NewsWise programme. The programme includes expert teacher training, an interactive fake news workshop for pupils delivered by the NewsWise team, lesson plans and the opportunity to work with a real journalist.

Cost: Free with registration.

About The Guardian Foundation:The Guardian Foundation is a charity that promotes global press freedom and access to liberal journalism. They work with journalists, news organisations, audiences and educators, in schools and across communities to enhance people’s ability to evaluate news critically, facilitate opportunities for inclusion in media and build media capacity.

About National Literacy Trust: NLT is an independent literacy charity working with schools and communities to give disadvantaged children the literacy skills to succeed in life. The charity runs literacy programmes, CPD training courses for teachers, and provides online resources and tools to its members. It also undertakes research into all aspects of literacy and campaigns to raise awareness of literacy issues.

About PSHE Association: The PSHE Association is the national body for personal, social, health and economic education.

Literacy Hive Likes:

NewsWise has been developed by a team of specialists in news literacy, primary English and PSHE working alongside journalists.
Each lesson addresses core objectives within the English, Scottish, Welsh and Northern Ireland curricula, as well as the PSHE Association Programme of Study.
NewsWise aims to provide an immersive learning experience that incorporates authentic skills from the newsroom to help build a real-life context for learning.
With more and more children accessing news via digital media, developing the critical skills to distinguish between news and ‘fake news’ has never been more important.
NewsWise resources have been adapted to provide a free suite of resources to support secondary pupils with SEND.
NewsWise and sister programme Behind the Headlines won the WAN-IFRA European Digital Media Awards 2021 for ‘Best Project for News Literacy’.