Fleet Street comes to school at Fleetwood

Suzanne, 47, who originally comes from the town and used to attend Larkholme Primary and Cardinal Allen High schools, now works for The Guardian newspaper in London.

But the deputy production editor came back to her roots as part of an initiative to teach schoolchildren more about the work of the national press.

Suzanne was delighted to take the chance to return to her home town and she visited several Fleetwood schools this week. She visited St Mary’s RC Primary school, on London Street, and then her old school, Larkholme, on Windermere Avenue, where she spoke to youngsters about writing for newspapers, how to ask the right kind of questions - and how to write headlines.

Suzanne did not originally plan to work for newspapers, but she always enjoyed English lessons and writing.

She said: “Eventually I decided to give journalism a try and after getting my qualifications I started with a weekly newspaper in Denton, Manchester. I then went to London and wrote for an English language edition of a big Japanese paper, then covered news stories for the Press Association and eventually went to The Guardian, where I have had several sub-editing roles. It is important that we have a free press and that future generations appreciate the vital work that our newspapers do in reporting what happens in their communities, in the country and abroad. The children have been brilliant - they asked lots of good questions.”

Mrs Catherine Sewell, Year 5 and 6 teacher at St Mary’s, said: “The children really enjoyed it and they have done some really good work.”

Pupil Georgia Higson, 11, said: “We made up our own stories and I really enjoyed it. It’s made me think about becoming a journalist.”

And Oliver Mellow, 10, said: “I liked doing the headlines because they were short!”