How many weekly copies does my school need?
Using First News in your school
First News, the UK’s national newspaper for young people, offers schools the opportunity to engage with current affairs by reading and discussing news stories each week.
Each week’s newspaper (now available as digital editions for iPads) features regular news sections – Headlines, Home News, World News, News in Pictures, Animal News, Science, Entertainment, Crazy But True and Sport. Featuring headlines at the front and sport at the back, First News is laid out in traditional newspaper format to familiarise pupils with layouts and traditions.
First News news stories are told in a mixture of short chunks and longer articles with lots of illustrative photos to support pupils aged 7 to 14 with different reading abilities.
The newspaper comes out every Friday and printed copies are delivered into school on Fridays during term-time. In addition to each week’s newspaper, downloadable, levelled reading activities are created by the First News Education Team to help the whole school benefit from each week’s newspaper. These activities help support schools in developing students’ reading skills and interests.
How many copies of the newspaper does my school need each week?
That really depends on your school! Some schools choose to take one copy for the library for pupils to enjoy at their leisure; other schools take a copy for every pupil in their school!
If you’re completely new to First News, then we’d recommend the following as a starting point:
For infant schools
We recommend three copies for each class in your school. Please note, that downloadable reading activities are only available when you subscribe to at least three copies a week. This will give you one guided reading set.
For primary schools
We recommend three copies for each Year 2 to class in the school, and one for each Year 1 class. Downloadable reading activities are only available when you subscribe to at least six copies a week. This would give one copy per year group, or two guided reading sets.
For secondary schools
We recommend either a set of six copies for group work, half class sets of 16, or whole class sets of 32 copies for sharing across forms and departments. Downloadable reading activities are only available when you subscribe to at least six copies a week.
For small schools
We recommend three copies for each class in your small school. Downloadable reading activities are only available when you subscribe to at least three copies a week. This would give you one copy per class, or one guided reading set.
Are you a Year 7 teacher?
Why not give your Year 7 students their own weekly copy of First News to develop wider regular reading habits from the moment they start at secondary school? Create a culture of discussing what is going on in the world, both at school and at home.
We offer huge discounts on bulk orders of the newspaper! We offer 75% discounts on yearly subscriptions of 100 or more weekly copies. Please call us on 020 3195 2000 to discuss bulk order prices for your school.
What are the costs?
Please visit our online subscription pages for costs or call 01795 592946 to get a quote.