First News for International Schools
As more and more schools turn to embedding news into the classroom, it is increasingly important to consider effective methods for news-based teaching. Whether your school is teaching English as a foreign language or is looking to improve English language skills, engage reluctant readers, grow literacy levels or get children talking and writing about UK and global news, our news and literacy tools can help you and your students achieve it.
First News Education provides teaching professionals in primary and secondary schools in more than 60 countries across the globe, with a solution to engaging students through news. Published in the UK, the First News newspaper is read by over two million young people each week. It covers major events from the UK and around the world, including key news, politics, science break throughs, environmental stories, and the more light-hearted sports, entertainment and puzzles.
NEWSPAPER AND ACTIVITY SHEETS
The UK’s only newspaper for young people, First News is read by more than two and a half million children every week in homes and schools across the UK and internationally. Choose to receive as many copies as you need throughout term (40 issues) or opt for the digital edition (52 issues) for unlimited, school-wide access.
Activity Sheets are weekly comprehensions, vocabulary puzzles and debates based on the latest stories in First News. Designed to encourage students to delve into the detail of news stories, they are produced in three levels for Lower KS2, Upper KS2 and KS3. This taster pack includes a PDF sample of First News, and the full set of corresponding Activity Sheets, to introduce First News Education into your school.
ONLINE iHUB
The Bett award-winning iHub delivers weekly comprehensions, vocabulary puzzles, polls and debate topics based on the latest stories in the newspaper. Each week, articles from First News are selected by our experienced education team to form online reading activities for Lower KS2, Upper KS2 and KS3. The iHub automatically tailors these at the reading level assigned to each pupil, saving teachers valuable time and enabling students to learn at the right pace. The platform can be customised to suit your lesson and homework plans, including the choice to select or automatically assign activities to complete each week. A reporting dashboard offers insight into pupil progress, helping you to drive motivation through rewarding achievements and identify where extra support may be needed.
USED IN SCHOOLS IN OVER 60 COUNTRIES AROUND THE WORLD
FIRST NEWS INTERNATIONAL
We’re excited to announce that later this year, First News is launching a brand new digital version of our weekly newspaper, created specifically for schools who are looking for more global coverage for their news-based learning. KS2 and KS3 pupils from countries around the world will discover stories which excite, interest and reassure them.
Email [email protected] to receive a free digital edition, and be the first to receive updates when First News International is available to purchase for your school. If you’d like to subscribe to the UK digital edition of First News now, you can swap your subscription to First News International when it’s available.
Explore First News Education Tools
Newspaper
The First News newspaper has become a weekly staple for young people in more than 9,000 schools across the country and internationally because of its recognised success in engaging children with reading news while improving their core literacy levels.
Created for children between the ages of 7 and 14, available as both print and digital editions, First News contains both bite-sized news and in-depth special reports, appealing to different reader types and levels. First News covers a range of stories from across the globe, cultivating a love of learning about the world.
Find out more about the newspaper.
Online iHub
For an interactive learning experience, the iHub’s news-based comprehensions, vocabulary puzzles, polls and debates are automatically assigned to each pupil at their suited reading level, for KS2 to KS3.
With an instant marking feature, homework option and points awarded, the iHub engages, encourages accuracy, and motivates students to develop crucial skills through growing their knowledge of local, national and global news. Teachers can benefit from weekly, pre-prepared lesson and homework content, time-saving features and the ability to track and measure pupil progress.
Find out more about the iHub.
Activity Sheets
Available every Friday during term time, Activity Sheets are printable comprehensions, quizzes, vocabulary puzzles and debates based on the week’s news stories from around the world featured in First News.
Created in three reading levels for KS2 to KS3, they encourage children to delve into the detail of news stories and develop their skills around evaluating information and forming reasoned responses. With the flexibility to assign the most suitable level for whole classes or groups of pupils, Activity Sheets support you in developing children’s skills in the most applicable way to achieve the best results.
Find out more about Activity Sheets.
Proven to significantly elevate children’s reading attitudes and skills
Independent research was carried out by the National Literacy Trust over 8 weeks in 15 schools, integrating the newspaper and Activity Sheets into weekly reading to access the impact of introducing First News Education into KS2 classes.
THE RESULTS
By reading and discussing news regularly, pupils:
– Made significantly more progress with their reading comprehension than expected, and developed more complex inference and deduction skills
– Developed more confidence in their own reading, and were motivated to read more widely in their own time
THE SKILL AND WILL OF BECOMING A COMPLETE READER*
The evaluation findings support existing research showing that children need to be motivated to read, as well as having the skills to do so, in order to succeed.
You can read more about The National Literacy Trust’s research here
*Igniting a Passion for Reading, Successful Strategies for Building Lifetime Readers by Steven Layne
“We are absolutely loving it – the students are really engaged and the English department gave it a huge thumbs up.”
Ms McGauley, Senior Librarian, Jumeirah English Speaking School, Dubai
“The debating and poll elements of the newspaper are fantastic and support our whole-school focus on developing oracy superbly”
St Michael’s Catholic School, Wycombe, England