Features of a Newspaper Report KS2

At KS2 students will be developing their critical literacy skills and learning how to retrieve, record and present information from non-fiction. First News Education supports teachers in advancing their pupils core literacy skills at KS2. We have put together this handy feature of a newspaper report poster to help students understand a newspaper’s structure and identify the key characteristics of a newspaper report to give them a head start in creating their own.

What is a Newspaper Report?

A newspaper report is a news story found in newspapers and are designed to provide people with information about what is happening in the world. News is new information and is usually about something that has just happened. All news reports follow a certain structure and have the same key features.

Features of a Newspaper Report

The below details what to include in a news report:

• Headline 

The title of the story designed to summarise the story. It should be short and snappy to grab the reader’s attention. Find out how to write the perfect newspaper headline in our Newspaper Headline KS2 resource.

• By Line 

The journalist who has written the report.

• Photo 

The photograph needs to tell the story

• Lead or Orientation

The important first sentence or opening paragraph that summarises the story and answers as many as possible of the 5 W’S (Who? What? Where? When? and Why?) and H (How?)

e.g. What? Japan won the Women’s World Cup

Where? the final

Who? Japan

Why? won penalty shoot out

• Body 

The newspaper body includes all the details of the news story and should be split in paragraphs to help the reader digest the information. Each paragraph tells one part of the story e.g. Paragraph one: lead, Paragraph two: the match, Paragraph three: the penalty shoot-out, Paragraph four: what else they won.

The main body should contain facts and not personal opinions and should be chronological.

The last paragraph should sum up the story and bring it up to date. The inverted pyramid report style has the most important information about a story in the lead paragraph. If your editor has to cut the last paragraph from the body text the story should still make sense.

• Caption 

The information in or under a photograph which explains what the picture is about.

• Direct Quotation

The exact words someone uses. Quotation marks are always used. Quotes are included to give the reader the viewpoint of someone involved in the story like an eyewitness or expert. Quotes make a story credible.

• Columns 

The vertical blocks of text into which a page of a newspaper is divided.

Download our free poster of a newspaper report example including labels to share with students or display in your classroom.

Newspaper Report Activities

Ask your students to identify all the key features of a report in this week’s First News. The below resources will help:

1. News terminology cards
2. Newspaper section cards
3. Section sleuths – an activity to help children learn the sections of a newspaper

Want to find out more about how to help your students craft their own news story? Read our Top Tips on Writing a Newspaper Report