IT'S in print and out in the classroom. Pick and Mix, the latest in our range of educational resources, is proving a hit with pupils and teachers alike in helping to develop skills in literacy and numeracy for KS2 and KS3.

Pupils at Ashleigh Primary School, Darwen, are among the first to use the resource as part of their school newspaper-linked project.

Class teacher Anita Scammell, and her pupils in year six at the school, gave their copies of Wednesday's Pick and Mix material an enthusiastic reception. "This is an ideal way to comply with the literacy and numeracy strategies," said Anita.

"The activity sheets have so many ready-made ideas that will save a great deal of time for teachers and are really interesting for pupils. We will be using it in our investigation of newspapers and to help in writing and designing our own school newspaper. And I will certainly be incorporating it into next year's lesson plans."

Budding journalists at the school are working flat out to meet their deadline and bring out copies of their school newspaper 'The Ashleigh Herald' by Friday afternoon. Pupils have taken on roles of editorial and advertising staff and are making full use of information technology to speed up the process.

Schools in any part of our circulation area can have a delivery of a class set of our newspaper on any day of the week, accompanied by the same number of Pick and Mix activity packs designed to tie in with regular features in the newspaper, from a cost of only £10 and with a discount on orders for five days. Literally hundreds of fun tasks are set out in a lively format, particularly useful for literacy and numeracy hours, or to make links with homes. Teachers decide on the day or days of the week for delivery of the newspaper and the ready-made activity pack shows how to use items on sport, local history, weather forecasts, wildlife, food, entertainments, cars, advertisements and a host of other features to boost basic skills.

As a bonus, schools ordering any of our NIE resources are invited to make educational tours of our head office and printing plant, which for those using more than one of our resources during the year is free of charge.

Our NIE co-ordinator will also spend time in classes of any school using our material, to run newspaper linked activities. For further details of Pick and Mix or any of our NIE educational resources, or for a no-obligation look at the material in your own school, please contact Rita Shaw, NIE co-ordinator, tel 01254 678678 ext 255.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.