Reading First News – the newspaper for young people // AD

Advertorial Feature

Do you ever find that the teatime television news is just a little bit too heavy and hard hitting for mealtimes?  Have you ever felt the need to switch over to the cartoons, simply to protect your children from hearing about the world’s atrocities?

Discovering First News

As a family, we have always felt that it is important for our children to have an awareness of the world around them.  It is natural to want to protect your youngsters from the worst of the world news, but we also believe that it is vital for them to be able to have an awareness of current affairs.  We were therefore really pleased to discover First News, a newspaper designed for children, over the past week.

We have done exactly what I have said earlier at times.  News stories have come on the television, and we have found ourselves reaching for the remote control.  Not because we don’t want our children to learn and understand, but simply because the stories have been that horrible that we don’t even know where to begin.  We needed a different solution, and First News seemed to be exactly what we were after.

Our seven year old son Olly is so inquisitive, and his little brother Freddie is heading in exactly the same direction.  Olly always has so many questions about things, and he is very observant.  You don’t think he is listening, but he is often taking in every word being said and wants to know answers to things.  We wouldn’t have it other way; we want both of our boys to maintain a thirst for knowledge and learning throughout their lives.

The solution we were looking for

When we discovered First News, we felt that we had finally found the solution that we were looking for.  First News has been written for 7-14-year olds and does a fantastic job of presenting the week’s biggest news stories in a format that doesn’t hide away from the hard-hitting facts but enables young people to get the answers to their questions.  As a parent who struggles sometimes to find the right way to word the answers to our child’s questions, this newspaper is ideal.

The layout of the paper is very visually appealing, and the front page always leads with the biggest story of the week, with a huge image to grab the reader’s attention and a short story to accompany it.  The issues that we started with naturally tackled 2020’s biggest news story, the Covid-19 pandemic, and discussed the vaccination programme and the idea of Christmas family bubbles.  The newspaper also guides young readers through the rest of the week’s big stories, and also reports on sports and entertainment news.  There are even puzzles and competitions to enter.  We also really liked the fact that advertising was kept to a minimum, and the ones that did feature were age appropriate and not overly intrusive.

Not all news is bad

We were really surprised to learn that the newspaper has a readership of over 2.6 million in the UK and the fact that each edition is produced on a Friday means that children can spend time over the weekend reading the stories – perfect for times where we want to limit screen time or encourage some reading for meaning.  We also really like the fact that First News reports on good news stories; as they state on the website ‘not all news is bad’.

Responsible reporting

Olly has loved reading his editions of First News.  He has taken the time to search out articles that interested him and has followed them up with talking to us about what he has learnt.  We often are able to find out more about the topics and point him in the direction of more information.  We love how he takes such a measured view of things and we hope he continues to question, form opinions and become worldly wise as he heads through the rest of his school years.

Subscribe and save

First News is available to buy from selected news outlets, and also by subscription.  There are some fabulous offers for new subscribers and new customers can try 10 issues for £10.00, which is a huge saving of over £12.50 from the cover price.  At £2.25 a copy, we feel that it represents much better value for money than many children’s magazines which are often discarded all too quickly. We highly recommend First News – ideal for satisfying the inquisitive child in your life!