Reporter Alexandra Barham took a trip down Memory Lane this morning when she re-visited her primary school to talk to children about the busy life of a journalist.

Thirteen years after leaving St Meryl school in The Mead, Carpenders Park 23-year-old Alex, who has been a reporter with sister paper the St Albans & Harpenden Review for just over a year, returned to hold a journalism workshop with Year Four pupils.

During her visit she talked to the school children about the daily demands of a reporter, and the fast-paced industry in which she works.

The pupils also got the opportunity to experience life as a reporter when Alex set them a challenge of creating their own imaginative titles for stories featured in past editions of both the Watford Observer and the St Albans Review.

Once the workshop had finished the children were asked to write a few lines about their morning and what they had learned.

Here are just a few of their comments: Eight-year-old Shaun Moran said: “This is one of the best days of my life. I learned about the life of a journalist and how hard the experience is.”

Holly Beards, eight, said: “Today Alex has taught me things from her job and what she does. Now I want to be a journalist because you can do different things everyday and you might do things that are exciting."

“Today Alex came in and taught me a lot of things about her job at the paper,” Caitlin Linnell said. “I now would like to become a journalist because you do different things everyday and you go to different places, you meet different people and people who have different problems.

“Also I like writing so I think when I grow older I will be a journalist.”

Rebecca Bailey said: “When Alex came through our classroom door I was extremely surprised because I have never met a journalist before and now I’ve met one.

“I cannot wait to tell my family that I met a journalist. What I enjoyed most was when we got to think of headlines for the articles. I can’t believe that all of Year 4 are going to be on the Watford Observer website.”

Nine-year-old Robert Pettiyer added: “Alex Barham told us lots of things you have to do in a newspaper article. We got some exciting challenges to do and then we got to share them with the class.”