An oxfordshire theatre company is touring schools in the county as part of a project to teach young people about the media industry and current affairs.

The Oxfordshire Touring Theatre Company will be taking its project, Breaking News, to 10 schools across the county over the next month.

Pupils will produce a four-page newspaper covering events in Afghanistan, based on a series of sketches performed by actors from OTTC.

The sketches will dramatise real and fictional events associated with the reconstruction of Afghanistan after the war, sparked by the bombing of New York's Twin Towers and the search for Osama bin Laden.

The students will be given responsibility for different aspects of producing a newspaper, including reporting, photography, sub-editing, editing, and feature writing.

They will monitor events, portrayed in sketches throughout the day, and respond to them as though they were working in a fast-moving newsroom setting.

The project is aimed at pupils in years nine and 10, and 150 pupils will take part at each school.

The students will be split up into seven groups, each producing a newspaper in the style of a different British national newspaper, including the Times, Telegraph, Guardian and Independent.

The pupils have prepared for the project in advance in their English and citizenship lessons and they will spend an entire day working on it when OTTC visits their school. Project director Jeremy James said: "We're trying to give young people an experience of working life and introduce them to a particular industry -- the media.

"They will also learn about teamwork, responsibility for a particular task and about the big cultural issues facing the world since September 11."

King Alfred's School in Wantage was taking part in the project on Tuesday, June 24. Pupils at Drayton Secondary School in Banbury will be taking part on Wednesday, June 25, and on Thursday, June 26, it will be turn of pupils at Bartholomew School in Eynsham.

Other schools taking part include Faringdon Community College (July 1), Henry Box Secondary School in Witney (July 2), Gillotts Secondary School in Henley (July 3), the Warriner School in Bloxham (July 10), Wood Green School in Witney (July 11), Bartholomew School in Eynsham (July 12) and Marlborough School in Woodstock (July 15).