We can safely say we’ve never seen this before: the Trinity Mirror-owned Teesside Gazette is recruiting 70 school students as bloggers for its post-code level network of news channels on GazetteLive.co.uk as part of a new vocational course. Trinity has linked-up with Stockton Schools to help create a new Creative & Media diploma to launch in September for students aged 14 to 19, and plans are “in place” to extend the scheme beyond Stockton. It’s not a work experience lark for the kids; neither is it cheap labour for Trinity: the new diploma will be equivalent to between five and seven GCSEs or three and a half A-levels if they take the advanced version. More on the project here.

The newspaper is taking this seriously, too: the Gazette‘s senior desk editor Lindsay Bruce, who is leading the paper’s involvement says, “the paper currently enjoys a very positive relationship with local schools but , as every newspaper faces tough trading climates, we would welcome any move to develop relationships with future audiences, which we can do through this medium.” Bruce says the Gazette is “very keen” to target young people and says an unrelated “youth blog” has already been incorporated on the 20 local sites, though I couldn’t find much evidence of it today. The students will get tutoring, and their best efforts will be re-published in the Gazette‘s local free newspapers, something Bruce hopes will be the start of a “long-term relationship with the students”.