Dan Whitehead, (18), a student at Coombeshead College in Newton Abbot, tells Holdthefrontpage about his work experience at The Observer.
The college runs NCTJ approved courses and has some of the youngest NCE candidates in the country.

My week at The Observer newspaper in London was certainly a work placement that I'll never forget.

As any young budding journalist knows, you should jump at the chance for any work experience in the field and I was definitely not going to pass on this opportunity.

During my week, this January, I was able to see the whole edition develop from scratch to publication. I was even lucky enough to get an article published on the website about my opinion on university top-up fees.

Throughout the week I was sat alongside some of the world's top journalists. Whether it was political editor Kamal Ahmed, or Journalist of The Year 2003, Andrew Rawnsley, I found myself in awe.

I was surprised to learn that there are only 70 journalists working for The Observer compared to more than 350 for The Guardian. The newsroom was just over three times the size as the daily local down in Torbay.

As my week progressed I managed to get involved in many activities, whether it was researching pieces for the monthly Observer magazine, Uncovered, proof reading pages or writing my opinion piece for the website, I was always kept very busy.

It was great to get an insight into how a national paper works, and when it comes down to it there isn't a lot of difference. Journalism, it appeared, was the same anywhere - just the audience was a lot bigger.

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