This Just In is a phrase used to announce breaking news while on air, and that’s just what a group of Peebles pupils did when they became news anchors for Sky News.

Last week P5 pupils from Priorsford Primary were both behind and in front of the camera delivering hot news about a volcano erupting.

Thankfully the broadcast was fictional and part of an educational visit to Sky Academy Studios in Livingston, where the schoolchildren enjoyed a behind the scenes tour of Sky and the opportunity to create and watch their own television content.

And this week the Priorsford news team gave us the exclusive on their day as Sky news reporters.

The idea to link the school with Sky came about when Priorsford P7 pupil, Romilly Aikman, visited the academy with her mum, Monica, who works at Sky.

Romilly told us: “I went to Sky Academy and there was a school group coming in after me. I asked mum if she could get in touch with Priorsford so we could do a class trip together and all my year could experience the studios like I did. It was fun and interesting.”

It’s been two years since Romilly sparked that idea and now more than 180 Priorsford pupils have visited the Sky Studios launched by Sky News journalist Kay Burley.

Monica added: “There is a fantastic atmosphere on the day. The children and the school put so much effort into the range of activities on offer. Our Sky team love them. It’s a really lovely feeling seeing the Borders bus pull up at the office and all excitedly go through the doors.”

The pupils created their own TV report about a subject they are studying at school using Sky’s state-of-the-art technology, including broadcast-quality cameras, green screens and touch-screen tablets.

Monica explained: “The studio team link the activities on the day to the children’s school topic. It’s a great way to engage them and apply learning in a new way. The energy levels are always high as they bring their stories to life brilliantly.”

Romilly told us: “We shot and edited a news broadcast based on our topic of natural disasters. It was about a volcano that had erupted – however, it was a fictional broadcast.

“We learned teamwork and resilience, how live TV works, how to work the cameras and edit your own videos. We even used the proper equipment: green screens, ring lights, auto-cues and editing technology.”

But it wasn’t all about delivering current news affairs, as pupil Erica Munnis discovered.

“We got to see what happens behind the scenes of the news. I liked how the producer got to choose something from the wardrobe for you to wear and you weren’t allowed to say no, I don’t like that.”

Pupil Ulani Keen said Sky Academy was great. “We got a really cool welcome when we arrived and got to pick the roles we wanted, including on and off the cameras, using scripts, iPad and huge televisions. We learned how to work as a team to make and present an article. We got to do so much stuff – our class was really happy.”