Nearly 50 Year 5 and 6 children visited the Johnston Web Printing site in Dinnington to see the printing press in full swing.

About 150 titles including The Sun and The Times Educational Supplement are printed at the site, which is operational on every night of the year but Christmas Eve.

”We had been learning about different types of newspapers at school and they really enjoyed looking around the press,” said Year 6 teacher Deborah Mitchell.

”They were really impressed with the big reels of paper and how much they weighed.”

Nick Boxall, managing director, congratulated the pupils on their good behaviour, saying that they had asked a lot of enthusiastic questions.

”We’ve had quite a few school trips come round since the print centre opened three years ago but this was the first primary school,” he said.

”The centre is a big part of the community and some of the children had relatives who work here. We try to let as many people come to see it as we can.”

Mr Boxall has even challenged the pupils to come up with names for the two robots who transport the paper reels from the store onto the press.

The centre, which cost £60 million to build, employs 84 full-time staff who work 24 hours, seven days a week to ensure that newspaper arrive at supermarkets and newsagents across the North.