Connor Sephton

Sky News Reporter

Hello everybody!

My name is Connor and I went to Trinity Primary School until 2004. Ever since I was little, I wanted to be a news reporter. I loved English lessons and telling stories. Primary school was so important in helping me learn the basics of writing – these are the skills you’ll rely on forever. At Lathom, I then learned more about reporting by working on the high school’s newsletter. This gave me a chance to make mistakes and find out what works… and what doesn’t! I started my own business in college so I could practise my writing skills and get paid for it, and then moved to London when I was 18.

There are some jobs where you need to go to university, but journalism doesn’t have to be one of them. I was lucky enough to train for a whole year at Metro – the newspaper you see on buses and trains. Here, I learned how to write headlines and edit articles to make sure they are the best they can be… and free of typos! One of my happiest moments was when I joined Sky News in 2014, working for their website. Since then, I’ve been a reporter covering many important stories – including general elections and coronavirus. (I’ve also written fun stories about dogs and football… and interviewed a few celebrities, too!) Nowadays, I even get a chance to be in charge of the website, deciding which stories we should do.

Of course, there have been plenty of challenges along the way. Journalism is very competitive, and there are lots of people who want to have a job like this. You need to work well under pressure too – and if you make a mistake, it can be seen by millions! There can also be a lot of sad news around, so you need to stay positive. Everybody has dreams of what they want to do when they’re grown up, and I’m so lucky that my dream came true. Yours can too. My best advice is to believe in yourself, find every chance to practise, and try and find out what you need to do to get where you want to be. Things may not always go to plan, but this can make you even stronger.

I’ve got so many happy memories of being at Trinity because all of the teachers believed in me – including Mr Currie, who was my Year 5 teacher. Remember: you’re brilliant, and anything’s possible if you keep working hard!