BBC School Report: my experience by Alex Stewart
Today, my year 8 English class have been taking part in the annual event created by the BBC. We have been fully off timetable to take part in this event which consisted of spending the morning planning and filming interviews, which then goes live on the school website this evening. We have spent the day in the Mac Suite which we turned into a newsroom. Working in groups we’ve interviewed Dr Taylor, Mr Sherwood, Mr Basile, Bradley Graves and Elijah Hembury so far- all about different subjects so that we can produce an exciting and varied news report. The report also contains the local weather and information about The City of Culture bid.
We began work on BBC School Report last week when the class met Simon Clark, a sports correspondent for the BBC, and Olivia Cubberley, a radio producer, and had a discussion on what we think are the unique features of Hull and why we think we won the City of Culture bid. We were able to ask lots of questions about what it’s like to be a journalist and work in the media.
Then on Wednesday we went to the drama studio with Olivia and two members of the City of Culture team to get their viewpoints on the bid and why it was successful. This was used on BBC Radio Humberside.
Whilst we’ve been working today, Alex Williamson and Natalie Swales from our class have been at BBC Radio Humberside and are presenting the National School Report live. They also went to interview Matthew Knight from Siemens on Tuesday, about the exciting news that their company are investing £310 million into Hull by creating a wind turbine factory.
Overall, I have enjoyed the experience and have particularly liked the opportunity to film and record interviews today. I’m looking forward to seeing our own School Report on the website!