ProspectusYear 8 Students Making News
On 13th March 2008, students at the Downs made the news for real!
A group of 22 students worked with their teacher and the BBC , in their own time, as an after school workshop, to take part in the BBC News School Report. Their report appears on this page as a video link and was available by the deadline set by the BBC of 4pm on 13th March 2008. The students bring you exclusive news of events happening in the school, in the community, across the UK and around the world. .
The Downs School Reporting
At 12:45 the Downs News team experienced their first ever ‘Breaking News’. Miss Blakeman held a meeting promptly and a set of pupils were selected to write up the two news stories in a very short amount of time. When breaking news occurs, the students have to use about 5 different sources to check that the information they have found is true. There was a sudden wave of excitement as every member of the team was working to present these two stories. The first was about Israeli jets that hit the North of Gaza. This was very exciting news as the journalists feared it may lead to a war. The second happened only 30 minutes before the meeting was called and is about an Iraqi Archbishop who was found dead after being kidnapped. Jack, who is helping with the Israeli jets story, said: ‘I’m really excited about this…I think it will turn out really well!’.
The final news stories are sent to Lauren and Ellie who are reciting, rehearsing and re-reading their stories at this very moment. We have only 40 minutes before going live!
Report by The Downs School Correspondent: Stephanie.
Thurday 13th March – It’s finally here!
The Downs school news team set to work as a news team at about 9am this morning. They are working as journalists would in the BBC and are experiencing a lot about what a real news team’s day is like. Today is the final day that all of the students have been working toward and there is a lot of excitement! The students are slowly realising though, how hard it is to fit in such a lot of things into one short schedule. Many are buzzing around trying to find slots for interviews, typing up and trying scripts. The anchors (Lauren and Ellie) are rehearsing their final text and editing it ready for the 2 o’clock news.
There are many topics to be covered and many interviews which have been, and have to be shot. Reported on the final day, will be stories such as The Sport Relief mile, Healthy Eating in the Canteen, Talks about the Bully Game and an exclusive interview with Mrs. Houldey, the head-teacher, about the school’s ‘phone ban. Having one of the most major roles in School Report, Steven, is the main editor of all of the video clips. He has been cutting and re-watching all of the interview non-stop today and has been working very hard to make the final School Report film which you can view later today. Visit this site at 4pm for and hear all about the local, community and global news such as mentioned, and much much more….
What is the BBC News School Report?
A group of Year 8 students were selected to take part in ‘BBC School Report’ and are all very excited about having such a brilliant opportunity at such a young age. They have been taking their own time to attend regular training sessions after school every Wednesday since January. There, they have been learning their new journalistic skills from Miss Blakeman, English and Media teacher at The Downs School, and videos from Huw Edwards, the top BBC news presenter on: 'BBC News at Ten'.
For some it is their first experience of journalism, and can’t wait to be recorded and show-off their new-found journalistic skills. All of the pupils selected will be part of the final report day. They will have to meet a deadline on March 13 th reading the news of that day, but none seem phased by this at all. “I’m looking forward to reading out the news,” said Angus, a student taking part, “…and seeing myself on the web-site!”
The training has been a big success and the pupils’ knowledge will certainly be of much use. All of the students have learned lots of new skills that will not only prepare them for the day, but help in their future careers also.
Who is running the event?
Miss Blakeman is organising the whole BBC School Report at the Downs school. She is very energetic and fun and all of the students enjoy having her as their group organiser. Miss Blakeman chose to run the Report at the Downs after seeing the project on the National News last year. "...it sounded like a great opportunity for students to develop their journalistic skills, so when I arrived at The Downs School in September I always hoped to run the project here." She has, like the students, been taking every Wednesday since January out of her free time to educate and prepare them for their final newscasting. She has already taught the students a huge amount of journalistic tips and also about how a news team works - this has certainly explained a lot about the real BBC news, how it works, and also how hard all of the presenters have to work! Miss. Blakeman believes that all the thorough after-school training will help the students immensely: "In the next week, and on the big day in particular, students will learn a great deal of skills that will be transferable to all their school subjects and they will be invaluable skills for the future- namely; timekeeping, group work and keeping to deadlines!" All of the Year 8 students are so lucky to have all of this expert training as a free after school activity. Miss Blakeman's hard work is much appreciated and, best of all, every student is enjoying themselves hugely!
For more information link to the BBC page for this project.
