Barnham pupils become journalists for the day

The 30 pupils from St Philip Howard Catholic High School, Elm Grove, joined forces with some 1,000 schools from across the UK and delivered breaking news.

The all-day event saw the Year Eight pupils put down their pens and pick up a microphone as they took part in the BBC News School Report.

Using information from news websites, the budding news writers covered all the main stories of the day.

Anna McCartain, showed off her journalistic skills when she investigated animal cruelty.

“I have really enjoyed it. I was asked to produce a report on animal cruelty.

“Using information and pictures on the BBC website I had to put the story into my own words and get it ready for broadcast.

“I learnt a lot about the topic and interesting things I didn’t know. It has been quite cool to be a reporter for the day,” said the 13-year-old.

Students had to report to an editor and sub-editor to whom they pitched all their stories and as in every newsroom pupils had a strict deadline of 2pm when all their news went live.

Budding news hound Savannah Jones said: “I have really enjoyed working on the news report, researching the day’s news stories and getting stuff ready to be broadcast.

“The part I am most looking forward to is the radio broadcasting, although I am a bit nervous as I can be quite shy.

“I am worried about how my voice would project; I think it will be a good experience,” added the 13-year-old.

Special reports on schools around the world, catastrophic weather events and dangerous dogs were also prepared.

During the lead-up to the event, which aimed to engage 11 to 14-year-olds in the news, pupils worked hard, training to be top journalists, carrying out interviews and producing reports.

Sam Myles, 12, said: “It has been a lot of fun. We have been looking at the stories making the news on different websites and researching stories.

“I think I have probably enjoyed the researching part the most. I have learnt more about the news and what makes the news.”

Ex-teacher and BBC News presenter, Huw Edwards, lent his support to the project.

“I’m involved because I want to give young people the chance to make the news themselves, and I want to share the principles of good journalism,” he said.

More news reports are available at www.bbc.co.uk/schoolreport