About the BBC Feed

Introducing the Super Movers campaign

2018-01-16T10:00:00+00:00

We’re launching a new partnership with the Premier League.

It’s called Super Movers – and is designed to inspire children throughout the UK to become more active and in turn enhance their learning.

One fifth of children are overweight or obese when they begin school, increasing to a third by the time they leave primary school.

But we can only tackle this in a positive way. The benefits of activity for young children beyond just health and fitness can be huge –a few minutes of exercise are proven to improve concentration, behaviour and self-esteem. And it seems to help exam results too.

Both organisations were committed to doing to something about this challenge and working together allows us to really bring our respective strengths to the table.

The Premier League is a global brand and football has the power to connect and excite young people. There is also the reach and strength of a network of Clubs across the country.

We can bring the expertise of BBC Learning to create fun, free, educational videos and deliver a campaign targeted at tacking this societal challenge. Alongside this we can use the relationship that the BBC has with children, teachers, parents and families throughout the UK.

This collaboration has culminated in the launch of Super Movers this week, fronted by Gabby Logan, Alex Scott and Radzi Chinyanganya.

Gabby Logan, Alex Scott and Radzi Chinyanganya launch Super Movers

Over on the Super Movers website is an abundance of ‘Brain Booster’ videos such as Measurements with Max and Harvey and Question and Exclamation Marks with CBBC favourites Karim and Hacker T Dog - simple solutions to help children learn while they move - all linked to the UK curricula and easy to use in the classroom, with no extra equipment required.

Super Movers will also help encourage families to live active lifestyles and can be used at home with a range of ‘Just For Fun’ videos and games designed to get children and grown-ups moving together in their living rooms. Naturally my favourite includes Arsenal mascot – Gunnersaurus.

To cap the week off there will be a Super Movers Live Lesson taking place at Anfield, home of Liverpool FC – a prime example of what a strong collaboration this is.

This partnership represents a long term commitment between two organisations that want to affect positive change. I’m confident that Super Movers will achieve something truly transformative that proves the power of partnerships.

James Purnell is Director of Radio and Education.

Visit the Super Movers website.
Read the press release 'BBC and the Premier League get primary school children active with the launch of Super Movers campaign' on the BBC Media Centre website.

BBC School Report Sports Reporter scheme

2017-10-03T09:00:00+00:00

Margaret Burgin, the Senior Manager for BBC School Report, discusses why she is looking forward to launching the BBC School Report Sports Reporter scheme.

Working with young people all started for me in local radio at BBC Radio Sheffield where we hosted a “radio station” for the Sheffield Children’s Festival which featured young people who produced and presented their own news and programmes.

When BBC News decided to pilot the schools project which became BBC School Report, they invited me to an ideas day with other BBC staff with experience of working with schools, a really exciting day with like-minded colleagues.

I worked on School Report in the early days and then went off to other jobs so it was great to return last year and help to shape the project for a new generation of young people.

I passionately believe that we need to listen to the voices of our younger audiences so that we have an audience in the future, and I have always been impressed by the fresh ideas and sheer energy that young people bring to the news agenda.

BBC School Report is now in its 12th year. We work with about 1,000 secondary schools across the UK and this year we are including 16 – 18 year olds for the first time which means that sixth forms can take part too.

We are also inviting Youth centres and alternative provision to get involved so that we can feature stories from a really wide range of young people.

Launching the scheme

Opening up School Report to this older age group means that we get a lot of questions about careers with many young people hoping to find out more about what it’s like to work in the creative and media industries.

The BBC have a brilliant range of work experience, apprenticeships and trainee schemes but these are for people aged 18 and over and so out of range for most of our audience. We’ve had a lot of conversations in the office about providing more opportunities for under 18’s.

We’ve been working hard to come up with model that could offer real work experience for a younger age group and I am really pleased to be able to do this with our School Report Sports Reporter scheme.

The scheme, inspired by the BBC Kick Off Trainee Sports Reporter scheme, is working with BBC colleagues in our Nations and Regions to offer placements across the UK.

Young people aged 16-18 are invited to pitch an original sport story to BBC editors. Those with the best story ideas will get the opportunity to make their story at a nearby BBC station with the help of a local mentor.

The beauty of the scheme is that it benefits everyone. There are new, fresh and original stories for our local audiences, our staff work with young people and find out more about them and their lives, and a group of talented young people get a real experience of what it’s like to be a sports journalist at the BBC.

I have spent a lot of time in schools listening to the great ideas that young people have and I can’t wait to read the applications. The best bit will be watching, listening to and reading all the finished stories and featuring them on School Report News Day in March 2018.

What is also exciting is that this is not the only opportunity for young people this year at the BBC. Radio 5 Live are opening their doors for 11 - 15 year olds in their BBC Radio 5 Live’s Young Commentator of the Year Competition.

What this means is that 11 - 18 year olds, from all over the UK, have an opportunity to share their stories on the BBC.

How to apply

Applications for the BBC School Report Sports Reporter scheme launch 3 October via the BBC Careers Work Experience website.

You can follow the reporter’s journey via the BBC School Report Sports Reporter page.

Margaret Burgin is Senior Manager for BBC School Report

Find out more about BBC School Report

Turning the camera on the BBC School Reporters

2015-11-06T13:01:52+00:00

BBC School Report, BBC News’s learning project has been inspiring 11-16 year old students up and down the country to make their own news on one special ‘News Day’ for ten years. Started in 2006 as a pilot with 120 secondary schools, the scheme is run by journalists and mentors who share a similar passion based on personal experience: finding out about things and telling others about them. Since 2005 more than 200,000 students and 2,000 schools have taken part.

I spoke to teachers and students from six schools across England, Scotland and Wales about School Report. It is with their help that I’ve gained a deeper understanding of the project. I wanted to use this post to explain the process and (reflecting the videos you see in this post) document what I learnt from the process.

How we produced the films

There are three films. One with students, one with teachers and one with School Report founding editor and Project Leader Helen Shreeve. Other than carrying out some initial research, I made a point of not speaking to the BBC School Report team first before I set out on my investigation. I wanted to get a fresh perspective. I wanted teachers and pupils to have their moment to talk about their experience, unbriefed and unprompted (over and above telling them the points we’d be touching on).

It was also really important that we didn’t interrupt students’ and teachers’ school day too much (most visits were between an hour and an hour and a half).

What we asked teachers and students

We interviewed the students first (teachers were present throughout), and then the teachers. Most important of all, I asked the same questions of each person:

What did you do on School Report?
What was the story you worked on? Why did it interest you?
What did you learn from doing School Report?
What was the best thing about doing it?
What would you say to others to persuade them to do School Report?

And for the teachers:

How does School Report help you in your teaching practise?

We followed these questions fairly tightly at each school (so that the edit process could be efficient and fair – see later on that one). But it was clear that we couldn’t be too robotic about it. A more human conversation took over in a bid to help teachers and students alike forget the sight of the camera.

What I learnt from the teachers

What I learnt first was the way in which the study of media had aligned itself with core subjects like English and Maths. My recollection of media studies degrees ten years ago, for example, was that they were regarded as a ‘soft option’ by some, or a subject selected by people who wanted to go to University but didn’t really know what to do when they got there.

School Report: Teachers' reactions

That reputation has changed dramatically. In all the schools I visited, I learnt how the study of the media is regarded as a crucial part of an all-round education, supporting the development of literacy skills and promoting a sense of citizenship and inclusion. In some locations, the message was stronger: studying media, the way it works and the way it intersects with our lives today helps young people establish and manage their lives in the digital space, something that never crossed my mind I’d need to do when I was at school thirty years ago.

What the students said

School Report: Pupils' reactions

I was surprised that I’d gone into the project with assumptions about teenagers. I’ve never felt at ease interviewing people in a school environment. Far too many memories of my own school days come flooding back. Would the students be nonplussed? Would they poke fun? Would they understand the questions?

Every student demonstrated an eagerness to find out what I was doing, what I did at the BBC and wanted to help. And when they sat down to answer my questions what they said did often blow me away. One 13 year old boy in Lampeter talked about the story he worked on about LGBT rights in India. He talked about the experience in a completely matter of fact way. Thirty years ago at school, I couldn’t even imagine anyone in my school even talking about such a subject let alone producing some writing about it and then proudly telling others.

Another student in Birmingham spoke of how she thought BBC School Report gave ‘the voiceless a voice’. And in North Shields, one teenager explained he really wanted to be a lawyer. “What inspired you to want to work in law?” I asked him. “You’re probably going to laugh at me,” he said apologetically, “but I really enjoy Suits – that’s what got me interested in law.” And there, another assumption challenged, the one we usually projected in a negative way: TV does influence the younger generation and for good too.

I don’t feel I can take the credit for the insights we managed to capture from the students. Interviews had to be optimised to give each contributor the space they felt they needed to say what they wanted. At the same time it was important to realise that unlike the usual fast-paced environment where most visitors who appear on camera are there because they’re practised in the art of doing ‘a talking head’, not everybody is necessarily at ease talking to camera.

How could I help contributors feel more at ease? I asked parents and former teachers (from my schooldays) who are friends on Facebook. “Get them to talk about something they are really excited about,” said my former history teacher, “get them to tell you as though they were telling their best friend.” And a particular nod should go to former BBC R&D staffer and parent Ant Miller whose list of ‘questions to ask children at the end of their school day’ was invaluable. “Tell me about the best thing that has happened today” is a particular favourite.

What really impressed me was the confidence which our younger contributors spoke with. They were at ease reflecting on how School Report helped them develop personally, a real surprise for me was how School Report News Days brought students of different age-groups across a school together in a way they wouldn’t normally collaborate. One person mentioned how immersing himself in the experience transformed his appetite and interest in news. George (see above) demonstrated how School Report could change someone’s assumptions about journalists themselves.

The students views were echoed by their teachers, who in all cases underlined how School Report went beyond journalism, that it helped promote a sense of independence amongst participants and complemented studies by providing a different ‘way in’ for topics which perhaps would be more challenging to introduce into a more orthodox everyday learning environment. The overwhelming message I took away with me was how School Report in a school environment was something which on the day almost powered itself.

Showing the finished product to Helen

Editing multiple contributions together can be quite demanding. People you don’t know who you see in clip after clip after clip, suddenly get burnt into your psyche simply as a result of visual familiarity. A tension emerges between needing to keep clips ‘punchy’ and wanting to respect each contributor’s need for space. Each subsequent edit feels like you’re cutting off a contributor’s limb in a sustained frenzied attack.

But there is a flip side to the editing process. Playing over a film to check transitions, colours and levels transforms a variety of different spoken contributions into something approaching music. I suspect that was one of the reasons why I was keen to share the rough-cuts with School Report editor Helen Shreeve before we sat down to talk.

Editor Helen Shreeve talks about the aims and outcomes of BBC School Report

There was another reason. There was almost a hint of “Look what all these people are saying about the thing you and your team have worked hard to produce.” Here was an opportunity to throw light on one of the BBC’s highly valued endeavours and in the process of doing so reveal the human side of it. That’s something we sometimes overlook when we think of an organisation in terms of its scale or its impact.

Helen’s words reflected what I had learnt from some of the students: that journalism has at its core some really important transferrable skills. I’ve learnt that a little late in life (at least, later than I would have liked), but it is terribly reassuring to hear.

Jon Jacob is Editor, About the BBC Blog

Find out more about the project on the BBC News School Report website.
Discover what BBC School Reporters have reported on.
Lesson plans and other resources are available for teachers.
Find out about next year's School Report and sign-up to the newsletter.
Follow @BBCSchoolReport on Twitter

Inspiring a Generation – the BBC Micro Bit

2015-05-18T11:00:00+00:00

It’s the time of year that many students (and parents) dread and for us in BBC Learning, it’s when what we do also really gets put to the test. For over 15 years, through Bitesize, we’ve been helping children and young people across the UK prepare for and survive, exam season.

Curriculum learning has always been important to us. We want to inspire our audience to achieve their academic potential and we usually do that by making films, games and resources that help consolidate what’s been learnt in the classroom.

But over the past 12 months, we’ve been plotting a more hands on approach – one that puts creative control in the hands of our audience and one which we hope will genuinely inspire an entire generation.

We started working on the early prototyping for a ground breaking device in September last year. Since then, we’ve created a small device which we’ve nicknamed the BBC Micro Bit and by working with a host of amazing partners, we’re planning to give one to every child in the UK starting their first year of secondary school (or equivalent) this autumn, as well as those who are home schooled.

But this is no ordinary giveaway – the BBC Micro Bit is programmable. And there’s no real way to tell you what it does – because that will be entirely dependent on how the children who get one, choose to program it.

Since we first announced the Micro Bit in March we’ve been working on the final version and are now in the last stages of design and testing, with my colleagues in the BBC collaborating with the organisations that have chosen to work with us on this brave and bold venture.

So I can’t yet unveil the finished product just yet, but I can reveal some details.

The Micro Bit is part of the BBC’s big educational campaign this year Make it Digital. It aims to inspire a new generation to get creative with coding, programming and digital technology and you can find out more about it here.

From the word go, we’ve been talking to teachers and getting their guidance on how best to create something that will work for them and for the curriculum. Their support has been invaluable, but we also need the Micro Bit to really appeal to the children themselves. We’ve been working with our partners to ensure that the branding and design captures the imagination of our 11 year old target audience.

From a tech perspective, we’ve been focusing on how best to create something that gives instant gratification for the most basic beginner but also, has the potential to handle much greater complexity. In our trials, we’ve seen children programme the ‘Bit to simply see their name in LED lights. But then in just a few short weeks, they’ve started attaching it to other devices – things like Arduinos and Raspberry Pis and that’s when the possibilities can really blow your mind. There has been talk of metal detectors, thermometers, real time messaging and weather forecasting and more, which can all be created by children with a Micro Bit.

In those trials, nine out of ten students said that they had learned something new, eight out of ten said that the Micro Bit made them more interested in coding, and seven out of ten said they’d be interested in going on to do more coding, using the Micro Bit or another device. And crucially, every teacher in the trial thought that the Micro Bit could be useful in teaching the curriculum.

For me, if I’m honest, this project has been massively daunting. I knew nothing about coding this time last year and I suspect many parents and teachers will have similar anxieties. So with that in mind, we’ll be working with our partners to provide resources that make it all make sense and that help suggest ways in which to bring the Micro Bit to life.

We are really excited by the Micro Bit and the potential we think it has to introduce a generation of children to digital technology that could literally change their lives – inspiring them along a path they’d never before considered. We’re excited about what that could do for digital industries and the sector as a whole within the UK when this generation comes of age. But we’ll need the help of teachers, parents and carers across the UK to really ensure this is all as good as it can be. You can register your interest to find out more by emailing us at bbcmicrobit@bbc.co.uk. In the coming weeks, we’ll be emailing teachers at all the relevant schools in the UK to let them know that this initiative is coming, and that we’ll make sure that teachers have the chance to get up to speed on the device.

Finally, I wanted to flag that our ambition can only be realised through the hard work of over 25 partners, who are working on the hardware, software or educational aspects of the Micro Bit initiative. They are:

Product Partners - who are taking the lead on design, manufacture and distribution:
ARM
Barclays
Freescale
Lancaster University
Microsoft
Nordic
Premier Farnell
Samsung
Sciencescope
Technology Will Save Us

Product Champions - who are involved in outreach and educational resources:
Bluetooth Special Interest Group
Bright Future
Cannybots
CISCO
Code Club
CoderDojo
Code Kingdoms
Creative Digital Solutions
CultureTECH
Institution of Engineering and Technology
Kitronik
London Connected Learning Centre
Open University
Python Software Foundation
STEMNET
TeenTech
Tinder Foundation

Sinead Rocks is Head of BBC Learning.

Read Sinead's blog 'New Computing Curriculum Resources from BBC Bitesize'.
Read more about the Micro Bit on the BBC Media Centre website.

Education and the Micro Bit

2015-04-02T09:17:54+00:00

It’s just over three weeks since BBC Director General Tony Hall brandished the Micro Bit at a press launch and announced that the BBC and partners would be manufacturing 1 million of the pocket-sized devices and distributing one free to every year seven (or equivalent) pupil in the UK.

Since then we’ve been hugely encouraged by the levels of interest and excitement that announcement caused. It’s been truly gratifying to find that others are as enthusiastic about the project as the BBC and its partners.

However, the Micro Bit was one of a raft of exciting opportunities and programmes revealed as part of the Make It Digital initiative, so inevitably there wasn’t the space to go into lots of detail about the project.
So now is the time to start and first we‘d like to restate and underline two of the fundamental objectives of the Micro Bit:

Firstly, that its purpose is to enthuse, excite and empower a new generation of digitally creative young people. This is why the Micro Bits are for the children themselves to own.

Secondly, that we absolutely intend the Micro Bit to support schools and teachers in delivering the computing curricula.

Though the children will own the Micro Bit, the general distribution will be through schools. As well as being a fun, codeable and wearable device they are an educational aid. As such, the teaching community is vital to this initiative and we have them very much in mind as we’re planning the roll out.

There is a lot to plan in terms of that roll out and it is a big logistical challenge. Not only will we get the devices to all UK schools, we will also ensure that home-school children in that year group are also involved.

We also realise how important it is for teachers to get a chance to see and use the Micro Bit in advance. We are working through the detail but we aim to ensure that IT teachers get their hands on the device before the summer holidays. We also want to give them the opportunity to explore ways of using the Micro Bits in lessons so there will be some curriculum resources made available at the same time.

We’re still looking at the logistics of how to achieve this and which are the best networks to use. But it’s important to note that our broad range of fantastic partners working across the project are also planning teacher events to support the roll out.

One of the most inspiring things about trials of the prototype in schools was the creative potential the students quickly saw in the Micro Bit. Among many examples we saw students create a rudimentary rock, paper, scissors game and an entertaining little tale told in LED lights called simply “The Story of Pizza”.

With this in mind, we and around 16 partners are working to create a diverse range of supporting materials for teachers, that will not only assist them in delivering the computer science curriculum (this includes all UK curricula) but also help students realise the Micro Bit’s full creative potential.

Among resources the BBC is planning is a series of Live Lessons for students on the Micro Bit –these are curriculum-focused but fun and interactive webcast programmes that feature BBC talent and brands for example, The Voice UK themed lesson hosted by Radio 1 DJ Clara Amfo.

Finally, for now, it’s important to stress that there will be lasting legacy – though the Make It Digital initiative will have a major focus in 2015, many aspects will continue in some form and we are in the process of finalising future plans for the Micro Bit beyond the autumn.

We’ll have more to share on the detail and timings over the coming weeks but we’d love to hear any questions or comments you have below so that we can make sure we’ve got everything covered.

Cerys Griffiths is Executive Producer, BBC Learning.

Find out more about the initiative at the BBC’s Make it Digital website.
Look at other resources the BBC has produced which support the computer science curriculum on the BBC Bitesize website.
See what happened at the launch of Make It Digital in London on 12 March 2015 via About the BBC's Storify.

New Computing Curriculum Resources from BBC Bitesize

2014-09-01T07:12:05+00:00

For many students and teachers across the UK, the long, lazy days of summer are already a distant memory. Teachers are busy planning their lessons for the term ahead, and students are starting to get to grips with the new subjects they have to learn.

I lead the department that is responsible for the BBC’s commitment to support students and teachers, whether they’re in school or at home. The start of the new academic year is therefore important to us too, and this one has been even busier than usual…

New Computing Curriculum

That’s because in England, this month sees the launch of a new curriculum. There have been a number of curriculum changes, but amongst the most high profile has been the introduction of new computing learning objectives. This has meant teachers and students across primary and secondary schools now need to get to grips with topics such as computational thinking, coding and algorithms.

In BBC Learning, we have always provided content that is relevant to the UK curricula through sites such as BBC Bitesize. We spend a lot of time talking to teachers and other education professionals and we know that the new computing curriculum will be a challenge for some. But we also know that many children are genuinely interested in technology.

So today, we have launched a brand new range of content to meet the needs of both. Using interactivity, animation and video, we’ve brought the subject to life with the key aim of enabling children to build their digital skills whilst also inspiring them to find out more.

You can find it all here

At Primary level, we have more than 40 new guides covering all aspects of computing. For instance, at key stage 1, we have created content to help teachers and parents explain the concept of coding to young children and show how it can be used to create games and animations.

Higher up the age ranges, we have focused on providing guides for independent study. For example, at key stage 3, we’ve created material to help students understand that computational thinking isn’t just relevant to coding, it can also provide a basis of logical thinking that can be applied to any field of study.

Combined with great television output from CBBC and CBeebies in the Autumn, this means that the BBC can inspire children to get creative digitally both within the formal setting of the classroom and at home through television, games and competitions. These early examples form part of the BBC’s coding and digital creativity initiative for 2015. More detail on this initiative will be announced soon.

Changes to Bitesize

The new academic year isn’t just about new content for us. It’s also about making some changes to how we bring that content to our audiences. In the past, Bitesize has mainly been a destination for key stage 3 and GCSE students, featuring study guides, quizzes, videos and games. And we’ve had a number of other websites aimed at supporting students and schools across the UK.

Today, however, we are beginning to bring all our formal education resources together under the Bitesize brand. Here, all content will be mapped to the relevant part of the curriculum by key stage, topic and nation, with improved navigation throughout. Given the rise of smart phones and tablets, we recognize the importance of supporting learning, wherever and whenever so the new Bitesize is designed to be fully responsive. This means it will work seamlessly on tablets and smart phones as well as on desktop PCs and whiteboards.

We also want to help our audience continue their learning beyond the BBC. We have worked with other educational providers to ensure there are links from our pages to theirs – enabling audiences to access a wide range of material from almost 60 other providers.

Although we intend to implement these changes with minimal disruption, it has been a big undertaking. We now have over 1000 study guides and quizzes, some 5000 infographics and over 7000 thousand class clips in the new Bitesize. However, that’s just two thirds of what we had in the old site so there is still work to be done, particularly to bring our content for primary level into the new site.

BBC iWonder

Of course, the BBC’s commitment to education online isn’t just about the curriculum. At the beginning of this year we introduced iWonder, a new factual and educational format aimed at stimulating curiosity and providing learning opportunities for mainstream audiences.

Initially launched to support the BBC’s World War 1 season, we now have iWonder guides and timelines that span all our factual genres from Science to Food and from Religion to Natural History. The iWonder tag line is ‘be curious’ so do take a look.

I hope that you find our new content useful and enjoyable, it would be great to hear what you think.

Sinead Rocks is Acting Head of BBC Learning.

See what changes have bee made to the BBC Bitesize website
Read the press release about BBC Bitesize on the Media Centre website
Read more about the 'Kid's coding push' on the BBC News site

BBC School Report: Inspiring the next generation of journalists

2014-04-03T10:58:52+00:00

Damian O’Neil is a video journalist at BBC Look North in Newcastle. He is just about to finish a three month BBC Outreach attachment working on School Report in the North East and Cumbria.

When my newsroom colleagues learned of my 3-month attachment to School Report, their reactions ranged from bemusement to incredulity. In a few cases, there was an unmistakeable trace of paranoia, as if they may have missed out on something. No-one really knew very much about School Report, including me, but since I had researched the position before applying, I at least knew more than most.

As a fully-signed up member of my own fan club, I have been working with like-minded individuals in a number of broadcast newsrooms for 20 years. Journalists are essentially about themselves; the degree to which we help each other out varies, but in the search to get the story in a competitive environment, we are driven to serve our own interests.

By the end of 2013, the feeling that I enjoyed a good quality of life without putting very much back had become sufficiently uncomfortable to compel me to do something.

Damian visiting Beaumont Hill Academy, Darlington, a school for pupils with special educational needs

When I got the call to say I had won the attachment I was delighted, but beyond a general idea that I would be helping school kids produce their own reports, I was unsure what was required. I just knew that I wanted to inspire at least one person to pursue a path that they would not have otherwise considered. Part of my brief was to engage with schools in hard-to-reach areas, and we have plenty of those in the North-East and Cumbria. Getting them to enrol in School Report proved to be the hardest part of my job; most headteachers would not even return my emails and calls.

But I did spend a great deal of time visiting schools, talking to the pupils about life as a broadcast journalist, and helping them produce some excellent work. We got a lot of material on air: I ended up filming three School Report pieces that made it onto Look North, BBC Tees and BBC Newcastle ran radio packages and radio car lives, and we had a fantastic television outside broadcast from Marden High School on News Day.

My attachment was a hugely rewarding experience, and I know that I succeeded in my aim of inspiring some of the kids, because both they and their teachers told me. I left with a new-found respect for schoolteachers, and a much greater understanding of the challenges they face every day. I hope that this experience with School Report will not have been my last.

Damian O'Neil is a video journalist for BBC Look North.

Read Helen Shreeve's blog BBC School Report: "BBC School Report: "We expect the best and that's what they give us".
Find out more about the project at the BBC News School Report website.
To find out more about how you can get involved in School Report, please contact laura.macdonald@bbc.co.uk.

BBC School Report: “We expect the best and that’s what they give us”

2014-03-27T10:57:54+00:00

Helen Shreeve is Editor of BBC School Report, an annual schools’ project which, this year, takes place today. Here she explains why the project is such an important learning opportunity for schoolchildren.

As founding editor, I’ve been involved right from the start with School Report. Now in its 9^th year, it’s a project which offers schools from across the UK the opportunity to broadcast for real. It’s not a competition. Nor is it about selecting winners who get to participate. The concept is very straightforward: it is that every single person taking part really does do it for real. Any young person of any ability can participate – telling the story of something that’s really happened – and you can take part in different ways; maybe publishing a photo gallery, or making an amazing 40 minute documentary, or writing or creating an audio interview. Take a look at the School Report website now for a taste of the wide variety of content our talented participants have made.

When the project was set up eight years ago, two things coincided, bringing the idea into being. Back then, the BBC and other media outlets, broadcasters and newspapers had been concerned for a long time that news wasn’t appealing to a teenage audience. So, we developed a pilot project inviting 13 year olds to run a single ‘News Day’ at the BBC, producing news stories which mattered to them. We wanted to see if that might be a good way of engaging young people. At the same time BBC News was embarking on making more use of linking out to other organisations and schools were already building their own websites on which their pupils would publish their School Report contributions. The project would link back to those websites. That was really key to helping schoolchildren feel as though they had contributed to a much larger endeavour.

The BBC School Report team and their volunteer mentors are not teachers. I’m not a teacher either but very early on we recruited teachers who were also broadcasters on to the team to give us this vital perspective. Importantly, the project is not only about outreach, it’s about representation of young people on the news and getting their stories to a wider audience. Time after time young people say that they don’t feel represented, and many think we only talk about young people when they’re doing something bad. No surprises then that at the end of each School Report we’re nearly always guaranteed to get feedback saying: ‘It’s so great to hear from normal teenagers doing normal stuff’.

The biggest thing that’s changed since the project began is undoubtedly the way that our target age group consumes information: now, it’s online which has been central to our impact in schools, making us much more relevant to potential participants. Nowadays too everybody is a content producer and a content distributor. In school it’s often very difficult to have a forum in which the values and the ethics of how you make and share content are discussed – for example, what are the repercussions if you film and post something which is really unfair? That’s a key part of the School Report project: trying to ensure is that there is space to have discussions at school about the values behind content production and distribution. Those ethics and values chime with those of the BBC – and link in to PSHE (Personal social health education) content in the curriculum. So School Report contributes to a learning programme for this country’s young people too.

Pupils, teachers and evaluators all agree that it’s important that they’re actually being made to adhere to a deadline and do all of this on a particular ‘news day’, and that the requirements also demand truth and accuracy. That’s why BBC School Report works: because we expect the best and that’s what they give us.

The impact of the project is beginning to feed through. It is now often in young people’s applications for work experience at the BBC – we’ve also had some really great young people who have got into work or college actually using the portfolio that they’ve produced for the project as part of the evidence to get into university.

It’s the sort of thing the BBC excels at. And it’s a project which is everywhere outside of London too, one which goes to the heart of the local community. Every year, every local radio station has joined in on ‘News Day’ – an amazing commitment. All those radio stations every single year, come thick or thin whatever their staffing problems, they have all – every single one - joined in. That is the absolute backbone of whole project, and the BBC has the most amazing resource in that. It’s those sort of local connections in every community that have really made the project flourish.

We’ve worked with nearly 2,000 schools over the last nine years - it’s getting on for half the secondary schools in the country - and a very, very large number of young people. Of course every time you work with a young person it impacts on their family and the wider community as well, so School Report is something which can reach far and wide. I am immensely proud of my team and what they have achieved over the years working with hundreds of teachers who approach the project with so much enthusiasm every year. It is a great achievement and I very much hope you’ll take a moment to see what the young people broadcast this School Report News Day.

Helen Shreeve is Editor of BBC School Report.

Find out more about BBC School Report.
Keep up to date with events as they happen by following @BBCSchoolReport on twitter.

The Benefits of a School Report

2013-11-12T11:46:20+00:00

“Audiences are at the heart of everything we do” – it’s one of the BBC’s core values, printed on our ID passes. But some of those audiences are harder to reach than others. For example children and News don't always seem obviously compatible, so at BBC News School Report, we aim to engage young people with news by showing them how to make their own reports.

We working in partnership with teachers at more than 1,000 schools, who use the lesson plans and resources on our website to teach their children how to make the news – for example, how to find and research stories, and conduct interviews.

Then in March, we hold News Day – one special day when more than 30,000 11 to 16 year olds become part of one big news team, creating their own reports and publishing them on their school website.

School Reporters also appear on BBC programmes to tell their stories, reporting for everything from Breakfast to The World at One.

Two teenage girls from Birmingham co-presented Woman’s Hour this year and made a big impact on the audience, with one listener getting in touch with the programme to say it was “thrilling” to hear them on air.

“Teenagers being shown in such a positive light via the media instead of being run down and portrayed in a negative way… I am a secondary school teacher and believe me, these girls represent the majority. More of this please…” – Radio 4 listener

The project is open to any UK school providing secondary education and we work with every type of school you can imagine – from academies and schools for pupils with special educational needs to pupil referral units and independent schools.

This diversity ensures that the excellent journalism our young reporters produce reflects the diverse voices of young people across the UK – and it’s why we won the journalism category at the 2013 European Diversity Awards.

But the project has a legacy beyond what makes it on air and on the web. Independent research has shown that School Report has real educational value and pupils themselves tell us what a difference taking part has made to their lives.

“I honestly cannot describe the impact that School Report has had on me. To put it lightly Birmingham City Uni would in all likelihood not have accepted me without the experience I gained through School Report,” – former School Reporter, writing to Radio Northampton

Young people are a part of our audience - reflecting their interests and their concerns is vital.

Over the next few months, School Reporters will be reporting on the future of education and the issues they face at school. They’ll be investigating the changes being made to exams, looking at how well schools are preparing their students for the world of work and holding the people making the decisions about the future of education to account.

So stay tuned – there’s a lot we can learn from our young people.

Helen Shreeve, is Editor of School Report

Watch a video about How School Report can benefit your students

Celebrating BBC Partnerships in Bristol

2010-10-22T11:45:18+00:00

I can't believe it's been a whole year since the BBC announced its first ever city partnership, yet here we are about to celebrate the first anniversary of the Anchor Collaboration in Bristol. The partnership saw key media organisations in the city agree to work together to create a media and creative hub. Part of the BBC's commitment was to increase our outreach work in the area. Well, we've certainly been getting out and about to meet the people of Bristol in the last year.

One of the highlights was School Report, our flagship student journalism scheme, which has seen the number of Bristol schools participating soar since the city partnership began. On annual School Report News Day in March there was a large outside broadcast live from Bridge Learning Campus, which involved many of the local students.

It wasn't just school children who benefited. We also provided production training for 15 young people not in employment, education or training through BBC Bristol's Face-to-Face scheme. All the participants received three days intensive training and BBC mentor support. Three of the young people also went on to complete six-week paid work placements. One of the trainees, Romayne Graham, is now working as a runner on Bargain Hunt. This year's trainees have just been recruited - so good luck to them.

One year on is a great time to review the project and I'll be in Bristol next week to meet with the partners involved. I look forward to hearing about the successes of the other partners and plans for the future.

Alec McGivan is Head of Outreach

The videos were made in March 2010 as part of BBC School Report, find out more on their website.

Corporate Responsibility Report 2010 is launched

2010-07-13T09:10:29+00:00

It can sometimes feel like an anxious time when annual reports are looming - the trenches of stats and information, probing questions from verifiers! Essentially though, I think external reporting is a thoroughly useful process - both for ensuring we keep our house in order and also for being more open with our audiences. Reporting creates a useful (and public) milestone and a chance to reflect on the year's achievements - which are by no means small.

For me, one of the highlights of the year has been seeing the strength of the BBC's charity broadcast appeals - in spite of the current economic climate. Audiences have been incredibly generous. Both Children in Need and Sport Relief exceeded their previous fundraising totals, raising Â£39m and over Â£40m respectively - a fantastic achievement that will benefit people across the UK and abroad.

I've also been incredibly proud of the support BBC staff have given to outreach initiatives that
extend beyond their day jobs. School Report is just one example. It's a project that engages 11-14 year olds with BBC News - and one of the ways it achieves that is by drawing on the expertise of BBC journalists.

Staff provide mentoring support and help guide teachers, often including a visit to their matched school. In March, over 25,000 students from over 700 UK-wide schools took part in annual News Day by publishing their own reports, on news that matters to them. It's a fantastic moment in the BBC calendar and creates a truly unique opportunity for our young audiences to have their voices heard across BBC News.

Several of my team have been School Report mentors and they've got a great deal out of it. It's amazing how talking to young people about what you do can reconfirm the reasons you do it - not to mention developing communication skills - it's no small feat to hold the attention of a room full of 13 year olds!

Staff also get involved by volunteering with charity partners through the BBC Connect & Create scheme. Last year, an impressive 694 colleagues took part and I also continued providing mentoring support for the charity Tomorrow's People. Ten new national charity partners have now been selected and real effort has gone into ensuring these represent the diversity of our audiences - so staff can develop their understanding at the same time as developing specific skills. I look forward to seeing how these relationships grow over the year ahead.

Reporting on the BBC's environmental performance was another key focus for this year's Corporate Responsibility Report. We have continued to make progress towards reaching the targets set in the 2008 Environmental Action Plan and we're delighted to be on-track with this challenging task.

One of the most significant developments is that the team have been working hard to extend our environmental initiatives - to include how we make our programmes, as well as the way we run our business. As a result, later this year we'll launch "Albert" - a carbon calculator to help production teams assess and measure carbon emissions. I'm told the name has no particular significance - and can confirm that it's not the name of the project lead either (he's called Richard in case you wondered).

BBC Environment Action Plan targets for year end 2012/13:

While the year ahead will present challenges, we remain committed to corporate responsibility and are delighted to have retained Platinum status in Business in the Community's Corporate Responsibility Index - a benchmark for evaluating our impacts in society and on the environment.

I look forward to the year ahead and in particular we plan to focus on the community impacts of opening a new BBC site in Salford in 2010. We're already developing relationships with people on the ground and I'm optimistic that we can make contact with significant sections of the community in advance of the building even opening. Already we have met over 3000 local young people, through projects including media training and backstage tours for schools.

Alec McGivan is the Head of BBC Outreach

Read the full Corporate Responsibility Report

Listen to highlights of the School Report radio broadcasts and find out what happened in schools around the UK and overseas, as students turned their classrooms into newsrooms
Find out what BBC School Report is all about from students at schools who have been preparing for a big News Day.