BBC News School Report

Thursday 26 March 2009 saw thirty Year 8 students and staff from St. Anne's Academy, Rochdale spend the day at Middleton City Learning Centre as part of their BBC News School Report Day programme.

Six St. Anne's 'News Teams' made use of the centre's excellent ICT and research facilities as well as the CLC's television studio, 'green-screen' specialist effects equipment and post-production editing suite.

The students chose a range of stories, performed research, conducted interviews, wrote scripts and recorded and edited them for television. To find out more about what happened, watch and listen to these reports from St. Anne's Academy (links below):

Running for Charity

Formula One Report

New Academy Building

Drug and Alcohol Abuse

Film Reviews

Living with Cancer

News Reports - Thursday 26 March 2009

New Academy Building for St. Annes by Mitchelle and Charlotte

St. Anne’s Academy located in Middleton, Manchester is and has been planning on not only refurbishing but demolishing and rebuilding the current academy for a more updated version to improve the learning environment. They have brought in the company Wilmot Dixon to use there artistic architects and building skills.

The head teacher Mr Jackson said he didn’t want his school to resemble a box he wanted areas where the students would be able to spend time during and after school. He wanted resources that where sustainable and where still amazing.

Wilmot Dixon's project manager said that the company had already built many academies so this was not harder in any way; he knew that every school however had its own likes and dislikes. He also explained most of the schools interior was made from a German tile and the exterior from stone bricks. The students are looking forward to the re-birth of their school.

Academy staff hoping for Marathon Success by Jake, Lewis and Josh

St Annes Academy students have decided to interview Mr Lloyd and Mr McCaul, two of our teachers, about their plans to run the Edinburgh marathon for charity. The teachers will be doing a full marathon (that is slightly over 26 miles). Both teachers have been training and we have interviewed them because we think it is a good thing that they are running for charity.

Mr Lloyd, a PE teacher, said he was planning to run for two charities. One associated with the school and another young person’s charity, called ‘Hope’. He seemed relaxed, but we secretly suspect that he’s feeling the pressure of competing against Mr McCaul.

Mr McCaul, a history teacher, said that it is hard work training for the marathon. Last week he claimed to have run over 40 miles, the same distance as running from Manchester to Leeds!

Luke, one of the students in our class, said he thought that the teachers were “good role models” although he didn’t think he’d be planning on running a marathon any time soon.

Student views on Cancer by Elizabeth and Aimee

As Britain’s biggest killer, cancer kills over 10 million people every year. Recently reality TV star Jade Goody died from cervical cancer which spread through her womb. She was diagnosed with cancer in August 2008 and died in her home in Essex on 22nd March. Cancer is not just a disease but many diseases. There are more than 100 different types of cancer. Most cancers are named after the organ or type of cell in which they start.

A new report from the nation’s leading cancer organization shows that, for the first time since the report was issued in 1998 both incidence and death rates for all cancers combined are decreasing for both men and women. Someone in our school suffered from cancer in 2007. Here are some questions we asked her about how cancer affected her life.

What sort of cancer did you have? “Ewing’s sarcoma in the shin bone in my lower left leg.” How did cancer effect you and your family? “Two of my sisters moved out and lots of bills still need paying back now.” How long did you have cancer for? “I got cancer when I was 12 and only finished the treatment in 2007 and I now have 5 years until I get the all clear” What would your advice be to people of your age with cancer? “Don’t give in to it, live your life as normal as you can so it seems the same to you. Always speak to people it seems hard but it helps.”

Cancer isn’t something you can avoid, but hopefully Jade Goody has set the example of how people can deal bravely with the disease.

School Spies by Abbie and Rebecca

Recently schools in Manchester have been trying out a system with cameras in the classrooms, in order to help teachers improve their teaching standards. Laptops fitted with cameras are being used in a number of schools using their special software, including local schools Abraham Moss, St Matthews and Parrs Wood. The cameras were created by an education charity Gemin-I and experts at Manchester University.

Bob Pratt a teaching mentor at Our Lady’s school has been using the devices for four months. He said “Being able to play back the lesson is invaluable. You spot verbal ticks or you realise that you are going over the topic to quickly.”

We asked our class members what they thought. Becky in year 8 said “I think that having cameras is not suitable and children would act differently if there were cameras in the room.” Abbie in year 8 agreed, saying “It isn’t a good idea because it is an invasion of privacy and some peopled don’t like to be on camera or being spied on.”

The 30 schools are waiting for the results of their trials, but if they are a success we might all be on camera soon.

What is BBC News School Report?

BBC News School Report gives 11-14 year-old students in the UK the chance to make their own news reports for a real audience. Using lesson plans and materials from the News Report website, and with support from BBC and CLC staff, teachers help students develop their journalistic skills to become School Reporters. On News Day, schools take part in a News Day, simultaneously creating video, audio and text-based news reports, and publishing them on a school website, to which the BBC aims to link.

During recent News Days students and their work featured on News 24, Breakfast News, the One O'clock and Six O'clock News, Newsround, Radio Five Live, Radio 4, 40 local radio stations, 12 regional TV stations, BBC Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, and many local and national BBC websites. The School Report website also became a TV channel and a radio station streaming pupils' news reports and coverage of school-based activities throughout the school day. It was also available on the BBC's red button service.

BBC News presenter and former teacher, Huw Edwards, is working on School Report and said: "Over the years I've run many journalism workshops in schools. So I've seen how much fun it can be and how much can be learnt when there are real deadlines, real audiences and real standards to meet. He added, "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. So have a go, let me know what you think, and good luck!"