David Whitehouse, the Curriculum Leader in ICT at Hillview School for Girls in Tonbridge, has posted his final up-date, outlining how students learned from professionals at the South East Today studios.
Tony Lashley, who is the head of drama and director of media arts at Stanchester Community School in Somerset, has posted his final up-date, outlining his plans for News Day on 13 March.
English teacher Samantha Twigg is second in department at Yewlands Technology College in Sheffield.
Annabel Gibbs has been teaching English at Guildford County School in Surrey since 2005.
Tony Pearson in the Head of ICT at Caistor Grammar School in Lincolnshire. Students at this school are making TV news.
We have tried to make sure that all of Year 8 students have had the lessons and several groups of students are now working on solid news items.
We are planning stories on:
- Road safety; the traffic problems outside the school in particular
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A proposed new house system for the school, where students are put into houses of mixed year groups rather than grouped by age in year groups
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Disabled students; those who are wheelchair bound in particular
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School uniform
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The school production
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Sport
All of the above are intended for our television news bulletin but we also have a few groups of students who are hoping to produce some items for radio news.
With this in mind, we are arranging a meeting with some of the reporters from BBC Radio Somerset to help the students with their broadcast.
Our mentor Mike Fox, who works in the newsroom for BBC World Service is also helping with these items.
On the day, we have arranged to take over the main music room for our broadcast.
This room is light and airy and is equipped with a full set of new computers which we can use for our early morning news-gathering session.
As last year, we are hoping that all of the main features will be pre-recorded and edited by March 13 and all we will have to do on the day is film an up-to-date news bulletin and links, and then slot in the pre-recorded items.
The BBC Somerset Radio visit went really well. The students really enjoyed the experience and we got lots of coverage: about a 6-minute piece on the BBC Somerset Radio News at 6 pm and a slot in the Points West TV programme. There should also be an article in the local newspaper.
All of the Year 8s have been doing the School Report lessons and 19 students are taking part in five one-hour sessions on radio news broadcasting with staff from the BBC Somerset Radio bus.
We are taking a crew of about nine students to the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust (SSAT) Arts Conference in Bournemouth on 6 and 7 March, where we have been invited to produce a film for them. We will also produce an item for our School Report news broadcast.
Although we are all gearing up for Christmas activities here at Stanchester, with the annual pantomime, carol service and so on, we are still making progress on School Report.
We have now agreed that the whole of Year 8 will have an opportunity to produce either television or radio news items for the project.
This will be coupled with the English department's newspaper project and all of the students will take the lessons, although some of the lessons will be slightly re-written so they fit more easily into the English scheme of work.
We have just installed a new suite of computers in one of the English rooms, which will be used as the operational hub until the big day.
We have arranged a visit from the BBC Somerset bus in the third week of January so the students can have a look at a radio studio.
We have also arranged some other radio workshops to take place during the last week of January.
This month, I shall be meeting with our mentor Mike Fox, who works in the BBC World Service newsroom, to discuss our progress so far and a further plan of action.
We are offering School Report to all of Year 8 - approximately 185 students - giving them the opportunity to produce an item for either TV or radio.
I am going to address the whole year group, give them more details about what they will need to produce and show them samples from last year's project.
And, of course, all of the parental consent forms are being sorted out.
Staff in the English department have each received a copy of the BBC DVD, containing the Huw Edwards clips and other videos, and have discussed the lesson content they will offer the students.
We have started making contacts in the local area with organisations that may be willing to participate in various interviews or news items.
I have arranged with BBC Somerset that their bus will visit the school in January and offer the students a radio experience in their mobile studio.
I have also arranged with the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust (SSAT) for their lead practitioner in Media Arts to visit us and run some workshops on putting put together a radio programme.
As we are hoping to launch our own school radio next year, flyers have gone out to all students asking for volunteers to get involved.
One of my first tasks this year is to meet the specialist schools lead practitioner in media arts to discuss radio broadcasts. Last year we made a TV news programme and this year we plan to create a TV and a radio broadcast.
As we are delivering School Report through English lessons, I plan to discuss the project with our new head of department and the teacher now responsible for media input into English department's scheme of work.
I am also going to present the School Report DVD, containing the Huw Edwards' tips, to all the Year 8 English teachers, and show the students a DVD of work from last year's School Report project.
Staff in the department will be looking to identify students who will go on to create the broadcasts, and to differentiate between those who will produce radio reports and those who will create TV news.
Also this term, the students will begin thinking about suitable topics and issues to investigate and report.
The excitement is building here as our 7 February practice News Day races towards us.
A group of about 30 Year 8 pupils have been meeting regularly for after-school sessions in preparation for the day.
Like last year, I have been using the extremely helpful series of BBC lesson plans. We always start with one of the Huw Edwards' clips to focus the students and then work through a selection of activities.
I found last year that pupils had difficulty in writing clearly and concisely, so this is something I am pushing this time round.
We had a lot of problems last year with our school website, but those have now been sorted out and we have our dedicated page all prepared; again, there is information and help on how to do this on the School Report site.
Last year's bulletins are on our page and, fingers crossed, on 7 February we will add the practice News Day bulletin giving us time to iron out any problems before the News Day on 13 March.
A group of Year 9 students, who took part in the project last year, have been working on their own contributions, helped by some of our sixth formers. They have been learning how to use the recording equipment and the editing software to produce their own features.
Good luck to everyone with your practice News Days!
I have been busy behind the scenes planning and liaising.
I met our school's BBC mentor to discuss plans and briefed the IT support staff on the project and their role in it.
I also had an initial meeting with about six Year 9 pupils who took part last year and will act as mentors for the Year 8s on the News Day.
The Year 9 students are keen to start recording their own radio bulletins, which will go on our school website and may also be included in the bulletin we produce on 13 March. They will be a good back-up should disaster strike on the News Day.
I have also identified two sixth-form music technology students who are keen to work with editing software and support the Year 8 and 9 reporters.
At the end of November, I will run a Key Stage 3 assembly to raise the profile of the project among the pupils and staff, and to generally engender enthusiasm.
During the assembly, I will show a video about the project, which is on the BBC DVD sent out to schools. Some of the Year 9 pupils who were involved last year will talk about their experiences, including what they feel they have gained and their plans for this year.
The real work will start in January with the delivery of the lessons to about 24 Year 8 pupils during after-school sessions - a method which worked brilliantly last year.
Of course, none of us knew what we were getting into then, and now everyone wants to be involved.
I really can't believe we are revving up for another School Report News Day. It seems no time at all since all the excitement last year.
I finally got around to reading through the very handy pack from the BBC last week - the first couple of weeks of term are always such a flurry of activity.
I fully intend to be much more organised about the project this year and, to that end, have already organised for the head teacher consent form to be signed, and arranged a time to meet up with our mentor - gold stars all round.
Things to do next week include getting School Report dates booked into the school calendar and having a meeting with pupils from Years 7, 8 and 9.
Last year I had 24 Year 8s but this time I might increase it to 30. I intend to invite several pupils from last year's group, who were particularly good or keen, to act as mentors for the younger ones.
I will also be enlisting the help of two other members of the department - our Graduate Teacher Programme (GTP) student and our Newly Qualified Teacher (NQT). It'll be great for me to have some support and it means they can tick some boxes.
This year should be much easier than last. For a start, I know what to expect and can make some changes based on previous experience.
Also the IT situation should be much improved - we had a lot of problems with our website last year.
We had a fantastic time with School Report last year so I'm really looking forward to it, though at the same time wondering how on earth I'm going to manage it alongside a full timetable. Still, that's teaching!
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