Year 11 mentor's diary

By Meghan, 16
School Report mentor
Rainham School for Girls, Gillingham Kent

13 MARCH 2008 - SCHOOL REPORT NEWS DAY

The Year 7's have had yet another day dedicated to making the news. However this was the real run.

The girls were extremely engrossed and showed great dedication as many of them arrived at 7 o'clock - before school hours - to begin their stories and to work on their interviews.

Read a teacher's overview of the News Day

The day started off with Year 7's interviewing very important people such as, Paul Clark MP and Gary MacDonald, a marathon runner.

The interviews went extremely well considering they were being recorded and filmed with a large audience of fellow classmates. They also interviewed Rose and Alex from BBC Radio Kent.

It was an eye opener to see the real life of a journalist, which I am considering as a future career Meghan, School Report mentor

'I was on live radio'

Alex stayed with the students for most of the morning, recording their interviews and interviewing the students, helping them to improve their reports.

She also interviewed myself, Mrs Walker and Stacey on live radio which was great fun and a completely new experience.

The students also interviewed several teachers including Mrs Dunn, the head teacher, Mr Davis, the deputy head and Mr Worster, the assistant head.

The teachers showed great interest and were extremely willing to share their views in order for the students to have a good report.

During the day I walked around assisting anyone who needed help on their reports or news bulletin, which would be projected through our school speakers to the whole school later that day.

This was a great success and the girls thoroughly enjoyed addressing everyone and feeling to be a superior member of the school.

After all the reports were complete, the girls went to the hall to share all their reports and projects with their fellow pupils.

This was a perfect opportunity to practise their speaking and listening skills and to have a taste of talking in front of a large audience, which is essential if they want to become journalists.

'A huge success'

The day finally drew to an end and the students were extremely tired as were the staff!

A brilliant day was had by all!

15 FEBRUARY 2008

All 276 Year 7's have now had an opportunity to experience a practical News Day.

There were a number of mentors from other year groups to help the Year 7s out and keep them on task.

There were a number of clubs organised for:

• Journalists
• Podcasters
• Camera crew
• Web designers

These clubs were in preparation for 13 March when the UK-wide News Day is planned.

School Reporters became political correspondents

During a practice News Day on Friday 8 February, Year 7 journalists covered the Year 13 Political Awareness morning at Rainham School for Girls.

This was a session where the year 13's asked questions involving the representatives from main political parties.

Guests included Andrew Stamp from the Liberal Democrats, Paul Clark from the Labour party, Brigita Amey from the Conservative Party, and the Mayor of Medway and her husband.

This enabled them to make some notes on the morning and then be able to write it up for their final report if they chose to.

'A golden opportunity'

On Monday 11 February, the Year 7 journalists, podcasters and camera crew covered the Year 11 Enterprise Day.

A set of the Year 11 students were working with representatives from The Body Shop to prepare a new market and present a new cosmetic product.

The Year 7's were able to take pictures, recordings and notes of the day, helping them have a better story for their final reports.

There are still two other days dedicated to the project, for the rest of the Year 11 students.

The group reported on school sports

Also on Monday 11 February, the Year 7 journalist team covered their year's netball tournaments, as their main focus was sport.

This was a golden opportunity to take some pictures and write up notes for their final report.

'Mature ideas'

I was lucky enough to spend a couple of lunch times with the journalist group from 7JF.

The group was small, consisting of eight students who came up with some mature ideas and began to really understand the concept of journalism.

Before the form began to discuss their ideas they watched a DVD dedicated to School Report.

The DVD was designed to help the students understand the media and how it works; it was presented by Huw Edwards.

The form then came up with ideas such as charities, sports, parking and the London Marathon on which to base their reports.

The students then had to find their own contacts in order to get the information they needed.

Many had family members who were taking part in charity events and the marathon so they were able to use them.

After finding the contacts, they had to compose their own interview questions, aimed at the wanted response, as this is what journalists have to do.

'I hope to be part of it again'

Many found this difficult but, with some help from the teachers and myself, they were able to do so.

Throughout the course of preparing their reports, the students always had to remember the five W's in order to make their reports successful: Who, What, Why, Where and When.

They had to remember to make it clear and understandable as there are many different target audiences for the news.

Finally each student had their picture taken to be put against their reports, as is done in the real world of journalism.

They all found this very embarrassing but enjoyed the glimpse of fame.

I enjoyed being part of School Report once again and hope to be a part of many more to come.

20 DECEMBER 2007

Rainham School for Girls was fortunate enough to have a practice News Day as part of BBC News School Report.

This day was for Year 7s, to give them the chance to experience the way in which media functions in everyday life.

I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to share this with them, as in the future I would like to become a journalist.

The day also benefited me as it made me realise the way in which the media functions and helped me to understand the importance of deadlines in the real world.

Learning how to use different equipment, such as the MP3 recorders, will also help me with my Media Studies course.

'It gave me confidence'

An editorial focus meeting about images of women in the media

I spent the day with form 7CF. When I joined them they were brainstorming different ideas for news stories.

They had many different suggestions including Irish dancing, discos, global warming, recycling, poverty and obesity.

They formed groups, which caused some difficulty because of course they wanted to be with friends. However, these difficulties were quickly resolved.

I then went to each of the groups to make sure they were on task.

As I went round I interviewed the spokesperson of each group and asked very simple questions:

• What are you going to base your report on?
• Are you going to use a website, radio or newspaper format?

Yasmin, the leader of group looking at poverty, answered my questions very clearly.

I was able to record her using an MP3 recorder. This gave me the opportunity to use new equipment and to become more confident about interviewing.

'I was interviewed'

During the next session I followed a group who were concentrating on global warming and devising their own questions.

They had decided to interview different teachers to get a range of opinions on the subject. These interviews were then to form part of a podcast.

They interviewed Deputy Head Teacher Mr Davies, Assistant Head Teacher Mrs O'Donnell and myself.

The teachers' answers were greatly appreciated and hopefully helped the girls to realise the causes of global warming and how they could contribute to saving the planet through simple actions such as walking to school and recycling.

Zareen, Abbie, Stacie, Rebecca and Lily worked extremely well as a group.

After lunch the groups had to collect all their work into a final project. They also had to finalise their reports and pictures.

Emily, 11, talks to the BBC about her report on anorexia

During this time I worked with another group whose focus was on anorexia and obesity.

They also interviewed teachers, this time using pictures as stimulus. In addition, they interviewed some students to get a wide range of answers and make their report more interesting.

The final projects were outstanding. They were eye-catching and written in great detail, informing the reader effectively.

The day was very well organised and ran smoothly, without any problems. The students also enjoyed themselves tremendously.

'I'd like to do it again'

I collected some students' responses:

Zareen said: "It was different because we got to go out with friends and go on computers."

Abbie said: "It helped me be more confident with talking to different people and teachers. I hope we can do it again soon."

Stacie said: "It was very amusing and it made me more confident with speaking into a recorder. We all worked well as part of a team."

Amelia said: "It was fun because it was a different experience. I felt bad asking some teachers the questions on obesity because it made them feel bad about themselves."

Emily said: "It was very enjoyable because I had fun being with people in my group."

Ashleigh said: "It was really fun going to places I haven't been and enjoyed working groups. I also liked it because I got to go on computers."

It was a pleasure to spend my day with the form and I hope I can do something similar in the future.

I was also extremely excited to see me with a couple of the students on the BBC website.

Meghan's photo in a round-up of the practice News Day