BUDDING journalists got a taste of working to a deadline after taking part in a BBC-run project which enabled students to create their own news programme.

Richmond School pupils had until 2pm on Thursday, March 21, to put their newsgathering and reporting skills to the test when they had to complete a short news programme for BBC School Report – and took the lead with presenting, editing, camera work and writing.

Head of media and English teacher, Adam Boulton-Lear, said it was the first time the school had taken part on the project and that his pupils were already looking forward to the opportunity to do it again next year.

“We started planning about six weeks ago so we had some of our stories planned already and had interviewed Liz Million, a children’s author and illustrator who visited the school,” he said.

“I opened it up to year eight and nine students who pitched me with ideas for stories, and I selected about ten to get involved.

“News reporters covered the budget, the horse meat scandal, the Australian adoption scandal, and we also had sports reporters, an entertainment reporter and a feature writer.

“They did really well considering most schools that took part started in September and we only had six weeks because we applied late in the year.”

The short news programme went up on the school website, and of 1,034 schools that took part, many were featured on BBC One, CBBC, the News Channel, Radio 4, 5 Live and 52 local radio stations – and all had links from the BBC School Report Day website.

To view the video visit http://www.richmondschool.net/bbc.php.