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School Report Day Workshop with Gareth Lloyd

In readiness for ´óÏó´«Ã½ School Report Day, ´óÏó´«Ã½ Three Counties Radio presenter Gareth Lloyd has been holding workshops at St Albans High School for Girls to give the pupils an insight into how the ´óÏó´«Ã½ works.

Then, on Thursday 26th March, the pupils broadcast LIVE on air during the Stephen Rhodes Breakfast Show!

See our photos and listen to the girls on ´óÏó´«Ã½ Three Counties Radio here:

So what did the girls think of the experience?

I have had an amazing time! I have learnt loads about journalism and the media. We have learnt about making videos, writing reports and even been on the radio. We also have had some great trips to the M&S head office and the ´óÏó´«Ã½. We had a helicopter fly in to our school field to take video footage to support our main article about the local, heartwood forest.Ìý My favourite part of the project was our trip to the ´óÏó´«Ã½ where we took a tour of the Blue Peter studios where we met the presenters and guests, Strike!Ìý We also toured the Newsround and ´óÏó´«Ã½ news rooms. We have had a great time and want to thank everyone who helped us and especially Gareth Lloyd who put us on ´óÏó´«Ã½ Three Counties Radio and Sarah Muller our ´óÏó´«Ã½ mentor who got us into the ´óÏó´«Ã½.

Hannah, Age 13, St Albans High School For Girls.
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Pupils' broadcast LIVE on ´óÏó´«Ã½ Three Counties!

The whole ´óÏó´«Ã½ experience has been really amazing and has really made me want to work in a similar situation when I am older. Our first big experience was the trip to London to the M&S offices, where we interviewed people about their new plan A, which they have come up with to help the environment. Similarly, we have followed more stories about the environment by writing reports on the new, and local to us, largest forest in Britain that is soon to be planted – Heartwood forest. Also, the helicopter was really good and has really made this Heartwood story so much better. I also enjoyed editing the video, but the favourite part of the experience for me has to be the last three days where we went up to the ´óÏó´«Ã½ studios, recorded our radio bit and then the actual day where so far we have already gone live on the radio. Another highlight of the whole experience was meeting all the celebrities – such as Strike and the ´óÏó´«Ã½ presenters that were at the studios when we went up. Gareth Lloyd, who came to help us with the radio was brilliant and so was Sarah Muller, our mentor – they all helped us loads and it would not have been even nearly the same without them!

Lucy, Age 14, St Albans High School for Girls.
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This is the first year we have done ´óÏó´«Ã½ school report at our school, at it has been a great experience. We started by saying that we would keep the project small making sure we update our website regularly. Not only have we done this but we have made a video on Heartwood Forest even getting a helicopter for bird’s eye views.Ìý We also had an interview with Adam Elman at Marks and Spencers with the help of Robyn Edwards. Of course a lot has been possible with our mentor Sarah Muller who enabled us to go to the ´óÏó´«Ã½ and see Blue Peter, Newsround and much more. Recently we had the fantastic Gareth Lloyd come in to teach us about radio and reporting and helped us to create two radio pieces that went on air on the 26th of March.

Ciara, Age 14, St Albans High School For Girls.
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´óÏó´«Ã½ School Report has been a great experience, I have learnt a lot about the media industry and journalism. We started off making small reports on some of the local stories, national and international stories. We have worked on two main stories, one about Plan A for M&S, where we went to the M&S main office and interviewed the man head of Plan A. Our other main story was about the new Heartwood Forest, which we have created a film for including shots from a helicopter, which visited our school. We have been given tips by our mentor from the ´óÏó´«Ã½, Sarah Muller. She was able to give us the opportunity to go to the ´óÏó´«Ã½ studios and watch Blue Peter and Newsround live, where we were able to meet Strike from Britain’s Got Talent. The day before ´óÏó´«Ã½ School Report day, Gareth Lloyd came from ´óÏó´«Ã½ Three Counties Radio to help us with stories that would be broadcast live the next day.

Rachel, Age 13, St Albans High School For Girls
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Pupils brief helicopter pilot

When I first joined ´óÏó´«Ã½ school report I thought it would be just writing a couple of reports and that would be it, but I was so surprised as we did so much more! We got a helicopter to land at our school field and we got to be on ´óÏó´«Ã½ Three Counties Radio with Gareth Lloyd. We were given an incredible mentor, Sarah Muller, who has helped us get so far! Sarah Muller also got us an amazing tour of the ´óÏó´«Ã½ where we got to see Blue peter rehearsals and Newsround live! When we were on the tour we were able to meet the presenters of the shows and the guests. We even got to meet STRIKE- from Britain’s got talent. Robyn Edwards also took an interest in one of our stories with M&S and he recorded our interview with Adam Elman about Plan A for the School Report Radio! I have enjoyed every minute of doing ´óÏó´«Ã½ School Report!

Millie, Age 13, St Albans High School For Girls
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It’s been a great experience!Ìý We focused on two main stories, one of which was about Heartwood forest, a new wood which is being created in Sandridge near to our school. For this story we have created a film which includes a helicopter flying over the site to show the huge area that the forest will cover. We also visited the ´óÏó´«Ã½ where we saw how news is made and filmed. We also visited Blue Peter rehearsals where we met two of the presenters, Andy and Helen.Ìý Finally today we appeared live on radio with Gareth Lloyd and created two reports, one on school meals and one on social networking sites - it was nerve-racking but fun!

Emma, Age 14, St Albans High School for Girls
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´óÏó´«Ã½ School Report was a lot more than I expected it to be. It got more exciting when we got out mentor, Sarah Muller. She brought scripts with her from Newsround and the 50th Anniversary of Blue Peter! Then, we had a major story on Marks and Spencer’s. We got to go to the main office, there was delicious food and we had a fantastic interview with Adam Elman.Ìý Our other main story was of Heartwood, a forest in Sandridge. It’s a forest run by the Woodland Trust. As part of our story we had a helicopter land in our school field! It was very exciting, I filmed the helicopter taking off and landing, we also got to miss school afternoon lessons because of it. The last week was definitely the best. On Tuesday, we got to go to the actual ´óÏó´«Ã½ Centre! It was the best day of 2009 so far. We got to meet the Blue Peter presenters. We also got to meet the Newsround Presenter. Unfortunately, we narrowly missed meeting Jonathan Ross. However, I got a picture of Strike from Britain’s got Talent! On Wednesday, Gareth Lloyd from ´óÏó´«Ã½ 3 Counties Radio came to talk to us about live radio. On ´óÏó´«Ã½ School Report Day I did a tour on Facebook, so my voice was heard by 2 million people! It’s scary but very exciting. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to join ´óÏó´«Ã½ School Report at the beginning, but I have loved it so much. I just know that if I hadn’t have joined, then I would have regretted it. Joining was definitely the best decision I’ve made this year!

Sarah, Age 14, St. Albans High School for Girls.
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