Over the past 6 weeks, a group of Year 8 Students have been involved in the BBC School News Report. Students have been learning the skills required to become journalists; closely monitoring the news; looking for stories to cover; filming and editing them. It has proved a really exciting project but not without its stresses and frustrations.

Last week, Jemma and Ella were very disappionted when they arrived at The Stephen Joseph Theatre expecting to interview Lenny Henry, only to find there had been a mix up over times and he was unavailable. However, they proved their ability to be flexible and with some foward thinking and a proactive approach, they soon turned the story around and managed to get the footage they needed. The students have been covering a range of stories and have managed to secure interviews with a number of interesting people. Beth and Sumena interviewed PC Nicholson, our local Police Officer, for their report on vandalism in the community and the efforts being made to try and reduce the problem; Our two sports correspondents, Cameron and Josh, secured an interview with Den Ingram on the sad demise of Scarborough Football Club and its rebirth as Scarborough Athletic at Queens Gate.

Today is the BIG DAY! Nationally, Over 600 schools are currently busy gathering their live stories to add to their pre-recorded bulletins. Cameron and Jo are interviewing hopeful contestents for this year's 'Talentfest' which begins after Easter with the auditions; the final takes place in July and the winner will perform at The Spa in Scarborough. Anna, Jess and Alex are following the team's efforts today, monitoring the stress levels of the students and staff involved as they near the 2 pm deadline and begin their live recording. Harry is recording today's weather which, unlike our spirits, is rather gloomy. Unfortunately, it took 3 attempts to film owing to Mrs Milne forgetting to press the record button - perhaps this is an indication of her stress levels! Staff aside, two students under the greatest pressure are Beth, our technical specialist, who is frantically setting up the studio and checking the equipment, and Chief Editor Katie, who is responsible for checking the bulletins, deciding on the stories' running order and making the difficult decision over which stories need to be axed.

BBC Radio York have proved an invaluable support throughout the project and have even brought their radio bus along to the school, for the big day. Throughout the day they are following the team's progress interviewing the students, Mrs Milne and Mrs Rogers, live on air.