15 Dec BBC CWR Project: Star-School-of-the-Week – Our Reflection
Written by Cam-Ron –Year 9 student reporter
Edited by Mrs Nguyen
On Friday 29th October 2021, Lily-Anne (Year 9 student reporter) and I went to the school at 9:00 am, for a recorded conversation with Dan from the BBC Coventry Warwickshire Radio station for a completely brand-new programme, Star-School-of the Week.
From the name of the project, it’s obvious that the programme aims to put schools in the spotlight, showing a part of their school history, how students feel about their school days and the students’ thoughts about issues facing their local communities and the wider world. One of the topics was climate change, as the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) would start 2 days later in Glasgow Scotland.
Outside at the front of the school reception, the autumnal weather turned surprisingly warm with a lot of sunlight, warm breezes, and of course blue sky!
Dan arrived well on time and we moved into an English classroom near the school reception for the recorded interview. All around us the ambience was very calm and quiet, such a difference in comparison to the usual hectic noise coming from classrooms and along the corridors during school days. After settling down, we talked about some key topics we were learning in lessons, what we liked most about the school’s facilities and what our school has been doing recently to combat climate change.
The interview ended swiftly and we left school before mid-day.
Wednesday 3rd November 2021 – The live broadcast radio
At around 8:20am, the 12 lucky students of years 7 and 9 were invited to do a live interview for the BBC CWR Breakfast Show as the second part of the Star-School-of-the-Week. Once again it was surprisingly warm and sunny even though it was November time! We located ourselves in the delivery bay – right outside the school reception. Due to the location of the interview and the presence of the light purple mini-van of the BBC Cov-War Radio, there were a lot of onlookers (including staff members and students); and fortunately, there was no interruption whilst we were live!
After this live interview, we were asked to go to the Learning Resource Centre and prepare our Whitley Academy’s Star School News. This was aired on Friday 5th November between 6:30am and 8:30am. Some of us shared our stories what we and our family members have been doing to combat the problems of climate change. We also talked about what we do to contribute as a school and as individuals to try and reduce the rate of climate change.
Charlie, our Year 7 student, mentioned his house is powered by solar panels and that their hoovers and blinds were fully electrical. This is a huge contribution, as the solar panels use no fossil fuels or carbon, but are fully powered by the sun.
After the news section, five students and I were encouraged to share with listeners our reflection on taking part in this brand new BBC CWR’s Star-School-of-the Week programme, and why it was worth applying. One of my group-mates stated that it was a great new opportunity to get the school out there, so we could help parents, carers and children find a good school.
Towards the end of the meeting, we all wanted to express ourselves and show what we could bring to the table. This is what Star School is all about.
If you are interested, you can sign up by going to the BBC Coventry-Warwickshire radio website, clicking the Star School tab and getting in touch J.
In my personal opinion, the Star School programme is a great bit of fun, and gives opportunities for the youth of today to express themselves and share their opinion about their schools, and today’s wider world’s issues that have affected them; not just the politicians.
Mrs Nguyen who organised the project, said the experience gave her so much more confidence. She added that it was common for people not to enjoy hearing their own voice played back, but after she heard her own voice being spoken live, her self-assurance grew massively and she is now more comfortable speaking publicly and on radio to other people around Britain!
In the participants’ opinions: IT WAS AMAZING.
On writing this blog, we recall the words of the song We Are the World. At our age, we can’t afford to give out any financial support to people who are less privileged, what we can give out is our love and our care… Our Thanks to the BBC Cov-War radio for giving us the opportunity to raise our voices.
“…We are the world
We are the children
We are the ones who make a brighter day, so let’s start giving
There’s a choice we’re making
We’re saving our own lives
It’s true we’ll make a better day, just you and me”
(U.S.A for Africa 1985)
These are the links to our recorded conversations:
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p09yjbw3
from minute: 28:50 – 31:52
and: 2:40:00 – 2:43:15
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p09yjc1k
from minute 2:40:00
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p09yjcc5
from minute: 06:30 – 06:32
and 08:17 – 08:20
