The day has finally arrived as School Report News Day 2013 gets under way across the United Kingdom, bringing together approximately one thousand schools for a nationwide broadcasting event dedicated to stories that matter directly to young people. Throughout the day, student reporters will see their work featured prominently across the breadth of BBC News, appearing on television bulletins, radio broadcasts, online platforms, and regional news programmes.
Now entering its seventh year, the ambitious youth journalism initiative has grown significantly since its modest beginnings, expanding both its geographic reach and its integration into mainstream broadcasting. This year’s participants are tackling a diverse array of subjects, ranging from major national events to local community concerns, demonstrating an impressive grasp of journalism and current affairs.
Among the standout assignments for this year’s cohort, school reporters have traveled to Canterbury to witness the historic enthronement of the new Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby. In addition, student journalists have returned to the London Olympic Park to examine the enduring legacy left behind by the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, assessing how the multi-billion-pound sporting venues and community initiatives have evolved in the months following the global event. These high-profile assignments represent just a fraction of the exhaustive coverage being produced by young reporters, with the official BBC School Report website providing comprehensive details of the vast range of topics being investigated and reported by schools nationwide.
The scale of today’s operation is a striking contrast to the humble origins of the project when it was first established. Helen Shreeve, editor of BBC News School Report, recalled that the initiative began with a small, dedicated team whose primary goal was to give teenagers the platform and the opportunity to make the news they genuinely felt mattered to their generation. Handing over hours of live BBC airtime to young people who were novices to professional broadcasting was initially a nerve-wracking prospect for the production staff, but the gamble ultimately proved to be a resounding success.
Reflecting on the inaugural year in 2007, Shreeve noted that the project initially collaborated with twelve- and thirteen-year-old students across one hundred and twenty schools. One of the most enduring memories from that formative year was watching school reporters make their appearance on the flagship Six O’Clock News. Witnessing that broadcast brought the realization that the pioneering partnership between schools and the BBC had developed and flourished into something far greater than anyone had ever anticipated at the outset.
Fast-forwarding to the 2013 installment, the initiative has achieved unprecedented reach, extending deeper into the Corporation’s schedules and broadcasting infrastructure than ever before. Demonstrating the geographic diversity of the participating schools, reporters will be broadcasting live from Radio Foyle in Londonderry, bringing regional perspectives directly to a national audience. In an even more remarkable milestone for student broadcasting, School Report participants will take over the production and delivery of Woman’s Hour, the flagship daytime programme broadcast on Radio 4.
The expansion into varied programming highlights the growing maturity of the project and the BBC’s commitment to placing youth-generated journalism at the heart of its daily output. To accommodate the sheer volume of content being produced by the thousand participating schools, audiences will be able to access a dedicated School Report Live channel available through the interactive Red Button service on their television sets.
Furthermore, digital audiences will not miss a moment of the action, as the production team continues to update a continuous live news feed on the official BBC website throughout the day. Supporters and interested viewers are also encouraged to monitor and engage with the dedicated Twitter feed at @BBCSchoolReport, where updates, breaking stories, and behind-the-scenes insights from the young reporters will be shared continuously. As the day unfolds, editors and organizers are inviting the public to follow the tireless work of the school reporters and share their feedback on the professional-grade journalism being produced by the next generation of storytellers.