Over and Out for 2010

School Report has now come to a close for this year. The pupils involved have had a great time going out into the community interviewing local celebrities, athletes and the man with a bigger entourage than J-lo....head of Stathclyde Fire and Rescue Mr Sweeney.

Some of the girls are continuing to make the news by getting involved in the school TV station HGTV.

A big well done to everyone who took part! I hope you will all get involved next year.

Visit to UWS

The last visit for the girls involved in school report was to the UWS in Hamilton. The got to spend the day with Ronnie Bergman (Head of Journalism) in a real recording studio making their own news for the radio.

Throughout the day the girls scrutinised the local and national pepers for stories to write and record in the studio. The girls were also asked by Ronnie to go out into the local area to record 'vox pops'. We were looking for the opinions of members of the public on issues raised on the news that day.

The girls has an excellent time and would like to thank Laura and Ronnie for everything they have done, making School Report a huge success for Hamilton Grammar this year.

Shirley Webb Interview

This week some of our budding journalists were invited to interview Shirley Webb - Scotlands own Hammer Throwing Champion.

Rachael has written about the visit:

Gladiator Ready? Interviewer Ready?

On the 4 March Shirley Webb aka "Battleaxe" paid the girls at Hamilton Grammar a visit. Shirley is known for her role in Gladiators, as Battleaxe, and her athletic achievements. Shirley's was a hammer thrower for Scotland in the Commonwealth Games (2002 and 2006). She has also competed in th eEuropean Championships, World Championships, Olympic Games (2004). Shirley holds the current record for Scottish Hammer Throwing and the third in Britain. Shirley is a woman of many talents she also dives, dances and lays rugby.

Shirley answered all of the grilling questions the girls asked on the day (on and off air). The BBC filmed the interview. We were all really pleased with the interview and at the end Shirley treated us to a signed photograph and we got to look at her beautiful costume from Gladiators.

We were fortunate enough for out interview to be filmed and edited by the BBC

Interviews

The last couple of weeks have been busy for the young BBC reporters. Rachael, Daisie and Greer met footballers from Hamilton Accies and Amy, Kirsty and Emma met the Chief Officer at Strathclyde Fire & Rescue for an interview.

Both interviews were filmed and are in the process of being edited for the school intranet.

Mentor Visit

Our BBC Mentor, Laura was in school today to meet the pupils involved in this year's BBC School Report. We had the opportunity to discuss what we have been doing when we meet every week. We were then given some fresh BBC Scrips (used that day on the radio)to record. Hopefully Laura will be in again next week when the girls will get the chance to write and recored their own news at Hamilton Grammar.

Our BBC Mentor

This year our BBC mentor will be Laura, she will be in to meet us the first week back of the new year!!

So we can look forward to Laura's excellent expertise in news reporting! I am sure this will benefit us all.

BBC School Report can improve literacy

SSAT Literacy Report

The emphasis on discussion as the main learning strategy throughout the project also had a noticeable effect on the quality of written outcomes

Jan English, literacy consultant

Research carried out by the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust (SSAT) indicates that participation in School Report can have a significant impact on literacy.

Jan English, a literacy consultant, was commissioned by the SSAT to work with five schools taking part in School Report during 2007/8 to evaluate the impact that participation in the project had on the literacy levels of the students involved.

The purpose was to ascertain the impact on both the writing and oral skills of the students and to recommend ways to maximise benefits in the future.

The full report - BBC News School Report: Impact on literacy

Key findings

The evidence collected indicates that participation in School Report can have a significant impact on literacy.

Video footage of students talking together to solve problems, before and after the project, demonstrates that students experienced a steep learning curve with regard to effective group collaboration and discussion.

The emphasis on discussion as the main learning strategy throughout the project also had a noticeable effect on the quality of written outcomes.

In particular, boys and students with English as an additional language (EAL) benefited from the opportunity to discuss ideas and write succinctly and logically, as opposed to expressively.

Literacy tool kit

Ms English devised some additional resources, to be used in conjunction with the six School Report lesson plans, by teachers wishing to use the BBC News project to boost literacy levels.

They include "talk cards" which encourage students to reason and build on each others ideas, and "talk tally" worksheets which help students assess the discussion skills of their peers. They can be downloaded from the SSAT website.

SSAT: Literacy resources
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Collaboration

Since School Report began in 2006, the BBC project team has worked closely with a number of educational bodies including the SSAT.

In 2007-2008 it was agreed that one useful focus of the SSAT work would be to evaluate the impact on literacy and to suggest simple techniques which schools participating in School Report could use to raise the literacy levels of their students.

More about SSAT

The SSAT, which is a membership body for Specialist Schools and Academies in England, reports that more than 95% of secondary schools in England are affiliated to the organisation.