Update on progress

[DAVID RAYNER]

I have just had a detailed reply from Penny to my request for an update on progress which I thought I would share....you can smell both the excitement and the trepidation!

"We have only just got started with this at school (Helston Community College, Helston, Cornwall). We are aiming it at our very able (some G&T) Year 9 students who after one meeting got very excited about the possibilities that this offers.

We are hoping to fix a lot of the news stories around the unit we will study after Christmas on Developing a Fair World, looking at some local and global issues. We are hopefully going to produce video reports and text based editorial style reports but this is very much a vague idea at the moment. I will have a clearer idea when I have met with all of the students.

We are going to run it as an extra-curricular session, holding a meeting at a lunchtime and a respeat after school to fit in with the numerous commitments of our bright year 9s. I am a little worried about how much time I need with the group to get them ready for the News Day. Some guidance on this would be appreciated!! :)

I am really looking forward to working with what is a very inspirational group of students on such a high-impact project.

How is everyone else doing? I have just written a short piece on the project to go in the spring edition of the GA magazine and I have also had an e-mail from the BBC School Report producer asking how the geographers are getting on.

[DAVID RAYNER]

From John Kingdom:

"I've got a good idea of which students we are going to use for this, mainly those who produced the best flood reports last half term. In terms of the issue and location there are no decisions as yet. I think that Rainham Marshes may make a good setting with the issue perhaps being 'Will climate change result in a submerged London?' "

[DAVID RAYNER]

From Valentina:

"We have made a good start to the report and have recruited some very enthusiastic students from Years 7, 8 and 9. We have decided to pilot the School Report with our Gifted and Talented Geography students who will be working on the reports in their own time as part of an after school club.

The students have come up with a variety of stories that all relate to geographical issues. They are on a range of scales from local to global. Some examples are outlined below:

Plans to build a wind farm off the coast of Clacton-on-sea
A recent exchange visit with a school in Ghana
A shoe box appeal run by a Rotary Club within the school.

These are just a couple of examples as we seem to have new ideas every time we meet them. Our students reporters are keen to use videos as a media source. Our only real concerns at present are negotiating time off timetable for the students to produce their reports. We don't foresee any major problems although access to ICT facilities can prove to be a headache.

As we are new to the process, it would also be really helpful to have a visit from a mentor. We have asked for a visit and are awaiting a reply. We have attached some photos of our reporters at work! "

[Graham Goldup]

We are about to start with our first 'news' report on Tuesday. A group of four Year 8 students will be interviewing Jake Meyer, the mountaineer, about the thrills and spills of climbing the 'Seven Summits in the Seven Continents' and all by the age of 21! I hope it will be a fun, entertaining and informative real-life Geography report!

We are using a number of different Key Stage 3 groups to compile news stories before the whole 'programme' is edited together. The project is being driven by our Lead Teachers for Geography and History.