School Report News Day 2013

So it’s here. School Report News Day 2013 is upon us – and about 1,000 schools are due to take part, making the news that matters to them.

They will appear across BBC News – on TV, radio and online and on regional news programmes.

The project is now in its seventh year, and is bigger than ever. School reporters are in Canterbury to witness the enthronement of the new Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, and we also return to the Olympic Park in London to examine the legacy from the 2012 games. And there’s more – the BBC School Report website has full details of the range of topics being covered.

It is all a far cry from when we began. A small team started School Report with the aim of giving teenagers the opportunity to make the news they thought mattered. Giving them hours of BBC airtime was nerve-wracking, but it proved to be a success.

In that first year – 2007 – we worked with 12- and 13-year-olds in 120 schools. What I most remember from that year is seeing school reporters on the Six O’Clock News and thinking that this partnership between schools and the BBC had developed into something bigger than we ever thought it could be.

Fast-forward to 2013 and we are able to reach even further, both in geographical terms and into the BBC’s output. We’ll be broadcasting live from Radio Foyle in Londonderry, and taking over the flagship Radio 4 programme Woman’s Hour.

There will also be a dedicated School Report Live channel accessible through the Red Button. We’ll be updating a live news feed on our website and our @BBCSchoolReport Twitter feed throughout the day, so please follow what our school reporters are doing and let us know what you think.

Helen Shreeve is editor of BBC News School Report.

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