Schools Audio Day

Pupils had a highly successful and enjoyable time at the Schools Audio Day at Bedales school in the Summer Term last year. Organised by the Petersfield Community Radio project, four pupils from Churcher’s College joined pupils from The Petersfield School, Ditcham Park and Bedales to take part in a fun day to learn some practical techniques to help them tell stories through audio. Sessions were led by Jonathan Richards, Group Head of News at Celador Radio and James Stodd, Group Production Director at Celador Radio.

The morning was spent preparing for the lunchtime news bulletin. Pupils from each school had to put forward ideas for stories, and were then allocated one of these each to write and prepare, in readiness to run the bulletin as live at 1.00pm. Pupils had to write the story, create audio for it (including sound effects to make it sound real) and then edit it down to a polished piece (with help from the professionals!). The link to the finished product, with a story from each school, is at the end of this article and can also be accessed here. The story created by the Churcher’s group runs from 5:52 to 7:33.

In the afternoon, pupils were tasked with creating a radio advert for an event to raise money for the Petersfield Open Air Swimming Pool. In a very short space of time, each group came up with a concept and performed it live to the rest of the room. For having the initiative to include sound effects to accompany their advert, the group of Churcher’s pupils were declared the winners for creating the best advert, and each won a free session at the Petersfield Open Air Swimming Pool, as well as a The Breeze frisbee!

The pupils had a great time and engaged well with the day, arriving full of ideas, enthusiasm, originality and creativity. They gained a great deal from the experience and are keen to be involved again in future opportunities.

Link to News Bulletin

About Petersfield Community Radio

For more information about Petersfield Community Radio, visit their website or see the summary below.

The project aims to share the voices and stories of local people, amplify and celebrate Petersfield’s creative talent and link the community and its visitors through relevant local information.

More than one hundred volunteers have registered to support the project and the four local senior schools have partnered to help build radio skills and media literacy among students.

Audio from the project will find a permanent home for future generations thanks to an oral history partnership with Petersfield Museum.

The project is not-for-profit and is entirely run by volunteers, supported by local media professionals who include Richard Gaisford and Stephen Martin.