College News

Big Weekend Workshop

With BBC Radio 1’s annual Big Weekend music festival arriving in Middlesbrough, five first year Media Studies students from QE were given the opportunity to work with the radio station, taking part in an interview with DJ and presenter, Jordan North. Josh Brewster, Alice Butterfield, Daniel Lordon, Matt Prest and Lily Watson-Morris discovered how Jordan became a host on one of the most popular radio stations in the United Kingdom before he discussed the employability skills required to work in the radio industry. The students were then able to learn about the planning and execution of outside broadcasts, observing the preparations for Big Weekend and worked with presenters from Newsbeat, the flagship news programme on BBC Radio 1. Together they looked at OFCOM regulations concerning live news broadcasts and the creation of bulletins. The day concluded with the group visiting a variety of stalls which provided a detailed and fascinating insight into the different strands within the BBC, including BBC Introducing and BBC Bitesize.

Daniel Lordon comments: ‘The workshop was extremely useful and allowed us to obtain a good understanding of how the BBC functions’. Nicola Naisbett, Course Leader for A Level Media Studies at QE adds: ‘This was a fantastic opportunity for the group and the fact that the College was invited to this event speaks volumes about the calibre of our Media Studies students. This type of employer engagement not only enhances work completed in the classroom by enabling students to put what they learn into real life contexts, but it also showcases the number of jobs available in the one of the UK’s biggest employment sectors’.