Why are we interested in School Report?

Hirst Park Middle School are commited to the use of media and technology as an integral part of both the curriculum and the after school world. The pupils have named this...

The Parkyvision Project

We take every opportunity at Hirst Park Middle School to inspire and energise our students and so, following the appointment of our Web and Media Developer, we began a pioneering project which involved our students in the writing, filming, editing and production of our own video material.

Initially this involved our final year students who had been identified as Gifted and Talented. We began by shooting a short video to accompany a school music project. We were not prepared for the impact that 45 seconds of video was to have!

The project has been such a success that it now involves students of all ages and abilities including special educational needs.


Our students are involved in every aspect of the creative process. We have produced our own teaching resources, video records of our trips and visits and we are now using green screen and computer animation to add a new dimension to our work.

Students have produced short documentaries and these have led to the crews filming and producing work for other schools in the area.

We have also created a video production for the Wansbeck Enterprise Education Network. As part of our cross curricular work the students have filmed at Woodhorn and Beamish Museums.

A short experimental film, shot at Alnwick Gardens and produced by our students, reached the finals of an international film competition in 2009. Our short documentary on Northumbrian artist Peter Podmore has recieved praise from both television professionals and the arts community. Our crew shot the film and interview on location at Peter's studio in the Cheviots. The video is available to view here.

We recently took the project a stage further when we built and equipped our own Media Suite. This allows us to have a permanent and dedicated area within the school for video production, editing as well as animation and digital graphics.

The BBC News School Report allows us to present out crews with real world tasks and challenges which we can still make relevant to the curriculum. Deadlines have to be met and the finished product will be viewed by a real audience. This is exactly where we want to go with our media work.