Supporter 2 Reporter Autumn 2018

This term we have been delighted to welcome four schools to our Supporter 2 Reporter Programme

Ground Tour and iMovies

Week 1 saw our intrepid junior reporters complete a ground tour of Scunthorpe United’s stadium, Glanford Park. Using iPads they took pictures and short video clips of the stadium while learning a little about the history of Glanford Park and the Club. Back up in the classroom they then chose their favourite twelve shots and added them to an iMovie along with titles and credits. The following week, each pupil wrote a script to accompany the pictures and recorded it over the top. An S2R news article was then written to report on their activities. A great and very busy start to the programme.

Huw Edwards explained what news is and how to gather and research your news items. This included Local, National and International news, researching stories and creating interesting articles.

We then went on to cover:

• News Gathering

• Using the 5 W’s - What, Who, Where, When and Why

• Researching and double checking your facts

• The difference between facts and opinions

• Impartiality, giving both sides of an argument

As a class we discussed the benefits of using open rather than closed questions in interviews, being polite, listening to the answers you are given and asking additional questions based on the interviewee’s answers. We also learnt to have a conversation as if you are talking to a friend, make eye contact and above all, relax.

All of our students then wrote a news article based on what they’d learnt. As well as learning a great deal about news and interviewing, IT skills are also being improved with each and every session.

All of our students were very excited but held their nerve and completed great interviews. Each one was recorded and the footage, along with all the other work they completed during their time on the S2R programme, was sent back to their schools.

We would like to pass on our thanks to everyone for giving up their time for our students.

The junior reporters then worked hard on their interview news reports and prepared for interviews with current and former Iron players.

In week 6 our S2R reporters completed their SUFC player interviews. We were delighted to welcome Iron Captain Rory McArdle to our media studio where some slightly nervous Alkborough Primary pupils quizzed him about his career and time here at Glanford Park. This was only the second interview many of the pupils had completed and to add a little excitement (and pressure!) we filmed them in front of our green-screen. Everyone did fantastically well and Rory commented on how professional they had all been. Our thanks go to Rory and Scunthorpe United staff for making this possible.

Pictured here are the members of group 3 from Alkborough interviewing Rory.

Breaking News

Due to player training commitments, a couple of our schools completed a Breaking News story. As soon as they entered our newsroom, they were told the exciting news that United had, that morning, signed a new player. Just as in a professional newsroom, it was all hands on deck to research the player involved and produce an exciting story before the end of session deadline. Many of our pupils are avid Iron fans and were very excited to go home and tell their families about the exclusive news they had learnt. It was of course a fictional story, (we don’t get any insider information here at Study Parks!) and we rely on Twitter and the club website for all of the Iron’s real breaking news.

Match Day

On Saturday 3rd November students from our four schools attended the Scunthorpe United vs Oxford United match here at Glanford Park. The students reported live on this exciting home game. They recorded video clips of themselves reporting on the game and made notes to enable them to write a match report. It was a scintillating match, Oxford raced to a 3 - 0 lead just after half time and it was looking bad for The Iron. However, in a matter of minutes Scunthorpe took control and scored 3 quick goals. Everything was to play for and both teams tried their hardest to break the 3-3 deadlock. Despite their best efforts, neither team could score and the match ended a deserved draw. In the next classroom session each student wrote up their match report.

TV studio filming

All four schools worked hard to prepare themselves for the highlight of our Supporter 2 Reporter programme. Groups in each class researched and wrote scripts for their own TV shows to be recorded in our very own green-screen studio. Wroot Travis, Crowle and Frederick Gough all spoke about their activities during the last eight weeks. Alkborough however tried something a little different. Having looked around the Legends Lounge here at Glanford Park, they created informative shows telling us all about the lives and careers of Scunthorpe United legends. They chose Jack Brownsword, Kevin Keegan, Ray Clemence and Alex Calvo-Garcia.

Even though we had some first time nerves, each group worked brilliantly and mastered the art of reading from an auto-cue. In fact the large majority recorded their shows in one take.

Presentation Day

During our final Supporter 2 Reporter sessions this term, our junior reporters faced their biggest challenge yet. Each group delivered a presentation to the rest of their class, parents and staff from their schools. Even though there were a few nerves beforehand, each and every group did incredibly well, showing how much the program can help boost confidence and self-esteem in just ten weeks. After the presentations we had a surprise showing of their green-screen studio films and then welcomed special guests from The Iron to present the final certificates of achievement. Each pupil received a Study Parks Certificate of Achievement and Bronze Supporter 2 Reporter certificates for Journalism and Production. Well done to you all.

Our thanks go to Andy Dawson, Paul Musselwhite and Lee Ridley for attending.