BBC stars and staff are set to visit half a million students as part of BBC 100 years celebrations.
The BBC is visiting over 400,000 students, in 700 secondary school visits, across the UK in a project called ‘BBC Bitesize Careers 100 Yr celebration, Share Your Story’, starting this week. BBC staff and big names from TV, Radio, Sport and News are visiting schools in England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, throughout 2022, to share their personal stories. The tour, produced by BBC Children’s and Education, is designed to inspire young people to achieve their goals and help realise their future ambitions. These interactive sessions will highlight the range of career opportunities in storytelling at the BBC and the creative industries, both locally and across the UK.
Delivered in partnership with local BBC radio stations, each roadshow consists of a specialist local and national careers panel talking about their career journey. The panel will include a BBC staff member plus two panellists from the local community whose work benefits or includes storytelling.
The panels will support schools in demonstrating the range of career opportunities available within the creative industries, including the BBC’s new talent schemes and apprenticeships. The BBC 100 Share Your Story tour concludes in December 2022, every session is hosted by a well-known BBC presenter, such as Radio 1’s Katie Thistleton, 1Xtra hosts Swarzy and Nick Bright, CBBC’s Lee Hinchcliffe and the BBC’s tech reporter for young people, Shiona McCallum.
James Stirling, BBC 100 Executive Editor, says: “Education and learning has been at the core of the BBC’s public purpose for almost 100 years, starting with School Radio in 1924. Today, BBC Teach, BBC Bitesize and BBC Young Reporter are loved and valued by students, teachers and parents across the UK, “In our centenary year, I’m so excited that we’re able to take the BBC’s education expertise and unparalleled storytelling talent into the classroom, to inspire thousands of future storytellers.”
Students in Yrs 7, 8, 9, & 10 were lucky enough to view the roadshow performance on Friday 9th December and thoroughly enjoyed hearing about the career journeys of local professionals including a female welder, a BBC lighting designer and old- St Margaret Wardian, Tom Karklins, who left St Margaret Ward in 2008, after staying on in our Sixth Form, he told students about the success of his production company based in Stoke, ATOM Productions.