Rockin’ Radio: Year 5 Radio Day

Yesterday, Year 5 from our Junior School took their science topic of Sound above and beyond by recording their very own radio show with Radio 2 presenter, Jon Lewis.

Mr Lewis produces Radio 2’s ‘The Folk Show With Mark Radcliffe’, and brought in professional recording equipment for the girls to use. The aim was to reinforce the girls' understanding of sound and then to link it to a real life application: radio. Mr Lewis is already connected with the school as his daughter attends Sheffield Girls’ and was delighted to provide this opportunity for the class to have a hands-on experience with radio behind the scenes, with input from his experience working with the most popular radio station in the UK.

The day started with an introduction to radio. The class went back in time learning about radio’s importance before the invention of television, followed by how it works, where we can listen to it and why it’s still a popular medium of entertainment today. Mr Lewis also gave an insight into formatting a classic radio show and the huge variety of different careers in radio that the girls can pursue.

With everyone raring to get recording, each form split into groups to cover their own section of the show. Options included talking about the upcoming Whitby trip, an inter-house hockey report, having a guest interview, and a section covering recent school news. The teams researched, wrote their scripts and practised their lines with enthusiasm for the rest of the day until they got their chance to record with Mr Lewis, as well as asking him any questions they had about his work as a radio producer.

Nina and Anna, who recorded their form’s thoughts about heading to the seaside town of Whitby later this week, said, “Our favourite part of the day was being creative and writing our scripts in the morning. We also liked wearing the headphones - they felt really weird to have on but also really cool!”

The Folk Show With Mark Radcliffe is on Radio 2 every Wednesday at 9pm.