To celebrate the BBC at 100, the BBC created a landmark centenary education project, ‘BBC 100 Share Your Story’. We were privileged to be part of this project and we were the last school in this amazing journey around the UK. After their visit to Dallam, the BBC will have reached 400,000 secondary students. The project aims to inspire young people to achieve their career goals and help realise their ambitions, particularly in relation to the creative sector.
BBC presenters, BBC staff storytellers and career panellists took part in sessions with our Years 7, 8 and 9. The panellists were from the local area:
- Luke Smithurst, BBC Radio Production Coordinator
- Simon McElligott, The Knotted Project
- Evelyn Sinclair, Illustrator.
The panellists shared their stories – from which subjects they enjoyed at school and how that influenced what they went on to do after school. As well as qualifications and motivations they also talked about the importance of soft skills that are really important to any career like listening, problem-solving, staying positive and aiming high.
Students also asked the panel questions related specifically to their role, how they got to where they are now in their career and what they felt were the most important skills for their jobs.
Storytelling is central to the BBC’s core mission to inform, educate and entertain.
It was fantastic for our students to experience a professionally produced event like this as part of their whole-school careers guidance programme. It was an interactive and exciting way of highlighting the range of career opportunities in storytelling at the BBC and the creative industries, both locally and across the UK. – Mr Blyth, Careers Coordinator
Further careers support:
The BBC’s careers support for students doesn’t end with the school tour; students were directed to the BBC Bitesize Careers site, where there is an ever-growing library of job profiles to explore across all industries, alongside careers advice and information about next steps in education and the world of work.
At Dallam, we strive to offer a wide range of career education experiences. If you would like to know more about what we do, please look at the careers information on our website.