Our Community: Small Change Community Journalism in Camden

We’ve met and have a plan of action. The group of students from Acland Burghley School in Camden has been formed and are getting ready to become agents of change in their local area. The group is a mixture of students aged 12-18 and aim to be a group of positive voices in their community. They will investigate and report on issues affecting their community through active and contextualised teaching and learning. They will produce a website designed for young and older members of the community to share stories, opinions and make stronger connections locally. This project is designed to be cross-curricular and enrich the school curriculum. We’ll work closely with the English, Geography, Citizenship and Media departments within the school, as well as local media professionals. From the 12th January we will meet every week and the students will keep us updated on what we’ve been up to and the progress we’re making.

Schedule:
The student group will meet every Tuesday after school from 3:30pm-5:00pm and will have 2 full days of production. (Schedule needs to be flexible if outside practitioners come in to enhance the process)

Date Activity
10.01.12 Introducing the project. Complete team agreement, identify and agree goals, outline schedule of work. Brainstorm issues facing our community. What can we do? Safer Cities representative to attend.
17.01.12 Investigating our community (photos, interviews, maps)
24.01.12 Investigating our community (photos, interviews, maps)
31.01.12 What is good journalism? Guest professional to run workshop for students building skills to be able to produce newsletter and website
07.02.12 Working in design teams
11.02.12 ALL DAY (9am-4pm) Design, production, additional interviews.
21.02.12 Working in design teams
28.02.12 Working in design teams
05.03.12 ALL DAY (9am-4pm) Production
06.03.12 Post-production and editing
13.03.12 Planning distribution
20.03.12 Distribution and advertising
27.03.12 Evaluation and celebration

OUTPUTS
1. Newsletter (March)
2. Website (March)
3. Blog (weekly)