Posted: 09/07/20
Hold the front page! Students’ magazine initiative gets high praise
Students at West Nottinghamshire College became writers and editors of their own magazine during the country’s lockdown, earning them high praise from the principal.
-
Practical work skills students proudly display their creative pages with staff and principal Andrew Cropley (centre, top)
-
The 28-page magazine was created during the lockdown
-
Matters such as sexual health were featured
-
Covid-19 was one of the topical articles written
-
The importance of online safety was highlighted on a double-page feature
-
Clubs and activities which happen at college were given a space in the magazine
-
There were plenty of light-hearted pages to read
Production of a 28-page magazine called Initiative became an extended project for the Level 1 Practical Work Skills group as part of their media option of the course. Together with their tutor they planned the design, content and themes and learnt how to write an article all via the Microsoft Teams software.
Each student took responsibility for their own article and contributed to suggestions for the magazine’s content as well as conducting a staff survey to seek ideas for stories and articles.
Articles included topical news items about COVID19 and Black Lives Matter, while other pages were dedicated to informative pieces on cyber safety and sexual health matters.
Also researched and featured in the magazine by the class of twelve students were articles on photography skills, mental health wellness, a guide how to effectively use MS Teams, a jokes page and a feature about the various entertainment and clubs at the college.
Eighteen-year-old Britney Godfrey worked on the sexual health article. She said: “I did some research when we were still at college in the health and wellbeing room’s literature to gather my material for the sexual health article I’d planned.
“We worked well as a team to put this magazine together. Once we’d figured out who was writing what articles it ran very smoothly.
“I can’t wait to come back to college next academic year to start my new course in animal care.”
On Monday (6 July) the class met with their tutor Tracy Meldrum, members of the additional learning support team and the executive team, together with the college principal Andrew Cropley. This was the first time the group had met outside of the lockdown and it provided an opportunity for the group to be thanked for their hard work on the project.
Andrew praised the group for their initiative and creativity in producing the magazine and thanked staff for their support throughout lockdown and ensuring the online learning was a success. He awarded each student with a certificate of achievement and a professionally printed version of the journal and congratulated them for their “remarkable efforts and creativity” on the project during lockdown.
Tutor Tracy Meldrum said: “This originally started out as a media option and was an unaccredited project to promote teamwork and collaboration. We extended the project during lockdown and it really came together.
“Every single student has shown enthusiasm and they took responsibility for their own article. It’s made them more confident using MS Teams and in helping each other out. I’m very proud of how the magazine looks and they should also be proud of what they’ve achieved.”
The magazine can viewed online here https://www.wnc.ac.uk/documents/applicant-zone/initiative-magazine.pdf
Most of the students will be returning to college next academic year and following studies in areas such as catering, animal care, motor vehicle, IT, childcare, hairdressing, art and design and a supported internship.
