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~ Birches Head students launch hyperlocal media website ~

Birches Head Academy in Stoke-On-Trent is working with students and staff from Staffordshire University’s journalism school to set up an online hyperlocal media outlet for the their community. The online platform called ‘BirchesheadLive’ will be hosted by Staffordshire University’s StaffsLive website and will feature news pieces written and edited by the students themselves.

Hyperlocal media covers events and topics which are of interest to an extremely small geographical area, such as a borough or a neighbourhood. These news stories wouldn’t necessarily be covered by larger media outlets, but could be relevant to local residents. The outlets also emphasize reader input and interaction more than mainstream media.

This progressive extracurricular project gives students interested in pursuing a career in journalism or media the chance to get hands on experience and set up their own news website.

For the first time, the students will look beyond school grounds for stories, including the whole of the Birches Head community, and wider area, and will cover articles about newsworthy topics in the area.

The student team behind the project is the Birches Head Academy Reporters. The group currently consists of seven students who write articles for the school website and produce broadcasts on Ice Radio - the academy’s own station. In September, the students visited the Staffordshire University Newsroom at the Stoke Campus. They were given a tour of the state of the art facilities and had a training session on how to write, edit and publish stories for the Bircheshead Live platform, which is expected to launch in the next few weeks.

“The project is an amazing opportunity for our students to gain useful knowledge of how local media outlets work,” explains Rob Smith, Birches Head Academy extended services manager. “It allows our students to get creative in a field that some of them will one day work in. It’s also a way of building on what they have already learned by writing for the school website and producing broadcasts for the school radio. It’s challenging them to learn more about modern journalism.”

 “The Staffs Live website is an established source of news for the whole of the county,” adds Jamie Summerfield, community managing editor of Staffs Live. “We’re setting up a number of smaller sites under the Staffs Live umbrella to really tap in to what’s going on in local communities. Working in partnership with local communities is essential and we’re delighted to be working with young reporters from Birches Head Academy.”

The Birches Head Academy News Team members are Lewis Cropper, Chelsea Still, Corey Forrest, Kayleigh Rasdell, Ryan Carter, Rebecca Harrison and Jamie Evans.

Further collaboration between Birches Head Academy and Staffordshire University is planned while this new initiative is developed.