School Podcasting

Steve Thompson (BSc Hons Sound Engineering & Design) and Kirsty Ashton MBE, deliver enriching, fun and memorable school podcasting projects in Lancashire and Manchester.

Podcasting is a unique learning tool, that gets young people talking about things that matter to them. Podcasts are exciting for pupils. They get hands on with the sound recording and IT technology involved (which we provide), and through the process, they develop their speaking skills, confidence and learn about important matters relating to PSHE, citizenship and more. And often, this learning is subliminal.

What Can You Teach With Podcasting?

Podcasting is a modern medium which can be used to teach young people about a range of topics. 

            Revision Podcasting

I remember when I was at school, recording myself into a dictaphone while reading out revision notes. Well podcasting is way more fun for young learners, but it is a modern iteration of a time proven learning method involving repetition. In just an hour long Revision Podcasting session, students anywhere from 8 – 16 can;

• List key points or ‘Fast Facts’ on a specific subject that they’re revising: for example persuasive language.

• Working in small groups, write a 2-3 minute script, stating the important things to remember about that subject area for their exam: for example the AFOREST acronym.

• But they make the topic more fun: by for example presenting the fast facts as a chart countdown.

• All the students take part in recording their revision podcasts into our professional mobile recording facility, which we set up in the classroom. Their spoken word is then mixed with some music of their choice and sound effects, to bring it to life.

• And finally, students take away their podcast as an mp3, which can be bluetoothed or AirDropped to their phones, as well as the school member of staff getting all the podcasts on a USB pen drive.

The process of making a podcast is a visual and practical way to learn.

            Enrichment Podcasting

Podcasting is a great way to spark conversion and healthy debate among young people, about social and personal development topics. In primary schools for example, as part of enrichment, podcasting has enabled us to get key stage 2 pupils talking about important present and future matters including;

• Aspirations.

• Transition into secondary school.

• Respecting people with different beliefs and faiths.

• Identifying what is fact and what is opinion, (including in the context of fake news, prevalent on social media).

The young people develop their interview skills, and learn about writing notes for presentations.

            Subject Specific Podcasting

Podcasts are a fun and memorable way to achieve specific curriculum based learning objectives. We’ve facilitated audio recorded podcasts where students performed their creative writing, carried out a science experiment, and even debated a topic as part of a geography class. Recorded sound is an excellent learning resource because within a single lesson, there’s a sound recorded outcome which young learners take way, and can listen to time and time again, on demand.

Other Ways School Podcasting Benefits Young People

            Community Partnership Podcast Projects

We’ve delivered podcasting sessions in partnership with local authorities, the Police and Fire services. Audio is a creative, and practical medium for young people to create messages, that resonate with other young people.

Through podcasting, young people can make powerful messages that have a recorded legacy.

            School Radio

A school radio club is a fantastic way to focus and showcase the creative talents of young people. Through the training and technical support which we offer, we have helped a number of both primary and secondary schools to set up their own radio station: outputting their content both on their websites, and in some cases, through speakers around school.

            College Radio

Our podcasting formula works really well in Key Stages 2 and 3. But it also works well in higher education.

Using our media contacts, we also offer careers talks to classes of young people, who are interested in achieving jobs in the media industry.

Our Podcasting Projects Are Flexible To Meet Your School’s Learning Objectives

Key to our success in Manchester and Lancashire schools, has been our ability to adapt our proven podcasting lesson plans on a bespoke basis, in order to meet school specific learning objectives. We meet with enrichment staff and department heads, bringing the the podcast lesson templates that we know work so well, and then shaping these plans to reach the specific learning goals of a particular year or class. Tell us what you’d like your students to learn about in a podcasting session, and we’ll design a lesson plan for it.

School Podcasting – Introductory Offer

We know that more schools can benefit from podcasting: so we’re currently offering schools an initial 1.5 or 2 hour podcasting session for just £70. This lesson will work well for a class of up to 30, and all pupils will be engaged in the creation of recorded audio podcasts, that we hand over to the schools staff as audio .mp3s at the end of the session.

Both Steve Thompson and Kirsty Ashton are DBS checked.

To seek references from our previous educational customers, please enquire by email, or phone Steve on 0787 0743 976