STUDENTS from John Hanson Community School joined thousands of pupils across the country when they took part in the BBC Schools Report day.

A TV studio was set up to record a news programme involving 30 students from Years 7, 8 and 10.

The team had around six hours to write their stories, interview visitors, and film all the sequences for the news report.

They were joined by a number of guests from outside school – Dougie McCracken from the Big Local App, Steve Randall, well-known for his work on local radio, and Richard Belle.

The visitors supported the students with their news reports. Steve Randall was interviewed on camera about his work in radio and in return recorded a podcast for his website.

Students also interviewed two local PCSOs from Hampshire Constabulary in connection with Operation Fortress – a drug-awareness scheme being run by the force.

Other items included an interview with Ross Gooding, head of music at John Hanson, about the recent success of students at Andover Young Musician of the Year.

Dougie McCracken outlined how John Hanson has adopted its very own miniapp within The Big Local App, and, of course, as all good news broadcasts should finish, the latest weather forecast was included.

Mike Adams, assistant head teacher, said: “Throughout the day we were in touch with the BBC, and pictures of our team were shown on the main BBC School Report page as we joined over 1,000 schools across the UK taking part in this news day.

“This was a fantastic day for all concerned and our final video was published on the school website, with a link from the BBC for all to see.”