19th November 2024
Lead, manage, communicate: how students can learn these invaluable skills
Hello everyone,
What does the school magazine look like in 2025? I think many teachers assume it needs to be expensively printed or involve professional design software. But the truth is that most schools that enter the Shine School Media Awards do so by contriving their own path to publishing.
Some of the most successful school magazines we’ve seen have started life as a few sheets of A4 stapled together, others began as a digital file created on Canva, some as a one-episode podcast.
I asked Sharon Maxwell Magnus, head of outreach in the school of Creative Arts at the University of Hertfordshire, about the real opportunities students can gain from a school magazine.
“The important thing is whatever the format, they are all examples of the transformative power of school journalism.”
“Creating media gives young people the chance to create, to formulate and express opinions, to lead, manage, work in teams and above all to hone their communication skills, which are so vital for personal and professional success.”
Sharon, who ‘fell in love’ with journalism after seeing an article she had written published in her school magazine, says, “you learn about working under pressure as part of a community and as an individual, and about using your powers of persuasion.”
“If, as a teacher, you were inventing something to give your pupils all-round life skills, visual skills and skills of analysis and communication, you would invent the magazine.”
Thanks Sharon… it’s fantastic to have the perspective of a professional working within education as well as experienced journalist. I hope these words are inspiring.
Even if your school magazine is at a planning or creative stage today, register with the Shine School Media Awards and we can provide guidance and encouragement from now til our entry deadline next May.
If you have any questions, message us direct – shine@stationers.org
Best wishes,
Richard Chapman
Chair, Shine School Media Awards