Cultural capital opportunities
The Burnet News Club gives students cultural capital opportunities. They get to talk to experts related to the current topic that they would never have spoken to otherwise. Our school is in a highly deprived area and there would be almost no chance of talking to these kind of professionals if it wasn’t for the Burnet News Club. The children know their voice can be heard and it motivates them to know an expert will respond to something they’ve said. This is an opportunity school cannot always do for them.
Links to our curriculum
The Burnet News Club really links to the curriculum because students are getting so many cultural capital experiences. They are learning so much about the world around them and this is something we are really trying to get into our curriculum. For example, local Geography, wider UK and learning more about where they live – the Burnet News Club links to this perfectly. For the more traditional subjects, they are doing a lot of reasoning and thinking through their answers and considering what they think. It also helps with their writing and debating because it gives them a whole new vocabulary. It helps their performing in drama, not to mention their ICT skills through their use of the Hub. They’re doing art in the Burnet News Club through posters and cartoons. It has links throughout the curriculum.
Supported by parents
When I first started the Burnet News Club six years ago, I didn’t know what to expect. When we had the training I was concerned that the issues were quite sensitive – such as immigration – and this worried me. It was my main apprehension: how would parents respond to us tackling sensitive subjects? However, I've never had any problems, issues or complaints at all.
There’s a diverse mix of students in this school – students from both deprived backgrounds and some from very affluent backgrounds and so when I brought the Burnet News Club here I was a little concerned. I wasn’t sure how parents would respond, but they have been keen, supportive, and have thanked me on the gate for the fact their students are so engaged in the news! One parent works in politics and she was so impressed at how engaged her child was.
It’s reassuring for parents to see what their kids are doing – they can log on to the Burnet News Club Hub and see how safe it is. I was initially worried about cyber-safety but I know that the Burnet News Club team takes safeguarding very seriously and every comment gets moderated, so I have no concerns about that all.
