In schools and colleges all over the country, radio is being used in the curriculum in many different ways. 

As an activity, radio production is more likely to be introduced where there is already some knowledge or special interest, eg. where training resources or partnerships are available, or where individual teachers already have a background in making radio.

Teachers who are using radio production are mainly doing so within the curriculum, having established for themselves (or been taught) how to make it relevant and thereby justify the time spent doing it.

We found that radio production is being used in schools in a variety of curriculum areas, especially the following:

• Speaking & Listening
• English, Music and Drama - eg. debating, recording compositions, original dramas etc
• Media Studies and Media Literacy - eg. learning how a radio station works
• Citizenship - eg. interviewing people from different sectors of the community
• PHSE (Personal, Health and Social Education) - eg. recording role playing or discussions on topics such as bullying, respect for all/diversity etc
• Languages - eg. making a drama or documentary in French, Spanish etc
• History and local studies, including oral history - eg. interviewing local residents
• Business studies - eg. making a business plan for a radio station
• ICT - eg. using digital editing software.

We identified various different levels of facility for making radio - from fully equipped radio stations or media centres  - to short term radio stations using an RSL - to innovative projects using small-scale portable equipment to produce recorded features and documentaries. 

For some recent examples, see below.  
See also a list of schools which have used RSLs, and find out about other ways of broadcasting and playing out programmes, such as online, including through RadioWaves.

You can also click here to find out about some of the innovative partnerships with the radio industry, including the BBC, which have been set up by some schools and community groups.

You can also read about different ways of getting started in radio, including what you can do if you don't have enough resources to set up a studio or get a licence.

And if you know of schools or colleges which is using radio production in the curriculum which is not listed, please let us know.

• Benton Park Secondary School, Leeds + partners - broadcasting via RadioWaves
  The school won a BT Education Award 2004 for this project.
  "Year 6 Students will produce a story for an internet-based radio, with the help of Year 7 e-buddies. Three secondary schools in Leeds will identify 10 Year 7 pupils - each will take the role of e-buddies for some Year 6 pupils.
  "Each Year 7 pupil will choose one of ten specially designed characters and will take on that role, enhancing the character by adding their own experience of moving to a high school. The Year 6 pupils will be expected to ask their Year 7 e-buddy character questions to help them develop a radio story about how that character found the experience of moving to a high school and what changes they went through. Questions will be posted on a secure bulletin board.
  "The Year 6 pupils will be expected to use some of the information from their e-buddies but also to be creative in their telling of the character's story. Year 6 pupils will then choose a radio presentation style and write a script. They will record their story, convert it to MP3 format and upload it to a specially designed Internet radio station.
  "The project will enable us to assess ICT skills as well as allowing the pupils involved to overcome some of the transition anxieties they have."
   
• Dore Primary School, Sheffield - portable recording and editing equipment
  The Deputy Head Teacher attended a one-day training course organised by BBC Radio Sheffield at the City Learning Centre. The Year 6 classes created a programme about SATs using a mini disc recorder and a laptop with digital editing software. Enthusiasm spread: a small group of Yr 6 boys spontaneously decided to create a radio drama, other teachers suggested uses for the new skills. The school has now bought more mini disc kits and is using them across different aspects of the curriculum - including during an environmental field day and a museum visit.
   
• Hazelwood Schools, Palmers Green, Enfield - RSL/temporary studios
  Hazelwood Infant and Junior Schools, Palmers Green, Enfield: ran an RSL as part of the Hazelwood Schools Jubilee Arts Festival in July 2002. Funded by an Awards for All (Lottery funding) grant applied for via the Hazelwood Parent Staff Association, plus sponsorship from local shops and businesses. The school ran a 4 day broadcast: programming included a soap opera from Year 6 and a drama The Case of the Missing Heads, for which the infants created the sound effects.
   
• Oundle School - OSCAR Radio - permanent studios
  Oundle School is an independent boarding and day school in Oundle, near Peterborough. OSCAR Radio was set up by David Fuller, Head of Cross Curricular ICT, in 1998. It has a fully equipped radio studio suite funded by the school's charitable Foundation, the head of which is interested in radio. OSCAR is run as an out-of-school Society and is one of the most popular. It is managed by the students themselves, operating as a company (with elected 'Managing Director', 'Company Secretary', 'Treasurer' etc). OSCAR have already run more than a dozen RSLs, with the next planned for November 2005.
   

• Preston Manor City Learning Centre - permanent studios
  Preston Manor School, Wembley Park, Brent is a Specialist Science College with a City Learning Centre within the campus (part of the Excellence in Cities scheme). The media centre project manager is radio trained - the facilities include a fully equipped radio studio suite. Radio is taught within the curriculum and after school, eg. in holiday workshops - as part of the Gifted and Talented scheme. Blaze Radio broadcasts every lunchtime to the school (and to other schools within the Preston Manor City Learning Centre group receive Blaze Radio via broadband) in corridors, canteens and lunch queues. Students also create features and packages which are broadcast online using the on-demand library hosted on RadioWaves. The school also has a radio soap opera project - The Manor - which is a partnership project with the BBC, set up through Creative Partnerships.
   

• Prudhoe Community High School
  The school won a BT Education Schools Award for their project 'Fusion FM' which supported the curriculum in several ways, as follows:
  - Literacy: ensuring the correct use of English. Sessions included: Hear yourself talk, Listen to what you say, Use of pause, silence, pitch, volume, surroundings, echo and reverberation, stereo, time and timing.  A section in the Library was set up for books and magazines on broadcasting. 
  - Numeracy: Costings, timings and production of business plan.
  - Science/Technology: How stereo is transmitted and received, transmitters and receivers, filters, aerials/antenna, two way radios, radio range.
  - History: The history and development of FM and Stereo.
  - Geography: Local area FM radio stations.
  - Art: Design of a logo.
  - IT: Researching costs of setting up a radio station, production of a business plan, setting up a Fusion website and e-mail address.
  - Music: Jingles and sound effects, etc.
  - PSHE: Citizenship. ethical, moral, social, political issues; the laws relating to broadcasting, equal opportunities, multi-cultural issues etc.
   
• Range Radio - Whalley Range School - permanent studios
  Runs a daily lunchtime show from its studios.
  "Some of our most popular student presenters now have weekly shows between 12.30 and 13.30.
  "On Mondays you can tune into the latest cutting-edge Asian music on All Flavours.
  "Tuesday brings irreverent banter from Anita, Vicky & Emma.
  "Charlotte and Ascia join us midweek with their ‘Weird Wednesdays’.
  "Madeline and Sargam look back at classics of the past on Thursday lunchtimes.
  "We end the week with ‘Funky Friday Flavas’, bringing you the latest hip-hop and R&B sounds with guests and competitions."
   
• Weatherhead High School, Wallasey, Wirral - iceradio - permanent studios
  Year 10 pupils and 6th formers get together every Wednesday evening and Friday lunch time to produce "an up-beat, youth-orientated radio show", which is then played around the school and on the internet. This year, they also completed a week of live broadcasts in July 2005.  
  "As far as being a Media Arts College is concerned, the ultimate isn't that everybody loves and does media, it's that they use the media equipment in every subject. So they could be making films in Spanish or radio documentaries in Science." (Nicola Swindell, Director of Media, Weatherhead High School)

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