Sutton Talking Newspaper (STN), a charity run entirely by volunteers, each week records about 30 minutes of local news taken from The Sutton Guardian, onto CDs, memory sticks and Internet radio, for blind & visually impaired people in the London Borough of Sutton. In addition, they also produce a 30 minute recording of a magazine-type programme called “The Clarion” 

In June 2018, ten of our Yr 10 students were selected to produce an edition of this audio-magazine.  Miss Smith and Mr Taylor worked with the students over two sessions and in this time, they learnt how to write, record, edit and produce this 30 minute podcast. The students could pick any topic to talk about. They had to do the initial research and write their script, making sure that they kept to their time allocation. Two students did interviews with teachers at the school in the first session – using digital hand-held recorders. In the second session they were all taken to the STN recording ‘studio’ in Carshalton, where they finally put together the show – recording and editing on the day. They learnt of microphone technique and how to use the editing software; mixing voice recordings with sound effects and music.

This recording will be sent out on memory sticks and CDs to visually impaired people in Sutton.  It will also be available in the July on the STN website (www.suttontn.org.uk).