House of Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle was this week interviewed by Burnham-On-Sea and Highbridge students inside the House of Commons.
The youngsters from The King Alfred School Academy’s Jill Dando news team joined other Priory Learning Trust pupils for the visit to Westminster where the interview took place.
Some 12 students, aged 9 to 17, from across The Priory Learning Trust asked the Speaker a wide range of questions.
They covered a variety of topics ranging from his favourite superhero and mental health, to kindness and his top tips on success and happiness.
Ben, 13, Oscar, 13 and Oliver, 13 from Jill Dando’s former school Worle Community School Academy were part of the team where the Jill Dando News project began in 2017 in memory of Jill.
Also interviewing were Grace, 12, Amy, 14 and Evie, 12 from Priory Community School Academy, based a short talk from Jill Dando’s childhood home.
Rosie, 10, Rose, 10, and Lance, 10, attended from Castle Batch Primary School Academy while Dawson, 17, Emma, 17, and Freddy, 17 came from The King Alfred School Academy Sixth Form in Highbridge.
Wearing blue ‘Jill Dando News’ jackets, themed pads and pens, they first watched Mr Speaker in action with over 600 MPs from the Press Gallery with Andrew Marr, Laura Kuenssberg, Quentin Letts and other senior journalists during Prime Minister’s Questions.
The students’ stories and videos will be published on the Good News Post newspaper at www.goodnewspost.co.uk in the build-up to the 25th anniversary of the death of Jill Dando on 26th April. There will also be a very special event taking place in coming weeks.
Sir Lindsay said: “I loved meeting the Jill Dando News reporters – their project of spreading positivity, good news and kindness is a vital message for our times. They were all brilliant and I enjoyed answering their many insightful questions.”
“I hope their dream of training up one million Jill Dando News journalists comes to fruition.”
The Jill Dando News ‘spreading of positivity and good news’ project started in 2017 inside Jill’s former school Worle School in Weston-super-Mare. Professional journalists including Jill’s brother Nigel Dando, who has with 48 years of reporting experience, help out with the training. Sophy Ridge of Sky News, Fiona Bruce of the BBC, Nick Ross and a host of other news and TV professionals have all met the students and passed on tips.
