Children write their own episodeof school drama Waterloo Road

CHILDREN at a Sheffield secondary school yesterday wrote and filmed their own short episode of drama Waterloo Road as part of an outreach project by the BBC.

Staff from the corporation were at Meadowhead School as part of a four-day tour of schools in the North of England, to coincide with the forthcoming move to Media City in Salford.

A group of Year 10 pupils at Meadowhead wrote their own script for a five-minute film and this was then honed yesterday by assistant script editor Laura Klimke, from Shed Productions. The children then filmed the episode, which will be screened before guests including Waterloo Road cast members and Peter Salmon, director of BBC North, at the Printworks in Manchester next week.

Mr Salmon said: “Waterloo Road is one of the BBC’s most popular series and since 2005 has been filmed and produced in Rochdale, making it a real northern success story.

“I’m delighted we are taking such a popular show out to a new generation of talented young people.”

The other schools taking part were Whitgift School in Grimsby, Heworth Grange School in Gateshead and Fulwood Academy in Preston.

Margaret Burgin, head of BBC Outreach, oversaw the project and said: “With the BBC coming to Salford, we wanted to show that we already do a lot of production in the north.”

Drama teacher at Meadowhead School, Natalie Martin, said: “The students had a fantastic time.

“It’s a really unique opportunity for them to be able to work with professionals and they’re very excited about seeing their films on the big screen.”