THIS week the Echo is once again bringing you reports from an event we are supporting at Weymouth College.

Last week was Careers' College, where teenagers get to try out occupations which interest them, and those picking journalism became Echo reporters for the day.

This week, it's the turn of Year 6 children who are attending Primary College, who will be taking pictures and writing short articles for the Echo.

  • Booms, Bangs and Great Times!

Today at Primary College we got the chance to test our journalism skills and interview fellow pupils.

We went to the special effects workshop and talked to two 11 year olds, Jessica and Caite. They’re both from St. Augustine’s and they said they were having a great time.

We asked them why they chose that activity and they told us that they thought it would be a lot of fun. We also asked them what special effects they had learned so far and they said they had learnt how to make explosions, lens flairs and smoke.

Caite and Jessica said that their favourite film with special effects is Star Wars! Caite also added that with the skills she learnt today she may want to help with special effects in films when she is older.

By Jaimee, age 11, Radipole, Cassie, age 11, Radipole and Anya, age 11, Holy Trinity

  • College Principal is interviewed by us

Nigel Evans, aged 61, is principal at Weymouth College. He has been working at the college for five years and became principal in January 2016. 

In his early life, Nigel studied at Hammersmith School in London. He had always wanted to work with animals when he was younger. He did work for a few years at the RSPCA, driving an animal ambulance and rescuing hurt pets. After that he was a teacher for thirty-five years. He then became Vice Principal at the college.

Nigel plans to be the Principal for a few more years before he retires. In his spare time he likes to play the piano, try out exercises and walk his dog, Louie. Mr Evans has three children, a daughter aged 20, who is named Natalie, a 15-year-old son named Bill and a 19-year-old son named Dan. 

By Abigail, 11, and Vaughan, 11, from Chickerell and Antonia, 11, from Beechcroft

  • Fabulous Feltworker is Quizzed

Thea, aged 11, from Holy Trinity, told us all about her Feltwork class at Primary College. We asked her, ‘What is feltwork?’ and she told us, ‘Feltwork is cutting out felt and making it into shapes, before sewing it together.’ 

Thea said that the best advice for working with felt is to pin the felt properly, to design and cut out your felt carefully and to not give up! She said that she’s been inspired to do this craft at home. She advises other craftworkers to sew the felt properly, otherwise it will fall apart. Thea was clearly having lots of fun feltworking and creating stuffed animals from felt. 

By Vaughan, 11, and Abigail, 11, from Chickerell school and Antonia, 11, from Beechcroft Primary School

We interviewed Jonny who is 11 and from Wyke Regis about the football workshop. Jonny told us that he has just been signed to AFC Bournemouth.

We asked him how many goals he had ever scored in a match. He told us it was six. We then asked Jonny who was his favourite football player and he said it was Ronaldo, who plays for Real Madrid. We asked him what other sports he likes. He told us he likes to play cricket and tennis as well. 

We then asked another student Edward, 11, from Radipole how many goals did he score in one day and it was four goals.

We also asked him did he like any other sports. He said he likes cricket and tennis. 

By Maclaren, 11, Holy Trinity, TJ, 11, Wyke Regis and Finley, 11, Beechcroft

  • From Classroom to Workshop

Today (Wednesday) at Primary College – where students from across Dorset visit to do various workshops – we took part in the Primary College Echo workshop.

We interviewed Robert, 11, and Oliver, 10.

They were both doing car maintenance; working on a Peugeot engine. They were unscrewing the bolts to take off the oil filter’s cover, so they could see what’s inside.

We asked these two boys if they had learned anything. They said that they had learned how to use a screwdriver.

We also asked what their favourite car company was. Oliver said that his favourite was Ferrari and Robert’s was McLaren; and his favourite model is the 675LT.

Robert added that you should be very careful when working with cars, as it can be very dangerous and different liquids can spill all over you.

By Maclaren, 11, Holy Trinity, TJ, 11 Wyke Regis and Finley, 11, Beechcroft

  • Saving Lives in Primary College 

Maddison is 11 years old; her school is Wyke Regis junior school. She has blonde hair with a ponytail.

She was doing the First Aid workshop when we asked her a couple of questions. The first one was “what are you doing?” She said “saving lives, practising pressure points and CPR.” Another one was, “is this a skill you will use in later life?” She said, “Probably not.” The last question was “what goes into a first aid kit?” She said “bandages, plasters, slings and tissues.”

By Freya, 11, Lucy, 11, Tiana, 10, all from Bincombe Valley and Connor, 11 from Wyke Regis

  • Video Killed The Radio Star

At Weymouth College, children were interviewed about their chosen activity for the day. Students that were chosen to be part of Primary College Echo reported back their information.

The first interview we did was about video-editing. We spoke to Orla and Ella, both 11, from Wyke Regis and asked them what they were doing. They said, “We are making lyric videos to our favourite song.”

Then we asked them, what is your favourite movie and character, they replied, “The Lion King with Zazu and Jurassic World with Charlie Velociraptor.”

Finally, they disagreed whether they were interested in film making as a career. In conclusion, they enjoyed the lesson and recommended the course to others.

By Connor aged 11 and from Wyke Regis, Freya, Lucy and Tiana aged 10 and 11 from Bincombe Valley

  • Young Boy Having a Chain of a Time

Today at Primary College we went and interviewed Sam, aged 11, from St. Andrew’s while he was doing Bike Maintenance in a workshop.

Even though his teacher chose the activity for him he seemed to really enjoy himself.

As well as having a great time he learned something new and very useful for if his bike broke. He said, “I learned how to take a chain off of a bike.”

He also added, “I have two bikes, one is a BMX, the other one is a Hybrid. The reason I have two bikes is because I like to cycle a lot and do stunts.” 

By Anya, age 11, Holy Trinity, Cassie, age 11, Radipole and Jaimee, age 11, Radipole