Earn your 2012 Reporter Medal...

We are fast approaching the start of the London 2012 Games and we want young people to start reporting on the most exciting summer of sport the UK has ever seen!

What is happening in your local area?
Are you excited about the 2012 games?
What are your plans - are you going, having Olympic parties, or just watching at home?
Are there any Olympic hopefuls from your area?

Inspired by Mozilla Open Badges, a new way of recognising and rewarding all the skills learnt inside and outside the classroom using online badging, S2R is launching a Reporter Medal for 2012 which young people can earn by creating media reports about the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

From 1st May 2012, young people can start submitting their reports to the S2R Channel. The first 500 young reporters who submit a successful report will receive a physical shiny 2012 Reporter Medal in the post. Each month our favourites will be featured on our Medal Winners page!

Schools and Youth Clubs can follow these 3 easy steps to help students/young people earn their Medal:

1. Sign up for a free station on the S2R Network www.radiowaves.co.uk/joins2r
2. Create an Olympic themed sports report and upload to your new S2R account
3. Submit to the '2012 Sports Reporter Medal' channel!

Are you are parent or a young person? Ask your school to sign up for an S2R Account or register your interest here!

If you need inspiration, keep an eye on www.radiowaves.co.uk/s2r. As the Games draw closer we will be filling the network with great ideas for sports reports.

Coming soon - The reporters will receive a ‘digital medal’ (using a new system devised by Mozilla), which means the young person can display them on any of their social networks and personal pages.

Any questions? Leave a comment below or contact us! Tel: 0113 245 6445, Email: s2r@digitalme.co.uk

Follow us on Twitter: @DigitalMe_  #2012ReporterMedal

This weekend The Children's Society and DigitalMe hosted their second residential of the year, training and facilitating young carers from across the UK to make video reports about the issues they face and the support they'd like to receive in future.

In partnership with the Stars National Initiative, a project funded through The Children's Society which works with young carers affected by parental drug and alcohol misuse, DigitalMe worked with the young people to discuss the ways social networking could be used positively for young carers. The young people also created films and animations on their chosen topics, which included the stereotypes of young carers and support they would like to receive from professionals.

This year the Youth Sports Trust, in partnership with S2R, launched the first ever School Games Curriculum Competition. Young people all over the UK were encouraged to showcase their talents in a variety of categories, and the winners will be involved in the 2012 School Games at the Olympic Park.

The competition saw 158 schools join the School Games Network on Radiowaves, and over 60 entries were received into the 7 categories of reporting, announcing, commentating, photography, music and art.

The National winners of the media categories will be joining S2R for a media camp to develop their skills, which will culminate in reporting at the School Games Competition at the Olympic Park in May.

Regional winners have been invited to Masterclasses around the country where they have gained new skills in sports reporting, photography and filming and met industry experts. Over the last two weeks S2R have hosted these Masterclasses in Devon, Durham and London. View the reports they have created on the School Games Network on Radiowaves.

The London Masterclass was held at the London Youth Games at Crystal Palace, where trainees were able to have a hands-on experience photographing and reporting on the events. Here are some highlights from the day:

Want to get your school involved in S2R for 2012? Join the S2R Network and download our Free Resources to set up your sports reporting team!

Our Safe Reporters vere very excited to be invited to the E-safety Live 2012 events in London and Edinburgh this March.

Here are the Edinburgh highlights:

Here are the London highlights:

Twitter:

@EsafetyLive2012

@DigitalMe_Safe

Free Teacher Resources in Safe Social Networking: www.safesocialnetworking.org

Watch more interviews here: www.radiowaves.co.uk/safe

Ayesha Taylor, 16 from London and Rob Garland, 19, from Manchester represented S2R (Supporter To Reporter) at a celebration of London 2012 Olympic Games youth projects at Number 10 Downing Street (Wednesday 28th March).

The invitation was a reward for showing commitment and creativity, reporting on events from grassroots games to major finals, interviewing sports superstars and local heroes and following stories around the country to meet deadlines.

Their reports along with those created by children and young people from the UK and internationally are published on the S2R Network on youth media website Radiowaves. www.radiowaves.co.uk/s2r

S2R is a ‘London 2012 Inspire Mark’ project which aims to give young people confidence and workplace skills by combining the power of sport with social media. Created by social learning social enterprise DigitalMe, S2R is free for any school or youth group to join, publish their reports and access top tips and how-to guides.

Rob says “S2R has been an incredible journey from me. I’ve had experiences I’ll never forget - like interviewing Rio Ferdinand and Freddie Flintoff. It’s helped me get on my Marketing course at university and taught me that learning can be fun and not all about the ‘teacher’ knowing it all. It’s given me ‘employability skills’, which everyone is talking about these days. Now I’m a mentor, giving something back, which I should be doing to say thanks”.

S2R is calling on schools and young people anywhere in the world to submit their sports reports - as video, audio or blogs. All accepted pieces will gain a special 2012 online S2R 2012 Reporter Badge’ - a new, online way to reward and recognise skills supported by Mozilla.

Lucy Neale, S2R Project Director added:

"S2R is a really unique chance for young people from around the world to take part in creating a youth led sports reporting channel.  Through S2R young people can improve their confidence and develop skills which help them open up new opportunities, whether for employment or further education.

We welcomed the opportunity to raise the profile of young people's creative work and hope that many more young people from schools and groups across the world will take part in S2R in the run up and during the Olympic Games".

Useful links:

Wanted: Young Sports Reporters S2R Reporter Network

Free teacher / facilitator Resources

Mozilla Open Badges: S2R Medals

E-Safety Live, now in its 6th year, is a landmark event bringing together online safety providers, experts and global industry leaders to discuss with delegates the latest e-safety topics.

If you have any questions you would like our reporters to ask, them please leave a comment below!

Find out more about E-safety Live here!

Twitter: @EsafetyLive2012

Follow @DigitalMe_Safe to find out what our reporters get up to in London and Edinburgh!

This week sees thousands of educators and exhibitors gather at the NEC in Birmingham for one of the biggest events of the year; The Education Show.  DigitalMe are delighted to be running a Learn Live session about Safe on Thursday 15^th of March.

Over 12,00 education professionals visiting the Education Show are offered a selection of free CPD seminars, workshops and training; whist over 400 leading suppliers and exclusive show special offers on the latest resources for your learning environment.

DigitalMe will be hosting a session at the Learn Live Primary  Theatre, with Kate Valentine sharing how Safe, the certificate in safe social networking, can be introduced into primary schools.

Social networking and sharing content online is now an integral part of young people's lives. It provides many opportunities for them to develop creative and communication skills in ways that are relevant to them, in school or at home. However, with these new opportunities come many new choices. How do we help children make positive and informed choices when creating and sharing online? Safe aims to provide practical activities and a framework to help pupils develop as aware and active digital citizens. Kate Valentine, primary school teacher and author of the Safe Teacher Resources, leads an interactive workshop on how to incorporate Safe into the primary curriculum, looking at all aspects of social media from profiles to blogging and commenting.

For further details about DigitalMe and our various projects for schools, come and see us on stand B73

Seminar Theatre : Learn Live Primary

Date/time : 15 March 2012 / 15:00-15:45

Seminar details 

Education Show details: http://bit.ly/up3jnG

Twitter: @EducationShow

This weekend DigitalMe are continuing our work with young carers in partnership with The Children’s Society, at a residential funded by the Elton John Foundation. The DigitalMe team will be giving young carers affected by HIV the skills and confidence to create videos to share their stories and talk about the issues they face.

The residential precedes Young Carers in Focus, a four year project funded by the Big Lottery, led by The Children's Society which aims to raise awareness of the issues young carers face by giving them the skills and confidence to get their voice heard at a nationwide level. Throughout the project DigitalMe will empower young carers by training them to use social and digital media to, gain new skills and confidence, provide a safe space to share their experiences and connect with decision makers.

To hear what young carers are saying visit www.radiowaves.co.uk/youngcarersfestival

www.radiowaves.co.uk/s2r

Supporter to Reporter (S2R)  is an award winning programme which develops young people’s skills and confidence through sports reporting. We have just launched our national programme to build a youth reporting team for 2012 to enable schools all a cross the UK and the world to report about what London 2012 means to them in their communities. Hear what young people are saying www.radiowaves.co.uk/s2r

We have created free teacher resources to help schools set up their very own Sports Reporting Team as well as launching a programme of online activities and expert resources to help you develop your skills to a professional standard.

Join our reporting team! If you aren't already signed up to S2R, find out more information here and join for free to access a free platform to promote your students' reports online.

The 3 S2R Levels include:

1. Becoming a Reporter

2. Interviewing and Researching

3. Reporting on Location

The activities can be completed in lesson or after school and are a great way to engage your students with the London 2012 Games.

After each level the new young reporters will receive an S2R certificate!

How do you get involved?

1. Sign up for your free online platform
2. Download the Free Resources and complete the activities with your S2R Team
3. Reward your Reporters with Certificates

Although the Games are happening in London, we want schools all around the UK and the world to be reporting in their schools and local communities. We want them to find out how or if London 2012 is affecting their village, town or city!

www.radiowaves.co.uk/s2r

Rewarding 21st Century Skills - S2R Medals

S2R Training - Need extra support and guidance to train up your S2R Team?

www.safesocialnetworking.org

Safe, the Certificate in Social Networking helps schools meet the new Ofsted Guidelines by giving teachers and pupils practical activities to learn how to be responsible when using social media.

The new Ofsted Guidelines state school inspections will focus on pupils’ needs by minimising the risk to children, young people and adults by evaluating the effectiveness of schools’ procedures for safeguarding. Inspectors must take into account a range of evidence to judge behaviour and safety over an extended period, and should consider:
- the extent to which pupils are able to understand and respond to risk, for example, risks associated with new technology.
- types, rates and patterns of bullying and the effectiveness of the school’s actions to prevent and tackle all forms of bullying and harassment, including cyber-bullying

Safe gives schools the evidence needed to fulfil these guidelines by enabling each pupil to achieve their Safe Certificate, ensuring they have learnt how to protect themselves when using social networks. Through a series of practical activities, pupils choose usernames and passwords, write appropriate profiles and blogs, decide where best to share their media and learn how to connect and comment, whist considering their digital footprint and treatment of others online.

DigitalMe, the creators of Safe, have been supported by the Nominet Trust to create a positive experience of project based learning, to ensure that pupils and teachers are best equipped to live in ever increasingly digital world. The NFER online teacher survey for the DfE's highlights the continued need for education and support in this area.

The survey found that:
- 77% of primary teachers and half (54%) of secondary teachers felt that staff had received adequate e-safety training.
- 87% of teachers feel pupils are e-safe at school, but only 58% think their pupils have the knowledge and skills to stay e-safe at home
- Cyberbullying continues to be a problem, with 91% of secondary teachers and 52% of primary teachers saying pupils at their school have experienced cyberbullying, and that most of it is perpetrated via social networking sites.

Over 1,600 schools are now signed up to Safe and are participating in the practical activities, giving them the assurance that their safeguarding policies are on line with the Ofsted requirements and their pupils are ready to thrive in a digital world.

You can sign up to access free resources and support www.safesocialnetworking.org/join