Local schoolchildren visit for media careers event

Last month, a group of 30 primary school children from St Mark’s Primary School in Brighton took part in a careers event at The 1st Central County Ground as part of a dedicated journalism careers week.

The one-day careers event was hosted by the Sussex Cricket Foundation (SCF) and formed a part of an IntoUniversity activity week designed to help the children learn about different media careers.

The day started with a question and answer session with Sussex Cricket’s Media and Communications Executive, Sam Keir. The session was arranged to give children the opportunity to learn what it is like to work for a professional sports club in a media role.

The children had all prepared questions to ask Sam about his job, including career highlights, qualifications requirements, job entry routes and questions about the skills and qualities needed to work in the media and communications sector.

The children then enjoyed a ‘behind the scenes’ tour of The 1st Central County Ground, including a tour of the Aerotron Indoor School, where they had the chance to watch a professional squad training session. 

The day also included a tour of the first world war exhibition in the Sussex Cricket Museum, and an SCF ‘Healthy Mind, Healthy Body’ workshop, to learn about how exercise can be good for physical and mental well-being.

After the tour, Sam set the children a task; writing their very own news articles based on their day out at Sussex Cricket, with the best story being published on the Sussex Cricket website. The children worked very hard to produce some excellent news articles. After much deliberation, the winning entry was chosen.

‘Terrific Trip’, written and illustrated by Kai Broughton and Harry Collins is available to download and read at the bottom of this page.

Alice Bennett, Senior Education Worker and Primary FOCUS Co-ordinator at IntoUniversity said: “The students really enjoyed the unique opportunity of seeing a real cricket player practising and looking around all areas of the cricket ground including the museum.

“The question and answer session was a great introduction to the world of sports media and the Sussex Cricket staff were really engaging and inspired the students to consider careers within the sports industry.

“This was a fantastic addition to our journalism-themed programme with St Mark's School and consolidated their learning in a fun and educational setting.”