Hipperholme and Lightcliffe pupils grill Calderdale Paralmpian Hannah Cockroft for BBC project

PUPILS at Hipperholme and Lightcliffe High School are to be radio stars.

They welcomed Paralympic sprint hero Hannah Cockroft to their school for a project to be aired on the BBC.

The double gold medal winner at the London 2012 Paralympics was grilled by the students as part of the BBC Radio 4 project.

After welcoming Hannah to the school, students from Year 7 took part in radio interviews with BBC Radio 4 staff for their Women’s Hour programme.

Further sessions were held with year 8 students who interviewed the Paralympic star for an interview filmed by BBC staff, as part of their BBC School Report project.

Students are taking part in the BBC School Report project during their English lessons in preparation for the news day on March 21, when students will go live, publishing their journalism on a range of topics on both the Hipperholme and Lightcliffe High School and BBC websites.

Excited students interviewed Hannah on a range of topics including disability and discrimination, music and fashion.

Students were also given the unique opportunity to hold and wear the Paralympian’s two gold medals.

The students took on roles as reporters, photographers and camera crew.

Head of English at Hipperholme and Lightcliffe High School, Jenny Slater, said: “Hannah was fantastic with the students. She spent a lot of time with them signing autographs and having photos taken.

“Students were inspired by what Hannah said to them and they gained a great deal from the experience.”

The school has also been given extra publicity of its production of Robin Hood by the Chris Evans BBC Radio 2 show.

Louis Ward, cast as a guard in the Hipperholme and Lightcliffe High School production, has been on the show’s regular feature which encourages children to contact him to tell him what they have done for the first time.

Louis, a Year 7 pupil, explained his previous night’s involvement in the show, not missing the opportunity to increase the size of the audience over the next two performances by letting them know a few tickets were still available.