WOW .... Oliver and myself (and our families) are live in Manchester today talking to BBC Breakfast and BBC Radio 5 Live presenters! What an unforgettable experience! 

We all arrived at the BBC studies, by the quay in Manchester, and started at 8am with a warm welcome from the BBC staff, chaperones and make up artists. We had all our prized possessions ready with us and felt over-whelmingly star-struck. 

We were going to be on the national BBC news and on the RED SOFA!!!!! The fun started and our families were able to share the special experience with us!

Lights, camera, action... and we on chatting about Oliver's winning joke and his success. Oliver talked so confidently and positively and we couldn't be prouder! He shared his winning joke, how he devised it and what this all meant to him. I talked about the meaning of this for the school; how we have developed the love of reading and how the community have pulled together. I shared how learning should be fun and what special memories this will have created for Oliver, Indigo 1, Miss Dyer and the school. 

After this, we went down a floor in the BBC studies to BBC Radio 5 Live. This time, mics, head phones and action...this time talking about the whole experience again, but live on radio air! 

Tune into a synopsis of the radio show using the following Twitter link/tweet: https://twitter.com/bbc5live/status/1662798922186645505

We got to meet camera women, floor managers, producers and technicians! IT was TRULY unforgettable, magical and fascinating. Even more special to come home and watch Oliver in my own lounge, with my family, experiencing it all again again from the opposite side of the screen. 

A fabulous experience for everyone. The whole class also made the national BBC Breakfast show as they replayed our BBC East Midlands clip from Friday. 

I am sure many of the children will keep this journey as an unforgettable memory. I know this is certainly a highlight of my career.

Enjoy the photos (and the rest of the bank holiday and half term) 

See you all soon (when life might feel a bit more normal) and we are back to school on Monday 5th June 2023.

Take care, 

Mrs Bates