2017 BBC News School Report

Coming up shortly, Jim Naughtie talks to the Pulitzer prize-winning

writer Siddhartha Mukherjee in Meet the Author.

Today marks the annual BBC News School Report.

It gives 11-16 year-old students in the UK the chance

to make their own news reports for a real audience.

An increasing number in that age-range struggle

with feeling unhappy, self conscious, according

to a special survey carried out as part this year's School Report.

Bryony MacKenzie caught up with Jordan Stevens,

from the Rizzle Kicks, who started his own social media

campaign to get young people talking openly about mental health.

# Mama do the hump mama do the hump hump, mama.

# Won't you please let me do the hump hump...#.

He found fame with a hip-hop duo, Rizzle Kicks, now Jordan

is being asked tough questions by school reporters about the tough

Have you or someone close to you experienced either mental

health issues or the stigma attached to that?

In school during my GCSEs I got diagnosed with ADHD.

I was always the hyper kid, I got told to calm down all the time

and it is the most infuriating thing for someone who cannot calm down.

Jordan began his own social media campaign to get young people talking

Becoming like famous gives you all this kind of stuff,

you know, and I was able to afford a flat and these kind of things that

people are like working day in day out to try and get but the reality

is that does not compensate for any kind of emotional stability,

in fact, it can often contribute to quite poor emotional stability.

According to a School Report survey, half of all pupils admit to having

negative feelings, but do not ask for help.

Being in Year nine, sort of changing as a person,

it is a way to control change and it was something that

Florence developed anorexia when she was 14.

The reason I did not come out and say what I had been

through and what happened was because people did not

understand where I was coming from and, you know, it took a lot

of guts for me to say I had a problem and also I was in denial

because I was embarrassed and I thought that it was not normal

and it was not something that was OK.

Jordan wants his message to reach primary aged children.

To just remove the idea that it is kind of like some taboo,

to be open about how you feel and your mentality is,

Giving help to those who need it even earlier.

The survey commissioned by BBC School report to assess how teachers

and students feel about mental health provisions suggests that half

of young people who experience negative feelings do not ask

for help - and a third of 11-16 year olds do not feel confident enough

People cannot see mental health. It does not surround you like a bubble.

If you have a broken leg, you can show somebody an x-ray and they will

go, oh, yes, you have a broken leg. The mental health is so personal and

so scary and so, you know closed. People keep it to themselves. It is

something embarrassing, weather or not there is a stigma around it, you

do not feel as though you functioning the way a normal human

being should, and that is something in is scary in its often people do

not publicise that. Just because someone has a mental health issue,

does not make them different, but similar. They do have a difference,

but we are all human beings. And we all have our own opinions and our

own attitudes and just because someone has OCD or mental health

issues, it does not change that person massively. Mental health is

not an issue we find easy to talk about. Most of the time, we don't

say anything at all and often, suffer the consequences. Here at our

school we found a way to tackle this. We've introduced a scheme

called what's on your mind which it sees supervising pupils giving

lessons mental health younger pupils. I think it is much better

when it is young people talking about mental health to other young

people. I believe that if this is delivered the way... In this way, I

would have taken a much more seriously. We've been doing

presentations and slide shows and we made them interesting, trying to get

the attention of the pupils. I thought it was a good method, as the

pupils can see it as well as hear it talking about it. It is hoped the

programme will show the younger children it is OK to talk and open

up about problems they may have. You learn our box -- all all been taught

by your peers. If it's a teacher, you just think it's their job,

that's what they are supposed to do. It is helping so many people on so

many levels and I think it's a positive thing. It is very forward

thinking. It is a great idea that we've got the seniors and the

workshops, because they are making a big difference. It is allowing

junior pupils to get to know the seniors a bit better and gives them

another option off, I'm not quite ready to tell a teacher yet, but I

may be ready to speak to a senior pupil. There are older people to

talk to, not a parent, a teacher or a friend, just somebody what

otherwise disconnected from. You can sit quietly and speak to them and

that is a great way for people to be able to overcome or begin to

overcome the mental health problems. Perhaps if there were more

initiatives such as this suffering in silence would be a thing of the

past. School reporters also got the chance

to ask for advice from TV doctors Chris and Xand van Tulleken

about issues that Many young people have told us

another big issue is a body image and be gay teenager is about time

your body is starting to change. How do people feel about their

appearance, happy, green for OK a read if you're a bit worried about

your appearance. How do you feel about your appearance? Green for OK

and read if you're a bit worried. You don't always feel good about the

way you look, sometimes we have good days and sometimes bad. What do we

make of that and of body image? Is that difficult for teenagers? It is

extremely difficult. When your body is changing you do not know what you

will look like as an adult, I would say even talking about body image,

there are probably people here who wants you raise that topic and they

say, though if I think about it, I can dredge up a lot of things I do

not like about my body, my weight, the fact I'm losing my hair, and the

floors they can see merit in me. -- they can see reflected in me. I've

made a number of television programmes about weight loss and

have dealt with patient is keen to lose weight. And I always notice

that no one will love you any more or like you anymore when you lose

weight. A lot of the blues the way to realise that life didn't get

better the way they thought it would. Weight loss is only one body

image issue, but it is the most dominant. If you are thinking about

weight, trying to lose it, it is good to be fit and healthy, it is

good to have control of your life and losing weight does involve

controlling what you do and taking command of what you do. But it is

not good to associate those things with your value as a person.

Students' well-being was near the top of the list of concerns

Students from Tor Bank School in Dundonald, County Down,

have been revealing how completing their emotional

well-being "five-a-day" keeps them happy and healthy.

We are here at our school today for BBC News School Report to find out

how we keep our emotions healthy. Our feelings need five a day to be

healthy. Those are: taking time to relax makes us healthy. Sometimes I

feel happy, grumpy, sad and angry. Talking about your feelings and

talking about how we feel every day helps. Helping people makes us feel

good. Going outside keeps us healthy.

Goodbye! We are all happy and healthy.

Another one of the issues being looked at by this

year's School Report, is online and cyber bullying.

According to the NSPCC, the number of incidents has gone up

With the explosion of social networking -

is it something students and schools are well enough prepared for?

School reporters at St Patrick's College in Maghera have

We are going to look at the issue of cyber bullying. What is that? Here

we have been learning about cyber bullying. That is any form of

bullying which takes place online through smartphones or tablets.

Unfortunately, it is rife in our technology driven era. Let us find

out more about this issue and the impact it has on the lives of young

people today. There can be no doubt that a child will feel both

physically and emotionally vulnerable if they become a victim

of online bullying. Cyber bullying is a seriously scary issue. The

question remains though, do you people really know what to do if

something goes wrong? Do not respond or retaliate. Tell a trusted adult,

a parent or your favourite teacher. A body 's or destructive actions are

about the run problems. Never delete any communications. Remove or block

the person. Do not forward a message to anyone. What rules can cyber

bullying play when it opens -- can schools play when it often happens

outside of school? 56% of young people have admitted to witnessing

an incident of online bullying. So we are focusing on that and asking

all pupils and young people to stand up to it and even if it is not

happening to you, to have strength of character to say it is wrong.

As part of this year's School Report, the BBC

director-general, Lord Hall, was grilled on a number of subjects

Twelve year-old Alex, together with 14-year-olds Yusuf

and Rima asked him what his main challenge, as DG, was.

The task I've set myself or the organisation is to reinvent what the

BBC does, so it appeals to people of your age group and people older than

you as well. I profoundly believe the BBC can do that. Have you chosen

a new Doctor who were yet? And would you choose another new race or

gender? No, not checked and I'm forbidden to say anything about

anything to do with who the next Doctor Who might be! Where you are

set to lose the Bake Off? Yes, I was very upset. Would you consider

moving more BBC channels online like BBC Three? Yes, we learnt a lot from

BBC Three, what works online and what works on a conventional

environment. I would be careful about moving more channels online.

But we know your generation consumer stuff on whatever device you want

when you want it. Where do you see the BBC in ten or 20 years? I want

to be great programme makers, to continue to be great programme

makers and as much in people's lives as we are now, and that means you

thinking the BBC is an important part of my life and also, I want us

to be recognised globally, not just in the news through the World

Service, but also in terms of the programmes we make.

It's not just news that Schools have been researching

They've also been taking on being presenters

Hello, you're watching BBC News and now on score report news day, my

colleagues Peter and Ryan from wyvern Academy in Darlington can

bring you the latest sports stories. The Cheltenham Festival is underway.

There have already been two races and our sports reporter can tell us

more. The school reporters working behind the scenes and so we are

literally behind-the-scenes here of BBC sport, which you will know and

love and if you're paying attention, you will have a spot of the present

this afternoon have been a bit younger than usual. I'm not be rude,

it is true, because they are here now. Ryan and Peter, you've just

presented our afternoon bulletin, how was it for you? It was very

nerve-racking building up to it when they said you will be on the BBC

News. When you got in there, it was just you and the autocue and it was

a lot easier, but the build-up was terrifying. You've got all the

technical jargon, you've come all the way from Darlington for this to

Salford and of the been an interesting day? Was it like? It was

different. I didn't expect it, so it was interesting and quite

nerve-racking as well, but then it was weird, you can't forget your

nerves when you are in front of the camera. That makes you sound like a

natural legs and you two did it this morning. Ever enjoyed it? What you

do it for a living? I think I might, actually. It has been interesting.

I've certainly learned how to pronounce the names of more rugby

players. That is a skill for life! Did you enjoy it? Yes, interesting

to see how it works behind-the-scenes. You watch it but

never realise what it is like to be sad event at the camera and what

goes into making it. Timmer, you are the pro who normally does this. You

are worried for your job? Yes, I'm looking forward to going home. I'm a

bit worried they will take my job sooner. Simon is much more trouble

than me and they were very good, when they? So relaxed and it's

weird, even in the four I was also they have been with us, they have

learnt a lot and they now seem to have disappeared as well!

We'll leave you tonight with a spoken word piece

from Success, who's 15 years-old and from London.

She said she wanted to portray a very important message about life,

and how even in times of trouble we must stay resilient,

face and conquer our obstacles to better ourselves.

It is a crazy game, but you take it in your stride and for anybody here,

that is going through dark times, well, I was there once, but now I

shine. Life is like a game as you flow with it and the guys you roll

with it. Anything you are going to do, you can get through. You are

given this life because God chose you. I was going through the

motions, overwhelmed and invoked with emotions and Sally got to a

time where I can now understand the things I went through was part of

God's greater plan. I put myself with positive energies and I started

seeing the movements. I put myself around good people and good vibes

and started seeing improvements. And loved all the people that make me

smile, because they bring me joy and they make all of this worth the

while. And thank you to those who were there when I was down, I was

falling so quick I almost hit the ground. But I didn't, because I

realised who I am, I stopped using the word cannot and use the word can

be. I realised once you bring things into existence, you put in the we

can show your persistence. You start seeing results. See faults, because

I know how it feels when you know and you cannot smile, but our

feeling is just for now and it only lasts a while, because sooner that

they will, when you will finally see that to a lock-up in this you will

need to find the key and that lies within you within the depths of your

mind, dig deep and see what you can find. Believe in yourself and surely

you will succeed and I continue to say this for as long as I live. It

is not about what you take from this world, but about what you give.