Last October my dad won a competition on Heart FM to be the editor of the day at the Swindon Advertiser.

This ties in really well with the two-year Creative and Media diploma I am taking at the moment. I’m intrigued by how the media industry works and develops to what appears on the newsstands or comes through the letterbox.

From this experience I want to learn how stories begin and how they are investigated. I have met several journalists today at the morning planning conference to see how the articles are put together. It’s much trickier than many people might expect, and a lot of thought goes into how things are prioritised.

I met reporter Jeremy Grimaldi (whose Canadian accent is really cool) and who also came to our school last September for an interview day.

On that day we had a lot of fun interviewing different journalists and people involved in the media business, such as Jez and Roo from Heart FM.

All around me in the office there are people busy on phone calls, working at speed on their computers while enquiring about different stories – it’s quite a juggling act.

My family, friends and teacher Miss Dawe support me by letting me experience the world of media by setting up events such as the interview day The work I am doing today will count for my artefact unit, which is to create something such as an article or a presentation. In particular, I like learning interview techniques, taking part in vox pops and looking behind the scenes at the Wyvern Theatre.

Newspapers are my favourite part of the media world, as my family are keen readers and I’ve always enjoyed poring over newspapers.

The main part of the Swindon Advertiser that I am interested in is the film reviews and the competitions.

During the day I have learned quite a lot about the media and how newspapers are made and produced. I have also seen some of the newspapers from the 1930s and 40s and they are very different to what they are now in size, but the format is the same and it still has local news, sport and weather.

When I am older I would like to be a journalist because I love going out, meeting people, seeing places and learning new things.

I went to the Prosepect Hospice to take some pictues of Nikki Wilkes who is promoting the Starlight walk, which is a fundraising event. I found both Nikki and the hospice warm and welcoming and both should feel proud of the work they do.

At the second conference meeting we discussed the lead stories for each page.

By Jessica Bell, 15, St Joseph's Catholic College