Rise Up Academy is an organisation aimed to deliver workshops to primary and secondary schools with the intention to inspire, educate and inform young adults about the different career pathways and opportunities within the broadcast technology industry. The sessions were ran by volunteers from industry professionals such as BBC, BT Sport, ITV, Discovery and more. It helps younger people to gain networking opportunities as well as open their eyes to different roles within the industry.

We were lucky enough to host Rise Up Academy for a week at Global Academy giving opportunities for students in Year 10 – Year 14 to take part as well as our local secondary and primary school partners.

Rise up Academy worked with Global Academy students in building and creating a production TV Set from the ground up. This included Visual, Audio, Cameras, and digital equipment, working with the top professionals in their field. The students were split into groups and rotated on each department so they could see which area they enjoyed the most. The students were then in charge of producing a quiz show including presenters and guests and had to communicate in real-time with each other to make this successful. Students got a better understanding into the roles of broadcast engineering and how this could possibly be a route for them in the future.

This included switching between cameras, the sound team bringing in theme music, correct/incorrect answer sounds, and visuals displaying scores on the monitor in front of the presenter and showing adverts as though it was live on air.

This was a fantastic opportunity for the students to get a deeper understanding of what it really takes to produce a TV and direct and produce a quiz show, like some of their favourites like Pointless and Saturday Night Takeaway.

By working with industry professionals our students were able to network with the team and ask questions they might have about how to get into the industry and have a more depth conversation about what it is really like to be a broadcaster.

“I loved it. It was great to work with so many industry professionals who really understood their field. It gave me more of an insight into how TV Shows are created and has given me a lot to think about moving forward in my career.”

Dani Foley, Year 13

At Global Academy, our aim is always to help students understand the industry first hand, gain contacts, and have experiences like no other.

We want to thank the Rise Up Academy and volunteers for all their hard work in the week they were with us and for motivating and giving students a deeper insight into the industry.