Pupils make radio advert to inspire love of reading

They welcomed the Cool FM media bus to their school as part of Eason’s ‘Get Into Reading’ campaign - the year-round initiative which supports literacy, particularly among young children.

The arrival of the bus gave the P6 pupils an exciting opportunity to get on board and explore their love of reading in a themed 90-minute ‘Why I love Reading’ workshop led by Eason and a team of facilitators.

In small groups and in preparation for creating their own radio commercial focused on why they love reading, the students discussed the type of books they like to read, the characters they love, the authors they enjoy and their all time favourite books.

Then, using the on board state-of-the-art recording equipment, the pupils learned a new set of skills as they embarked on developing their own radio commercials to inspire a love of reading in others. Professionals from Cool FM gave the pupils a guiding hand on recording techniques as they scripted and voiced their own ads as well as adding musical finishing touches. At the end of the session, each group was given their work on a bluetooth pen drive to share via social media.

Eason will be shortlisting three out of the seven ads produced by the participating schools and posting them on Cool FM’s facebook page where listeners can vote for their favourite. The winning ad will be aired on Cool FM in the New Year and enjoyed by more than 400,000 listeners to the station each week.

David Field, Head of Marketing and Retail Development at Eason said: “Eason is committed to supporting literacy in Northern Ireland, particularly among young children. The Cool FM media bus has given us a fantastic opportunity to involve students in the campaign, to encourage and nurture their love of reading and to share that message across the school and the wider community.

“We’ve seen the pupils demonstrate how passionate and articulate they are about the books they love and it is their enthusiasm which will be heard by friends and family when they listen to these ads and I’d like to thank the pupils and teachers at St. Brigid’s Primary School for taking part.”

Tannaghmore Primary School is one of seven schools across Northern Ireland who have won the bus for a day following a recent Eason competition on Cool FM.

The school was also presented with a ‘Get Into Reading’ hamper of 20 books, a welcome addition to the school library.