North Tyneside high school students have designed, filmed and presented a series of podcasts exploring some of the issues that matter most in their lives.
The Youthforia Podcast was co-created by pupils aged 11 to 16 at John Spence Community High School in North Shields, in partnership with video services company ScreenBoo Productions and participatory arts organisation Helix Arts.
The 10 episodes were filmed between October 2024 and January 2025, and cover topics including What is Culture, North Shields for Teens, GCSEs, and Social Media for Teens.
All the episodes are now available on YouTube and Instagram, where they have already had 2,000 views and lots of positive feedback.
The project is funded by North Shields Cultural Quarter, part of North Tyneside Council’s ambitious plans for North Shields, enhancing and growing the creative economy. It is supported by the North East Combined Authority.
The project was developed by Gemma Bond from North Shields ScreenBoo Productions with support from Cheryl Gavin, Director of Helix Arts.
Gemma worked with the young people to build their skills in storyboarding and production planning, lighting, camera, sound, studio setup, scenery, presentation, discussion hosting, video editing and branding.
Gemma said: “I loved working on this inspiring project. What surprised me most was how open the young people were, despite the age differences between them.
“We wanted it to be their project so we brainstormed ideas about which topics to choose. We planned the discussions and worked on structuring their questions to help the conversation flow.
“The social media episode brought out a lot of opinions, the question about whether you would let your own kids have social media was one of my favourites.
“We saw the young people’s confidence grow as the project went on and that was wonderful to see. They took it in turns to host and some real natural presenting talent came through.
“These videos are a great watch for parents and other adults as well as teenagers themselves, giving an insight into their world and what matters most to them.”
The young people who took part were already involved in drama activities at John Spence.
Alex said: “My favourite episode has to be the GCSE one mainly because I was with my friends and I got to know what their options were like, what goes on in their lessons, and what we regret and what we don’t.
“I liked this podcast because I didn’t have a lot of confidence, even though I do some acting. This built my confidence a bit more and I got to learn about production, what goes on behind the scenes and what goes on before the podcast, setting up all the equipment then planning what you’re going to talk about.”
Isabella said: “I really enjoyed this experience. I got to say my opinions, learn more about filming and what goes on behind the scenes. It will also help for future CVs and give me more job experience.”
Head of art at John Spence High School Claire Entwisle said: “I’ve loved the dynamism, the enthusiasm, the big smiles, the laughing and giggling when something funny’s happened. How much ownership they’ve had over it and how personal it became to them.
“Seeing the planning that’s gone into it, seeing them rehearse before they’ve gone on, the branding, the lighting the camera, the technical skills. I think that’s been a big eye opener.
“I think the best part has been that it’s been led by them. Even when some of the topics have been quite hard hitting, they’ve had a chance to talk about what’s important to them in their lives.”
Drama teacher at John Spence High School Jemma Patrick said: “The amount of conversations that have been generated from the podcasts has been fantastic.
“They’ve formed friendships and they’ve been able to listen to each other, even if they don’t agree with each other’s opinions, in a safe and open environment.
“We’ve had great feedback on Instagram, everyone’s been really positive about it.
“Podcasting may be an avenue some of them can explore further in future. It helps with their social skills and life skills, communicating, being able to listen, speak with confidence, research skills and time management. I think they’re going to take an awful lot from this project.”
Cheryl Gavin, Director at Helix Arts said: “At Helix Arts we support organisations to connect and nurture partnerships to flourish. Our long-term relationship and trust with John Spence staff led to a great match for Youthforia. We have built on our work there through projects like ’Georgian Cluedo’, a heritage project young people scripted and performed in North Shields.
“When it comes to our work with a wide range of young people, they are absolutely at the heart of everything, wherever possible. What young people say has much more impact when they get to share what matters to them. Youthforia is a great example of this.
“I can’t wait to hear what parents and their peers think about what the group have shared. We want everyone to listen. It’s really important to me that adults also talk about what we can all do about what pupils have expressed and what our organisations can do to prepare for creative jobs that probably don’t even exist yet.”
Councillor Carl Johnson, Deputy Mayor for North Tyneside and cabinet member responsible for Regeneration, Culture and Economic Development said: “This is an important example of how young people are making their voices heard within our Cultural Strategy for North Tyneside. They are the future of our creative economy.
“We hope it will inspire them to be part of the cultural life of the Borough, and that this can be used as a model for other successful youth projects in future.”