As part of our celebrations in 2010, we were delighted to welcome former student, Ellie Harrison, to speak with students about her fascinating TV career.

Ellie spoke to Year 8 and 9 students during an assembly and proved to be a very motivating speaker, emphasising how important it is not to be distracted by things which could affect their learning. She told how her first move into Higher Education did not suit her, so she went travelling to Africa where her interest in wildlife and geography came alive. She then returned to take up a place at King’s College in London to study Geography and Ecology.

From there she did several very ordinary jobs and ended up in administration for Channel 5. An opportunity arose to take over from Michaela Strachan on Michaela’s Wild Challenge. She illustrated this with some very real and scary moments that happened while working with wild animals. She moved to the BBC as a wildlife reporter on The One Show and finally the chance to work on Countryfile.

Ellie awarded prizes for a competition organised by Head of Geography, Pete Hayward, which was to create a short video in the Countryfile style on a topic of their choice. The winners were Rosie Loosemore and Lindsay Cameron who filmed at Stroud Show earlier this summer where they interviewed exhibitors and judges, as well as covering the event as a whole. Their prize of £50 PC World vouchers each should prove useful in their search for more digital equipment.

Our sincere thanks are extended to Ellie for giving up her time and for inspiring such confidence to our students.