Clitheroe school pupils interview David Cameron (From Lancashire Telegraph)

Clitheroe school pupils interview David Cameron

12:00pm Tuesday 13th March 2012 in Ribble Valley news

TWO school pupils had the chance to grill the Prime Minister and other party leaders about issues concerning young people.

Poppy Mackay and Maisy Whipp, year 10 students at Ribblesdale School in Clitheroe, interviewed David Cameron, deputy prime minister Nick Clegg and leader of the Labour party Ed Milliband as part of the BBC School Report project.

They also got the opportunity to do a workshop with radio journalist Martha Kearney, who helped them prepare their questions.

The girls’ interviews were broadcast on Radio 4 on the World at One programme and Ribblesdale School will also be making five short news bulletins as part of the project’s news day on 15 March.

Maisy, 14, who was the member of youth parliament for the Ribble Valley chose to speak to the leaders about cuts to youth services, as both her parents are youth workers.

She said: “It was a fantastic experience.

“It was fun and it was interesting getting to see 10 Downing Street.

“I had to ask the first question and sit next to David Cameron and he said that he enjoyed it.”

Poppy, 15, wanted to know why the government was planning to go ahead with the reforms to the NHS when some doctors and nurses were opposed to them.

She said: “It was an incredible experience.

“It was just so good to have got that opportunity - it was really exciting.”

After the success of the project, Poppy is now considering a career as a news reporter.

Aby Hardy, media studies and English teacher at Ribblesdale School, said the school had been selected from over 1000 for the project and that Maisy and Poppy were chosen from their media class because of their excellent grades and journalism potential.

Mrs Hardy said: “The girls were really excited all week.

“They were brilliant and they gave the politicians a bit of a hard time.”