But ask them to film themselves and show the recording to a different year group and the fear melts away.

That was the case at Corbet school in Shropshire when Year 8 students showed their news programme during a Year 7 assembly on 11 July 2006.

As part of the BBC News School Report project, students mirrored the job of real broadcast journalists as they made a TV news bulletin in a day.

Here is the timetable of the day's activities, which teachers may wish to adapt for their own News Day:

9am - Research

Students looked at stories on the internet, in national and local newspapers and listened to the radio.

Having done their research, students discussed possible stories to include in their news bulletin during a team meeting.

Teacher Emma Jones said: "This went really well. It was great to see students engaged in the news. Looking at the papers helped their research skills a great deal".

9.45am - Making the news

One group of students left the library, where the students were based, to film the leading report with technical support from staff.

The rest of the students produced six reports; a mixture of local, national, school-based and entertainment news.

By 2pm, the main feature and the other reports were filmed and edited.

Extension activity

Students who had finished their task, or who found themselves without a role, were asked to devise and practise acting out their own bulletin.

2.25pm - Broadcast

The compete news bulletin was shown during a Year 7 assembly. Students who had devised their own bulletin also performed these in front of the live audience.

Evaluation

Students wrote an evaluation of the day.