By Jake, 13 School Reporter, Coombeshead College, Devon

What's life like being a roving reporter for the BBC? We found out when reporter Sarah Ransome worked with Year 8 students at Coombeshead College in Devon.

She explained how things work at the BBC and what's involved in a day's work.

Sarah said the most uninteresting interview she had ever had was with Britain's fattest dog! She was hoping it would bark, but it didn't, so she had to speak to the pet owner instead.

I asked if she still got excited when she heard herself on the radio? She found that question hard to answer, but eventually she said: "Yes".

Her job involves phoning people, travelling to exciting places and interviewing all sorts of people. Sarah has to book lots of rooms and work to a very tight schedule.

It was great fun Toby

The job has its exciting moments, such as when she nearly got trapped on a beach in the middle of a live interview. She had forgotten to check the tide times! Luckily she managed to save herself and the equipment.

All the students really enjoyed the day, it was good fun and interesting.

Toby said: "Today I interviewed Sarah Ransome. She is a reporter for the BBC, and she is stationed in Plymouth but travels all round the Southwest.

"During the first part of the day, we talked about news and, working in pairs, chose stories from the day's newspapers.

"Tom and I chose a story about the Golden Globe awards but others chose stories about Big Brother and one pair choose a story on a suicide bombers' suicide note.

Sarah gave students a taste of the life of a BBC News reporter Tom

"Once every pair had a story, we discussed how we would find out if they were true and who we would contact to find out more. After about an hour of this we looked at some reports Sarah had done.

"All that was left to do was interview Sarah, so, in our pairs, we wrote down no more than 10 questions and took it in turns to interview her. It was great fun."

Tom said: "Sarah gave students a taste of the life of a BBC News reporter. She explained how shows such as Newsround are put together and gave us an idea of the pace you need to work at to produce a programme like this.

"Then we each planned a practical way to report and verify a few of the day's big stories including Jade Goody's comments on Big Brother and the British dominating the Golden Globe awards.

Sarah gave us a few examples of situations she had experienced.

They ranged from the good - reporting on an alligator sighting in Cornwall, to the bad - spending all day on a Cornish cliff top waiting for some remains to wash up while being forced back by the strong wind and lashing rain, and the ugly - being first on the scene when Ellen McArthur returned from her round-the-world trip and losing her voice!"

The best part of the day was asking Sarah our questions Summer

Summer said: "I thought the day went really well and we learned lots of things about interviewing people.

"We saw all the equipment Sarah carries around with her every day, including a big satellite and a mixer which she uses to send recordings and interviews to the main BBC News studio in London.

"The best part of the day was asking Sarah our questions and finding out about experiences she has had."

Richard and Robert asked Sarah questions about her job at the BBC. They said: "She told us she had worked in many radio stations and that she prefers being out and about in the field.

"She said her favourite part of the job was meeting new people, going places and investigating news stories."

Some of her answers were amazing Olivia

Olivia said: "I thought the day went really well and I learned quite a lot about the news and how much preparation goes into a live radio broadcast.

"We interviewed Sarah, asking her questions about her job and what she had done in the past, which was really interesting.

"Some of her answers were amazing. We also found out about the steps we'd have to take if we wanted to write a story about a big news story. We would have to make sure that all the facts were true and we would have to make a lot of phone calls!"