Alton Convent School was again delighted to play host to sixth formers from Salesian College and More House School for this year's Joint Sixth Form Conference. Our theme this year was "News Values or Real Values?", comparing and contrasting the values of the media and public life with those we ourselves hold. A distinguished panel of speakers once again led our discussions.

The day began with a brilliant session on what makes a good story in tabloid and broadsheet journalism. Our speaker, Jim Mansell, started his career in journalism as a trainee on a weekly newspaper in Southport before coming to Fleet Street more than twenty years ago. He has worked on the Daily Mirror, the Mail on Sunday, the Daily Star and is currently with the Daily Mail.

We continued to explore this theme through group discussions around the issues raised about "news values", as well as trying to come up with some exciting headlines.

We then heard from Garry Richardson, sports presenter for Radio 4's Today Programme and Five Live's Sportsweek. Garry looked at the importance of the interview in making a good news story, drawing on his experience of interviewing the likes of Bill Clinton, Robert Maxwell, Anna Kournikova and Nelson Mandela. Our sixthformers picked up a few ideas for university and job interviews in the process!

After a most convivial lunch, poetry editor Les Robinson introduces Aoife Mannix, an Irish poet based in London. She talked about her own life in a series of powerful, emotionally affective performance poems, showing how there can be a story worth telling in all of us.