A new and exciting venture for Tavistock College went 'on air' last Thursday — the school's own radio station.

The first broadcast was an interview with South West teacher of the year Crispin Chambers, the college's head of Japanese.

The station was officially opened by David Sheppard of BBC Radio Devon, who said his own broadcasting career started in school radio almost ten years ago: 'Getting this type of experience when you are at school is invaluable. I have a feeling in the next few weeks you will learn new skills you never even knew existed until today.

'They will be skills that will be useful in all sorts of fields.'

David said there were three key things to remember when broadcasting: 'Never say anything you wouldn't be happy for the listeners to hear, however stressful a situation is, try to sound as though you are enjoying yourself — and go to the toilet before your show!'

Joining David in cutting the ribbon to the radio studio was Tavistock's new mayor, Cllr Harry Smith, on his first official engagement.

Cllr Smith said: 'This is an exciting venture for our college — it's a great facility which I think will be tremendous for the students and I am sure will be very popular.'

A competition was held to name the new radio station. Twenty entries were received, and the winner was Young Voice, submitted by student Emily Morly.

College principal Helen Salmon said the name was ideal, as the students would be taking such a major role in the running of the station and its content.

She said the new venture had 'loads of potential'.

The content would be cross-curricular, involving English, music, drama and media students — but its worth would be proved in a far wider sense too: 'It's a fantastic way to engage with the students, to have fun, but they will also be learning skills they will need when they are out in the wider world after school, which will stand them in good stead whatever they end up doing.'

Mrs Salmon said the idea for the radio station was suggested some 18 months ago — but it would never have come to fruition had it not been for the help of college supporters, in particular school parent and governor Nigel Larcombe-Williams, who sourced the equipment.

'I could never have done it through the school budget so it really is thanks to him that we have been able to do this so quickly,' she said.

Darren Bird, head of media studies at the college, said after a fact-finding visit to Coombeshead School at Newton Abbot, which also has its own radio station, staff had been convinced of the value of the venture.

'The students really owned it, they were running it, there wasn't a staff member in sight. We were full of beans about it, and Helen was all for it, but really, Nigel was the main man, he sourced the right equipment and really made it happen.'

A broadcasting schedule is being worked up and training the students would begin after half term. It is envisaged that year groups would be responsible for a day of the week, broadcasting at lunchtimes to start with, then adding a breakfast show.

Content would range from music to interviews, story reading, poetry, and drama.

He said: 'I certainly don't think there will be any issues as far as interest is concerned — we have a really strong arts ethos here and media is a really thriving subject.

'I think it's got huge long term potential — we are really quite excited about it.'