If you are feeling nostalgic for Jackanory why not check out CBeebies Bedtime Stories which features a host celebrities reading stories. 

• Read the press release 'Brian Blessed narrates new CBeebies Storytime app tale for World Book Day'
• Find out more about World Book Day 2018

No, not a rival to ITV’s show.

But an update on what we’re doing with voice devices.

Last year, I blogged about our approach and in December we launched the BBC’s first full voice app, our Amazon skill.

On Christmas Day, listeners across the UK could find our live radio stations and our podcasts easily when they unwrapped and started trying out their new presents.

Here’s some first numbers on how it’s going.

• We’ve seen 1 million unique browsers use our voice app
• Radios 1, 2 and 4 have so far proved to be the most popular stations when it comes to requests
• People seem to love listening to the radio on voice devices - they’ve been slower to ask for on-demand content

I’m guessing that will change as people get used to interacting with their devices.

This seems to be on course to be something lots of us do. Almost two thirds of UK adults claim to own a device with voice (including mobiles) with one in ten claiming to have access to a smart speaker - this has more than doubled in the past year. This is faster than the uptake of tablets, at the same stage.

So what next? We want to discover new types of content, content that’s been made for Voice, stuff that’s never been possible before. The platform is interactive. It’s not constrained by the structures and formats of linear schedules. As with all our digital experimentation, we’ll try different things, some will work, some will need improving.

One of the first areas we’re experimenting with is programmes for children.

Last year we announced an investment in children’s content to make sure we can reinvent how we serve these audiences, building on what we’ve already done with iPlayer Kids

So with voice we’re going to start making BBC audio content available to kids.

Later this spring, we’ll be creating interactive experiences around some of our most familiar strands for young children.

We'll start small but add new experiences and narratives as time goes on, as we learn about the kinds of interactions that children really like and benefit from. We also aim to offer some of our best children’s stories for bedtime in audio form, but activated by voice - building ways for children to choose a story for themselves.

Children’s content is of course an area where trust matters, and we will make sure that the experience is safe for kids - it will be available through a dedicated skill for children.

We’re also thinking about other genres - such as news, current affairs, food and music.

We’ll blog about those soon too.

BBC Pashto has started a 10-part digital and TV series of bedtime stories for children. Yes, that’s right – in the company of a (toy) bear and monkey, I am telling children in Afghanistan, Pakistan – in fact, anywhere else in the world – fairytales in Pashto, about honesty, sharing, being safe in the street, the importance of brushing their teeth and washing their hands and many other things that help educate them about the world around them.

The diversity of the BBC World Service is its inherent - and celebrated - quality. As Editor of the BBC Academy International Sites, I live and breathe this diversity, working with our language teams to ensure that BBC standards of impartiality and accuracy are maintained by the journalists of our language services. 

This diversity also manifests itself in the way different language and regional services reach out to, and engage, their audiences. As a former BBC Pashto journalist, I know that very well. The new BBC Pashto children’s stories series has a story of its own.    

It was 1995. Civil war was raging in Afghanistan. The country was controlled by several warring factions, and as we reported conflict, destruction, internally displaced people and refugees, we couldn’t help thinking about how all this was affecting the children. We were acutely aware that there was hardly any programming produced for them. Hardly any books were written for them. All they had was war. And when they played games, they played war. I will never forget seeing a group of four- or five-year-olds in Kabul playing a game, pretending to be injured by rockets. They were “waiting for an ambulance” – and, holding the boy, the little girl was saying, “He will survive, he hasn’t lost too much blood!..”  

At the BBC in London, we started a weekly radio programme for children. I had come up with the idea of Kharaki, the little rabbit, my co-presenter. As I read my stories to my little daughter, her reaction helped me to fine-tune my narrative. I made Kharaki ask the questions my daughter had asked me. Although Kharaki was a radio character, we all knew she was a grey rabbit – and who voiced her remains a well-guarded secret to this day.

Kharaki won hearts across Afghanistan as she helped me tell stories about hope, health, respect, living without parents or being disabled by war. Those were stories of a glittering fairyland where peace was the winner and everyone loved each other. Three generations in families would come together to tune in to our stories. And those, who didn’t have a radio set, went to their neighbours’ who had one. 

As a BBC Pashto journalist was interviewing a senior Taliban commander in Kandahar, at the end of the interview my colleague was asked by his interviewee, now smiling: “So who really is Kharaki?”  The BBC journalist’s response was: “She is a very dear member of our team.” 

After all these years, young Afghan men and women still tell me that they grew up with our stories. I am proud and humbled and moved every time I hear that. 

When the BBC Pashto Digital Editor, Ismail Miakhail, asked me to help create this new, digital and TV series for children, to reach out to an undeserved and new audience, I first saw it as a challenge. Do I still have that voice, will I manage that tone? But spurred on by the medium of TV, the tales were evolving. 

We made a point of finding a female Afghan artist to illustrate the series. Nineteen-year-old Nasima Mohammadi in Kabul worked to our brief, creating heart-warming characters and scenes which connect a child’s everyday life with a world of magic. She told me that working on the series had been her best professional experience.

Our Lallo Lallo (Lullaby) series is now running on bbcpashto.com, on Shamshad TV in Afghanistan and a Pashto-language channel in Pakistan, Mashriq TV. As we reach out to the young children in the region, we also hope to reach out to their parents and make them active consumers of our news and information.

Reaching young and female audiences is a priority for the BBC World Service around the world – but especially in this very important region. I hope that as I greet my audience – Salam, granu kuchnanu (Hello, dear children) – families in those remote places will welcome me to join them during their peaceful evening hour. I hope that our stories will add fun, colour – and a tiny bit of magic – to their lives. 

Najiba Kasraee is Editor of the BBC Academy International Sites

• Find out more about BBC Pashto

Today, I’m proud to say, we are taking another step that will enable young people to tell the difference between what is real and what is fake, what is true and what is false.

We are offering as many as a thousand schools mentoring in person, online, or at group events from BBC journalists – including some familiar faces like Huw Edwards, Tina Daheley, Nikki Fox, Kamal Ahmed and Amol Rajan.

All schools will have free access to online materials including: classroom activities; video tutorials; and an interactive game developed by the Aardman studios where the player gets the chance to find out what it is like being a BBC journalist in the heart of a bustling newsroom.

A Reality Check Roadshow will tour the country and local schools will be able to nominate their own Reality Checker pupils to attend one of a dozen regional events. Some will be invited to present on BBC’s School Report News Day in March 2018.

Truth matters. Nothing is more important for our young audiences than teaching them how to find it.

James Harding is Director of News and Current Affairs.

• Read the press release detailing the scheme - BBC journalists return to school to tackle 'fake news'
• Schools can sign up to be part of the pilot

Ever wondered how BBC Children in Need works behind the scenes? BBC Studioworks provides full studio and post production services for the annual live fundraising extravaganza and facilitates multiple pre-recorded specials: find out more in this blog, first published on the BBC Studioworks website.

BBC Studioworks is providing studio facilities and full post production services from Elstree for the annual BBC Children in Need Appeal Show for the fifth consecutive year.

The annual charity fundraiser will transmit live from Studioworks’ 11,800 square foot Studio D today, Friday 17 November, in front of a studio audience of 500. Taking up presenting duties, Tess Daly, Graham Norton, Mel Giedroyc, Ade Adepitan and Rochelle and Marvin Humes will guide viewers through a night of dazzling entertainment and aim to raise millions of pounds for grants and projects in the UK which focus on disadvantaged children.

The night will feature an array of stars and show-stopping performances, including Katie Melua, The Vamps, Rita Ora and Craig Revel Horwood as Miss Hannigan from the West End musical Annie.

Setting the studio

Set assembly in Studio D began on Friday 10 November, as the colossal all-singing-all-dancing stage required 60 hours of building and technical rigging from Studioworks’ crew (watch a time-lapse film of the set up above). Controlled by six lighting desks, more than 170 pieces of lighting equipment have been fitted to illuminate the set and a ten camera set-up has been configured to capture all the action, including Sony 2500 and 1500 cameras, a Technocrane, a jib and hand-held cameras.

Studio D’s Sound Gallery will be the backbone of the Appeal Show’s audio set-up, with a Riedel intercoms system allowing for seamless backstage communication between the crew and a Studer mixing console will capture contributions from both presenter’s and guest’s microphones.

Pudsey Glitter Ball Trophy, EastEnders and the return of Anne Robinson

In addition to the live action in Studio D, a number of one-off specials of popular programmes will be screened. Studioworks’ George Lucas Stage 2 at Elstree was utilised for a Strictly Come Dancing special. Recorded in early November, six legendary Blue Peter presenters from the past 60 years entered the glitz and glamour of the ballroom in a bid to win the Pudsey Glitter Ball Trophy.

Studioworks also facilitated a special celebrity edition of the Weakest Link in Stage 8 at Elstree with seven brave celebrities facing the wrath of Anne Robinson in a bid to win £15,000 for the children’s charity.

EastEnders’ yearly contribution to the Appeal Show has also been pre-recorded by Studioworks. The cast have performed a selection of the most famous songs and dances from the classic musical Oliver!.

Perfecting the Post

On the night of the Appeal Show live feeds from multiple UK locations featuring fundraising and regional stories will be managed in the multiplexer, a bespoke build in Studioworks’ Elstree Post Production Village, that will intercut with performances from the studio. EVS XT3 servers will record this content onto a new Avid Nexis system. All Fundraising, Thank You and Appeal Film VT content will be played into the studio from the Multiplexer during transmission. Highlights montages will also be cut for inclusion into the live programme.

However, not all the post production action takes place on the night of the Appeal Show. Activities began in late October and will run up to the live show, as Studioworks’ Avid Symphony suites cut material for multiple live show features, with Avid Pro Tools used for dubbing and voiceovers. This includes the Strictly Come Dancing special, as well as EastEnders’ performance of Oliver!.

Once the live show ends, Studioworks will continue editing into the night with the turnaround of a 75-minute highlights programme for delivery and broadcast on BBC One on Sunday 19 November.

BBC Children in Need will air on BBC One tonight, starting with The One Show’s Children in Need special at 7.30pm.

• Find out more about BBC Studioworks
• Read also Relaunching a British Icon: BBC Studioworks Re-Opens Television Centre Studios

A new CBeebies series with a difference launches on Monday 2nd October, its central character and voice cast are all on the autism spectrum. Pablo is a significant show for CBeebies - reflecting our desire to be as inclusive as possible and cementing our ‘Everyone's Welcome’ campaign.

Pablo has been a true collaboration between CBeebies and RTEjr and is something only we would do - empowering young people with autism to tell their own stories and perform them. Every episode is grounded in their real-life experiences, bringing their ideas and perspectives to life in an honest and humorous way. I have such respect for the team at Paper Owl Films for creating this distinctive and authentic series which will resonate with so many families.

This week there was an official launch for Pablo in Belfast before Monday's TV premiere. Head Writer Andrew Brenner was joined on stage by fellow writers Sumita Majumdar, Tony Finnegan, Michael White, Rosie King and Paul Isaacs who talked about how they see the world in different ways and how their experiences became the inspiration for Pablo's adventures.

They shared the experiences which led to stories like 'The Super Place', where the supermarket is an overwhelming environment where objects cry out for attention. Or 'The Aroma', in which an unusual smell becomes a swirling character which makes it hard to think or speak.

Andrew explained how this process of collaboration threw up so many stories that were completely new and unexpected - and yet, stories which will be so relatable to our pre-school audiences. It was wonderful to see the creative talent which makes Pablo genuinely original, and thoroughly entertaining.

Kay Benbow is Controller, CBeebies

Pablo starts on CBeebies on Monday 2 October

• Read also At BBC Children’s 'Everyone’s Welcome'

How often have you breezily said ‘Everyone’s Welcome’?  Probably as a throwaway invite to your impromptu BBQ or a school open day.  It’s a phrase we all use without a second thought. 

But 'everyone’ does deserve a second thought - after all, you're 'everyone, I'm 'everyone' - we're all 'everyone'.

At the BBC 'everyone' really are at the heart of what we do.  We create a huge variety of content every day, making sure above all it is accessible for ‘everyone’. From gran and granddad to the littlest and newest members of the family, there really is something for all and it’s those smallest members of the family who are the heart of our new marketing campaign for our pre-school channel CBeebies.

That's because we're all worth representing and celebrating on screen, on-air and online - no matter our background, lifestyle, families, skin colour, choices or anything else that makes us all uniquely us.

And it's this uniqueness and diversity our new campaign 'Everyone's Welcome' celebrates.  It's a campaign that shows just how young children see the world, and quite frankly they see things differently to how you and I might. 

That's why we asked pairs of best friends from across the UK “What makes you different from each other”? From lettuce love (and hate!) to hard-hitting opinions on ketchup and toe size, these kids know what’s important – friendship, openness and respecting each other’s differences, a lesson we can all learn from.

Their unscripted and natural responses is just what you would expect and demonstrates that children don’t make assumptions about people and their differences in the way that all too often grown-ups do.

It’s a truly heart-warming campaign which is sure to raise a smile, tapping into the cheeky and imaginative minds of that innocent and thought-provoking group. After all, how often is it the small person in your life who says it like it really is? A teaser of the trail is at the top but you can see the whole of it tomorrow right before Doctor Who on BBC One – 18.43 to be exact if you want to set your reminders!

And the joy of running BBC Children's is I only have to look to our young audience and their view on the world to find inspiration and direction for our diverse range of content.  Anyone who has seen children engage with CBeebies content understands the power it has to help shape their views.

CBeebies and CBBC, our channel for 6 - 12 year olds, are accessible and inclusive and take pride in ensuring all children feel their lives are reflected on screen – whether in terms of where they live, what their ethnic background is, or their different abilities.  It's a responsibility we take very seriously and our young audience does too.  

 Perhaps that is one of the reasons that programmes commissioned by CBeebies Controller, Kay Benbow, are cherished by families up and down the country – including our most recent pre-school drama Apple Tree House.  This delightful show follows Mali, a young boy who moves into an inner city estate, making new friends with a variety of different backgrounds.  And later this year our CBeebies viewers will also be treated to new animation series Pablo about a boy with autism who creates an entire world from his imagination.  Not only is the star of the show autistic, but so are all the cast and from own personal experiences they've all contributed to the scripts too.  Diversity is not just skin deep at BBC Children's. 

I’m so immensely proud of the brave and creative content that Cheryl Taylor, Controller, CBBC have been commissioning to achieve this.  For example, CBBC strands such as the award winning documentary series My Life which reflects the lives of children all across the world and Marrying Mum and Dad, which celebrates families of all shapes and sizes. Or Dumping Ground our hugely popular drama about kids growing up in care.  Or maybe Millie Inbetween that finds the comedy of living in a household with divorced parents.  I could go on, the list of genuinely and naturally diverse stories and people on BBC Children's television is impressive by anyone's standards.  

Which is perhaps why BBC Children's Production picked up the prestigious Change Makers Production Company of the Year Award at the Creative Diversity Network this week.  Yes, it's self indulgent to shout about one's own success - but I think our content speaks for itself - see what you think. 

At BBC Children's we have high expectations when it comes to diversity and rightly so. Not because we are driven by targets or grown-up expectations, but because we are driven by the views and outlook of our young audience.  That's why 'everyone's welcome' is never a throw-away line at CBeebies - it's our first thought, it's who we are and who we're proud to service.

Alice Webb is Director, BBC Children's

Marcus Wilson, executive producer of The Worst Witch, which is based on a series of books and starts this week on CBBC, shares the programme's story from page to screen.

Tell us who you are and what you do

I’m Marcus Wilson, executive producer of The Worst Witch. My job is to work on the editorial development and execution of the show, working with the fantastic production team, led by producer Lucy Martin, to develop scripts, cast the show and be involved in the post production.

What do you love about the books?

The books were written 40 years ago, yet you pick them up now and they are still as exciting to read as they were then. They’re timeless tales for children to read, focussing around friendship, school life and growing up, things that kids will always be able to relate to.

What resonated for you?

Jill [Murphy, author of the original series of books] draws the character of Mildred Hubble, the eponymous Worst Witch, so well that it instantly transports you back to ‘Big School’. She is skillful at uncovering buried emotions that took me back to those touchstones of childhood. When you present that to a new audience they read it and realise they can identify with it.

When you’re dramatizing something you love for television, how you do make sure you’re not making a programme which is your version of the book?

Good question! It’s a very personal book for Jill because she is basically telling the story of her school life (through the prism of Mildred Hubble’s adventures at Cackle’s Academy for Witches). What you have to do as a programme maker is take your response to it as a reader then distill the spirit of that experience. What did I love about reading these books? How can I share that with viewers? And how do I that in such a way that it suits a visual rather than a print medium? You’re having to identify the universal themes in the book and then find a way of bringing the story up to date. It’s about catching the heart and the spirit of it.

Are you seeking a consensus or is there a kind of alchemy going on?

I think it’s a bit of both. The books are the starting point. You never want to do anything that would run against the spirit of the book. But in the series for example we made a decision to take the viewer from the real world into the witching world – that’s why we start the series in the home of the central character, somewhere before the books begin. We thought that was really important that everyone understood how the two worlds sat side by side. That was a big change we made early on in order to maintain the accessibility for the audience. But there’s a reason these books have been a success for 40 years and, as a producer, you have to remember that you mess with that at your peril.

It’s billed as a family show. Why is that important?

We didn’t want to make a show that was aimed at a narrow audience, we want the programmes to be enjoyed by as many people as possible. But harking back to my own childhood, I think that if you’ve got a show which appeals to as many different people as possible then lots of people can take different things away from it. We want to create a show that can be enjoyed by this audience in years to come. So, there are storylines for the kids, there’s physical humour, there’s also a great adult cast playing their own storylines in response to the kids.

I think it’s really important we don’t lose sight of the primary audience – the kids. The moment you start talking down to the most intelligent part of the audience you’ve lost. Douglas Adams – writer of Hitchhiker’s Guide and script editor on Doctor Who at one point – once said, “You’ve got to make it simple enough for the adults and complicated enough for the kids.” I think that’s still the case now. My experience of things I’ve loved as a kid is the stuff I’ve revisited as an adult. We want to make a show that the family can share and enjoy together, that works on many levels to appeal to a wide audience, and stand up to repeat viewings as our audience grows up with the show.

Marcus Wilson is executive producer for CBBC's The Worst Witch

The Worst Witch starts on CBBC on Wednesday 11 January and is available to view on-demand on iPlayer

Last night (Sunday 20 November 2016) the Children’s BAFTAs were held at a ceremony in London. CBeebies took home the Channel of the Year award and BBC programmes were awarded in more than half of the categories.

Other CBeebies wins included Hey Duggee which was named Pre-School Animation of the year, and Topsy and Tim selected in the Pre-School Live Action category.

BBC Learning's Ten Pieces II took home the prize for Learning - Secondary in 2016; star of Hank Zipzer, Nick James, was named performer of the Year;  and Presenter of the Year was Iain Stirling for CBBC’s The Dog Ate My Homework.

All the BBC winners are listed below:

• Channel of the Year in 2016: CBeebies
• BAFTA Kids' Vote - Television in 2016: CBBC’s The Next Step
• Comedy in 2016: CBBC’s Horrible Histories Special: Sensational Shakespeare
• Entertainment in 2016: CBBC’s Sam & Mark's Big Friday Wind-Up
• Factual in 2016: CBBC’s The Boy on the Bicycle (My Life)
• Interactive: Adapted in 2016: CBeebies’ Get Well Soon Hospital App
• Interactive: Original in 2016: CBBC’s Secret Life of Boys
• Learning - Primary in 2016: BBC Learning’s I Can't Go to School Today
• Learning - Secondary in 2016: BBC Learning's Ten Pieces II
• Performer in 2016: Nick James (star of Hank Zipzer)
• Pre-School Animation in 2016: CBeebies’ Hey Duggee
• Pre-School Live Action in 2016: CBeebies' Topsy and Tim
• Presenter in 2016: Iain Stirling for CBBC’s The Dog Ate My Homework

Congratulations to all the winners, a full list can be seen on the BAFTA website. 

The reaction from children and from a great many teachers has been overwhelming. Since launching in March this year, users have visited the website over 13m times, used the code simulator nearly 10m times and compiled code onto their devices around 2m times.

The BBC micro:bit is also helping to change attitudes. Early research shows that it has helped get girls interested in coding - 39% of girls who used the micro:bit said they will definitely do ICT/Computer Science as a subject option in the future compared with just 23% before the micro:bit landed in schools. And we expect this figure to rise as more children get hands on with their devices. 

Three quarters of those that have used the BBC micro:bit say they either like or love it. They value its hands on nature and love being able to see what they have coded come to life.  A massive 86% said it made computer science more interesting whilst 88% of children said it showed them that coding isn’t as difficult as they had previously imagined.

And it’s not just about coding. Our in-school research sessions have shown that the BBC micro:bit has helped to develop other skills such as teamwork, attention to detail and problem solving to name just a few. It’s been incredibly encouraging to get this insight – proof for both my team and for our partners that the hard work has been worthwhile. 

We’ve also been delighted with the reaction from the press - you can read how the BBC micro:bit ‘will kickstart a coding revolution’ in WIRED’s 2015 feature, and how to be creative with the device in Stuff’s front page cover feature earlier this year - and from the wider digital industry, having won BIMA and Tech4Good awards this year.

We’re going to continue to support the teachers and students who have embarked on the BBC micro:bit journey with us. It’s been our most ambitious educational initiative to date and has involved the coming together of organisations from right across the tech sector. Our shared aim was to do something tangible to tackle the skills gap the UK is facing by inspiring an entire generation to get creative with coding.

We have never wanted these efforts to be a flash in the pan which is where the Micro:bit Educational Foundation comes in. Supported by a range of leading educational and technology organisations including ARM, Microsoft, Nominet, Samsung , the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) and the BBC, it will ensure that we continue to enable a generation to grow their digital capability within the UK. And it will also work to enthuse and support young people on a global scale as well – capitalising on the interest the BBC micro:bit has stirred from Iceland to the USA and from Singapore to Norway.

None of this would be possible without our original partners – the organisations who have worked so hard alongside us to develop and create one million devices for children in the UK. Nor would it have been the success it is without the teachers who have championed this tiny computer – embedding it within their lesson plans and coming up with far more ways to use it than we could ever have imagined.

Today is about thanking them and heralding in the next phase of this project – a project that has taken over our lives for the past two years. And one we hope will change the lives of many more.

• Find out more about BBC micro:bit at the micro:bit website.

CBeebies Controller Kay Benbow gave an interview to The Telegraph's arts correspondent, Hannah Furness. Talking about the BBC's pre-school audience she said: “the very young deserve the very best”. The article goes on:

"There are so many things that people assume young children won't be interested in, and I think that's very much an adult perspective,” she said. “If you give children the opportunity to listen, to look, to participate, they will seize it.

“Of course not everyone's going to love classical music, but it's about putting the opportunity out there and giving them a chance to experience things.”

She said previous broadcasting wisdom had laid down that young children can concentrate for between three and 15 minutes before becoming distracted.

“I've never really subscribed to that,” she said. “If you engage a child, they will sit for a huge amount of time.

“You mustn't prejudge what children will and won't like: give them the opportunity to experience and make their own choices.”

You can read the piece in full on The Telegraph website.

• Read also Tears at the CBeebies Prom
• Watch the CBeebies Prom on iPlayer

Last year when they announced the first CBeebies Prom I thought: "that's a good idea" and then failed to get off my bum and book tickets before it sold out. So this year when I discovered it was back again - and this time for two performances - I made it my mission to get there.

Tickets acquired, my four-year-old and I headed to Kensington. An admission: I am not the sort of mum who gets pleasure from being around a lot of children. But there was something intensely inspiring about seeing the Royal Albert Hall - this iconic, historical institution - taken over by under-5s. Everywhere you looked there were children and they didn't care this was the RAH, they were coming to see their CBeebies friends.

Mini-me and I took our places and she asked me if she was allowed to talk during the show. I told her not to worry just to listen and respond to what happened on stage.

Then the lights went down and the presenters (all familiar to any CBeebies aficionado) came out on stage - Andy Day, Ben Faulks (AKA Mr Bloom), Gemma Hunt, Chris Jarvis, Rebecca Keatley, Steven Kynman and Cat Sandion.

My daughter was mesmerised, they said "hello" and then introduced the BBC Concert Orchestra and the conductor Jessica Cottis. The orchestra wore bright t-shirts and came on in an ad-hoc, informal way: there was nothing remotely intimidating about this performance. They played the opening piece - an Overture of CBeebies theme tunes, and we all clapped along.

That done, Jessica turned to us, the audience, and said that the orchestra now needed to warm up. My daughter looked at me questioningly - I explained it was to make sure they were all in tune with one another, and she replied she didn't want them to, as they already sounded perfect.

That's when a strange thing happened: you expect crying at any event for under-5s ... but not from the parents. Yet tears were running down my face and continued to at points during the concert, as I scanned the auditorium looking from excited face to cheeky grin, I found it hard not to cry. I can't quite attest as to why this happened - but on reflection it feels like a few things both came together to cause the waterworks. Firstly, a very personal thing, watching my little girl listen intently to music by Prokofiev, Beethoven, Korngold, Maxwell Davies and Richard Strauss - she looked so grown up and was so engaged, I couldn't help but imagine her as an adult perhaps sitting in this very concert hall one day in the future listening to music.

The second reason is something my ed Jon Jacob put eloquently into words in his Proms blog from last year, he wrote:

"A Proms experience is difficult to shake ... I do have a weakness for live broadcast. And in addition, I adore being amongst a crowd during a live broadcast too: there is an infectious kind of energy... There is a thrill to be experienced when one sees a mass of people all sitting in attendance for the same reason you are. It is a collective experience. Regardless of the actual performance, just being in the presence of 6,000 people is an incredibly moving experience."

And I think it's that collective experience that I found so very affecting - especially knowing this would be many of these little people's first experience of live classical music. I also can't deny feeling proud that the BBC produces this kind of event and caters to this very important audience of pre-schoolers.

The performance ended with Marquez’s Conga del Fuego, which got people dancing in the aisles, and as we headed into the sunshine my daughter said she'd decided she wanted to be a conductor like Jessica. I wonder how many kids that were there left with similar aspirations as a result of that Prom. And you never know - some of them may even fulfill those dreams... Excuse me I seem to need a tissue.

• The CBeebies Prom will be broadcast at 9.50am on 10 September and at 5pm on 15 September on CBeebies 
  
  

You may not have heard of Smallfilms, but chances are you have come across The Clangers, Bagpuss, Noggin the Nog or Ivor the Engine. These classic children’s programmes were made by Oliver Postgate and Peter Firmin who, in 1958, came together to create the hugely influential company Smallfilms. The men went on to collaborate for over 30 years and their work is currently being celebrated in an exhibition at the V&A’s Museum of Childhood in East London: Clangers, Bagpuss & Co.

The exhibition features original puppets, sets and filming equipment. It also reveals how characters developed, and explains the pair’s ‘stop-frame’ animation techniques, which attendees can even try their hand at – albeit in a much quicker simpler way than the Smallfilmers were used to thanks to an iPad. I went along with my four-year-old who, despite never having encountered any of these characters or worlds before was fascinated by it all. And after nosing around she enjoyed watching some of the episodes in the small screening area.

In the 1950s Oliver Postgate was creating mechanical shop displays and working as an Stage Manager for a TV company; meanwhile Peter Firmin worked in advertising and magazines and was looking for freelance illustration work. The exhibition tells us Firmin didn’t own a TV and “thought television shows were rubbish”.

The pair met in 1958 and set up Smallfilms. Postgate wrote the stories and Firmin made the pictures and puppets. They worked from a studio on a farm and only had small budgets so used paper cut outs and homemade materials.

All Smallfilms programmes were made on a ‘Bolex Camera’, a 16mm film camera powered by a “squeezy trigger and a mecano clutch and motor which would drive the camera, very slowly, one frame at a time.” Postgate then used a ‘Moviscop’ to watch the films and count the frames, he did all the editing himself.

The exhibition includes amusing fact sheets on each of the television programmes and some fascinating insights into how they were conceived, written and made.

For example: a ‘Swanee whistle’ was (and I imagine still is) used to make the Clangers language – however, scripts were written in English and then performed on the whistles to ‘translate’ them into clangers. And the fact sheets explain that Clangers: “captured the excitement of the space race and late 1960s politics. Students in bedsits across the country tuned in.”

Postgate said: “Filming the Clangers was the most challenging, absorbing and difficult work I have ever undertaken. I found it immensely satisfying, probably because it took all my concentration.”

For the characters in Noggin the Nog, Firmin was inspired by the Lewes Chessmen in the British Museum.

Bagpuss and co are described as “upcycling trailblazers” and you may be surprised to learn that only one series of the show was made, but repeated many times.

In addition, Professor Yaffle in Bagpuss the “pompous woodpecker who disapproves of silliness” was apparently based on philosopher Bertrand Russell who was a friend of Postgate’s parents. I found that revelation particularly amusing… Russell died in 1970 and Bagpuss didn’t air until 1974 so he never got the chance to watch it or potentially recognise himself – perhaps if he had he’d have exclaimed “fiddlesticks and flapdoodle!” just like the mechanical woodpecker.

Clangers, Bagpuss & Co is a free exhibition and continues at the Museum of Childhood until 9 October 2016

BBC Learning, BBC Comedy and the National Literacy Trust have announced a major new comedy writing competition to encourage 13- 15 year olds to have a go at writing comedy.

The competition, which is backed by major comedy figures including Charlie Higson, David Walliams (pictured above) and raising star Kerry Howard has three categories:

• Class Joker – Stand-up. Turn personal observations and views of the world into a written and performed stand-up comedy routine.
• Class Act – The Sketch. Write a unique sketch and bring it to life with funny ideas and characters.
• Class Comic – Clever Captions. Find what's funny in an image and write a comedy caption.

Jon Jacob caught up with Helen Foulkes, Creative Director BBC Learning and BBC Comedy Controller Shane Allen to find out more about the initiative.

What was the inspiration for doing a literacy campaign around comedy?

Helen Foulkes: BBC Learning’s campaigns seek to address real educational or societal needs in the UK. More than one in three young people do not achieve a GCSE in English at Grade C or above and our 16-24 year olds came 22nd out of the 24 countries measured for levels of literacy by the OECD. We therefore made literacy one of our campaign priorities for 2016.

Comedy is a great way to engage 13-15 year olds in aspects of literacy, helping them to improve their writing skills as they approach their GCSEs (Nationals and Highers in Scotland). We hope that the campaign will provide 13-15 year olds with a greater understanding of some of the writing techniques used by professional comedy writers and how to construct, analyse and deliver comedy writing. 

The BBC is doing this is partnership with the National Literacy Trust – how important is to work closely with them on this?

Helen Foulkes: The National Literacy Trust is one of the UKs leading agencies in promoting literacy. They have worked with us to produce educational resources to support the competition, and have helped ensure they are of real value to teachers, curriculum-linked and easily integrated into lessons. We want Comedy Classroom to make a difference in real classrooms across the UK. BBC Learning is leading the way in the delivering the aspiration for a more open BBC where we increasingly work in partnership with others. This builds on our most recent campaign, BBC micro:bit, where we worked with over 30 partners to help a generation to get creative with coding.

How will the competition work?

Helen Foulkes: This is a UK-wide competition that runs from 19 April to 24July 2016 and delivered through schools. There are three categories: Class Joker – Stand-up, Class Act – The Sketch, and Class Comic – Clever Captions - we’ve designed the entry categories to be inclusive and open to students of all abilities and interests.  

To enter you will need to be in Year 9 or 10 in England and Wales, Year 10 or 11 in Northern Ireland or S3 or S4 in Scotland. Students can enter on their own or as part of a group of up to four people, but teachers will then be responsible for uploading and submitting the work before the competition. Teachers can find out all they need to know on our dedicated website.

Can teenagers enter the competition on their own?

Helen Foulkes: We really wanted to make sure that the campaign delivers real educational outcomes, with improvements to the literacy of young people across the UK. So we have designed the competition to be fully integrated into lessons - whether that’s English or Drama, or used by schools in a different way within the timetable. Students will therefore need to enter the competition through their school. We hope teachers will promote the competition and encourage students to enter, but we also want young people to spur their schools to get involved. 

What resources are available for the teachers and would be comedy writers?

Helen Foulkes: Teachers can download a fantastic set of resources at bbc.co.uk/comedyclassroom – they will find everything they need to work with students  confidently and flexibly on this competition within their classroom with clear objectives and outcomes. The resources have been supported by a cast of comedians and writers, giving the learning resources a sense of authenticity and relevance. There are also some fantastic films written and made by David Williams which explain each of the competition categories. The site also includes some brilliant clips from the BBC's comedy archive that can be used to explain and showcase each of the entry categories.

Could this competition uncover the next generation of comedy writers and performers?

Shane Allen: That’s always something to hope for in a nationwide competition but primarily it’s about the opportunity to unlock everyone’s ability to learn through laughter. The impetus was less of a talent competition to find the writing and performing stars of tomorrow and more about harnessing the techniques and comic devices that make people laugh so that the fun and playfulness inherent in comedy can introduce children to literacy in a lateral and engaging way. It’s not just for the show-offs and extroverts to get more attention! That’s why it’s important to have a variety of categories with the sketch and caption elements geared towards the ‘ideas people’ too. I also hope it helps promote confidence, humour provides a different way to express yourself and also bring people together.

How are you using the competition to engage with the current talent you work with?

Shane Allen: Lots of comedians and comedy writers talk fondly about when they first realised they were funny and often that started in the classroom or playground. People who work in comedy are very passionate and obsessive about it as an art form which should be taken as seriously as drama, as oftentimes comedy can be trivialised or side-lined. The famous writers and performers we work with spend a lot of time, mental effort and energy creating their work as they all strive to be original and make the nation laugh. So all of the big name talent are very behind this on a personal level, as comedy is something that first gave them their confidence and later gave them a career so this is a chance to share the comedy gift with the next generation and show how it’s an important art-form that can inspire young minds to be creative. Comedians talk about their writing all the time – writing jokes, sitcoms, routines and so on, and hopefully this is all about playing with ideas and helping to make writing something enjoyable.

What tips do you have for would be stand ups and writers?

Shane Allen: It’s about playing and experimenting with words and ideas and not everything lands fully formed first time. Try things out on family and friends, road test your work and cut out the bits that don’t get a laugh. Don’t be afraid of negative criticism, call everything ‘a work in progress’. Write what you think is funny, don’t try and second guess your audience/peers. Use your life as inspiration, funny stories you’ve heard or things you’ve noticed that make you smile… work them up. Also - everyone in the whole world is afraid of being embarrassed by saying or doing the wrong thing – but comedy is all about coming up with crazy ideas, saying silly things and making a fool of yourself so embrace it, use comedy to say the most surprising and least predictable thing and if all else fails… trip over something. But make sure you land on something soft please!

You’re one of the judges. What will you be looking for?

Shane Allen: The ideas that feel unique and only that one person or team has created. Something that surprises. Work that feels relatable to a wider audience so that everyone can get it. Well written material that is funny, original and creative and shows characterisation/great characters. Easy, right?

What can they win?    

Shane Allen: Winners in each category will have their work made and broadcast by the BBC in the autumn. They will have a chance to visit the BBC to see their work filmed. They will also receive a Comedy Classroom trophy, a signed certificate and a visit from a BBC Comedy comedian to their school.

• Find out more about Comedy Classroom and download resources on the Comedy Classroom website.

• Download the BBC iPlayer Kids app
• Read Director of BBC Children's Alice Webb's blog post about BBC iPlayer Kids App 
• Find out more about the app on the BBC Media Centre website
• Dan Taylor Watt has written about the app on the BBC Internet Blog