A JOURNALISM student from Priestley College has secured a prestigious apprenticeship with the BBC.

Erin Ivey, who also studied A-Levels in Law, Politics and Psychology, was selected ahead of thousands of others for the Level 5 apprenticeship which will see her working as a journalistic researcher.

“A few years ago I looked into what I could do to give me the best chance of securing the apprenticeship,” said Erin.

“I chose Priestley for the journalism course and I completed work experience on a local newspaper. This really made me stand out from the other applicants.”

Erin went through the most challenging of application processes to secure the apprenticeship, which included interviews, pitching news stories, psychometric tests and group tasks.

She will now be based at Media City in Salford and hopes to explore all areas of the profession.

“I think learning on the job is so important, especially in a profession like journalism,” said Erin, a former pupil at Birchwood Community High School.

“I want to give everything a go and see what I love the most so I am going in with a completely open mind.”

Erin’s passion for journalism began at home in Birchwood as family always had the news on so she always believed it was important to know what was going on in the world.

Her family were the first people she told about her success before contacting her tutors at Priestley and one of the college’s careers advisers, Amy Heald, who had supported her throughout the application process.

“The course I studied at Priestley helped put me a step ahead of most of the other candidates for the apprenticeship,” said Erin. “It also just confirmed for me that it was what I wanted to do with my career.”