'We’re here to inform, and reassure, and empower': BBC's Newsround turns 50

The iconic after school news show on the BBC, now a morning bulletin available to be shown online in schools, that took the simple idea of explaining news to children is celebrating its 50th birthday.

The show was first broadcast as John Craven’s Newsround in 1972 but since then has undergone huge changes, keeping up with the times, and fidget spinners, to stay relevant, exciting and informative to children. In 2011 recording of the show moved to Media City.

While the show has played host to breaking news stories, the show was the first British television programme to report on the loss of the space shuttle Challenger in 1986, Newsround’s focus is making news digestible to children.

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Talking about the 50 years Newsround has been on the air, Kirsty Adair, Assistant Editor explained how the show continues to evolve and how the Newsround team keeps the show relevant to kids. She said: “It’s still the show they’re after, it’s evolved massively over the last five, 10 years and it will continue to evolve.

Kirsty also explained how Newsround has changed with the times and how the internet has played a big part in how people access news and information.

She explained: “There’s support now that we didn’t have even a decade ago so if there’s a really scary story we’ll always put in an ‘upset by the news’ little feature where you can go to get help which is, there’s more in place to help out kids than there used to be.

“It is the bulletin they go on, online, it is still the show, they want the show. They still want to be presented with a program they are watching, they are just watching it from our website.

“We try not to scare kids with