A schoolgirl who is profoundly deaf has beaten off competition from children across the UK to become a presenter on children’s television channel CITV.
Fifteen-year-old Kym Clearie, from Winsford, went up against hundreds of deaf students across the UK to audition for a show called Mission Employable, which is screened twice weekly on the freeview channel.
The role sees her go behind-the-scenes in various industries, interviewing professionals about their chosen job and finding out about the challenges in each role.
Kym, who attends the Royal School for the Deaf Derby, said: “A team came into school for the audition and I was given a script and a list of different emotions to express.
“This was last July and I forgot about it for ages. Then in January they got in touch to say I had got the part and I was sent on a training weekend in February where I was taught how to present and given a script to learn and translate into sign language.
“I practised and practised so that everything went really smoothly on the filming days. I was nervous, but as soon as I started I felt quite natural in front of the camera.
“There were a total of 10 people working behind the scenes and it was my first experience of a film crew. I loved it though and I’ve already had some people in school asking for my autograph.”
Kym presents the series, which is delivered in sign language with a voice-over, alongside a boy called Danny.
In the first episode she spent the day with a female firefighter and in the second she interviewed a farmer. Both episodes were filmed in Newcastle.
Kym presented two episodes in the first series and will present three programmes in the second series, which is scheduled to be filmed over the six week summer holiday.
Headteacher Helen Shepherd said: “We are extremely proud of Kym. We encourage all our pupils to believe that anything is possible and Kym is a shining example of this.
“She is an active member of our drama group which is currently rehearsing for our summer production of Peter Pan. The training and filming has all taken place in Kym’s own time and we hope this is the start of a spectacular career on the small screen.”
