BBC News School Report 2013

BBC News School Report 2013 -

See below the news from our Year 9 students hot off the press!

• The History of Trees at Trent College - by Hollie and Harriet

• Twitter’s 7th Birthday - by Ben, Josh, Joel and Charlie 

Today on March 21st the social networking site Twitter has turned seven!

Twitter is a social media site used by people all over the world to talk about sports, celebrities, news, or just their community. Since twitter began back in 2006, it has become a part of many people’s daily routines, with celebrities such as Justin Beiber getting up to over 35 million followers! To show the extent of its popularity, an interesting fact is that 400 million tweets are sent worldwide every day. Twitter can be accessed by the computer, mobile or tabloid…

Whilst there are 200 million users of Twitter, there are some people who think there is a negative side of social media. Recently in the news there have been examples of Twitter users abusing others, finding themselves in court and growing concerns for teenagers who are at risk of cyber bullying. However, there are undoubtedly many interesting uses of the site.

Here at Trent College, The Marketing Department use Twitter to give updates on the school community. To find out more, we interviewed our Marketing Manager, Miss Callow.

She said that she uses Twitter every day, and that she used it mainly for work to keep the schools community up to date. When we asked her what she tweeted about, she replied that she usually tweets about events, updates, sport teams and educational needs. Finally when asked about her opinions on Twitter she replied. “I think that it is a really good way to discuss topics that people all around the world are interested in.”

We also asked pupils what they think of Twitter and how they use it. Josh, a pupil at Trent College, said ‘It is great because there are loads of interesting people and accounts to suit your needs and enjoyments.’ Josh also explained that he uses Twitter for mainly socialising but also for sport and news updates. Other pupils interviewed said that they mainly use Twitter for socialising and to catch up with gossip and news from their favourite celebrities.

We also carried out a survey and found that over 75% of 40 pupils have had or used Twitter. As well as this most people were unaware that it was Twitter’s 7th birthday today.

To show how easy it is to use Twitter, we got in touch with several celebrities. Unfortunately, we’ll have to wait and see what their responses will be…

• Fundraising for Kenya - by Grace and Georgina 

Trent College is currently raising funds for schools after making links with deprived schools in Kenya. All year groups are raising money to send to Nyacaba Primary School, Kenya. Twenty people from year 11 to 13 will be travelling to the school in July to see the positive impacts that Trent College is making on their lives.

On Friday 15th March when the nation was raising money for Comic Relief, Trent College were getting in the spirit fundraising for the Kenyan School. There were cake sales, a sponsored run by the lower school, drums and dance lessons by the African group Iroko and storytelling.

We interviewed Mr Webster, Head of Lower School, about his views on the Kenyan fundraising events. He became involved with fundraising because he grew up in Africa and was aware of the poverty people face and the lack of opportunities for young children regarding their education.

The idea of being linked to a Kenyan school was first initiated by Mr David Pinney when he taught at Trent College. He started charity work during his time at Trent for a Kenyan School and then went over to the school to help support the needs of the students and teachers by providing them with whatever teaching resources possible but more importantly trees; when he visited Kenya he would plant several hundred of trees to help provide for the local Kenyan Community.

The Lower School at Trent College raised money for the school by taking part in a sponsored run. Years 7 to 8 took part in running laps around the school grounds with teachers by their sides. Mr Webster said he was incredibly proud of all who embraced the need to raise money for the less privileged. Even Mr Webster said that he loved running laps with the Lower School Pupils by his side knowing that it was all for a good cause. The pupils also thoroughly enjoyed the African group Iroko who told old African stories and played the drums so “majestically”.

The school was astounded by how generous parents and pupils were. To date, the event has raised over £1,000 with more money still to come in.

• Boarding Life at Trent - by Jonathan and Billy
  
  
  
  
• An Interview with Steelers GB Ice Hockey Players

We managed to interview some of the Sheffield Steelers players, who went with the rest of the Great Britain squad to Latvia (6th – 12th of February this year), to represent Great Britain and to hopefully qualify for the Olympics. Whilst the team didn’t win any matches, they were pleased to have reached the qualifying round as they were competing against teams with higher budgets and more dedicated practice time. We asked the players whether the lack of a high profile and government funding affected their odds.

We asked the players what it was like for them, how they hoped for the results to turn out, if they believe ice hockey should have more government funding and other questions.

We interviewed Jonathan Phillips (who is both the captain for The GB Team and for The Sheffield Steelers, Forward, aged 30), Mark Thomas (Defender, aged 29), Jason Hewitt (Forward, aged 29), and Ashley Tait (Forward, aged 37), four of the six Sheffield Steelers players whom have made it into the GB squad (the most from one club).
We asked all the players we how it made them feel and what it was like playing for their home country. Phillips replied (The Captain) “When I was 6 or 7 I remember watching it on a telly, now being able to actually represent my country is just a huge honour. It is something we all pride on, it’s so fun and an amazing experience because you get to visit all these interesting countries.”

Thomas and Hewitt agreed with it being an honour but Thomas also discussed the national program being a great success, “It’s an great honour and especially with what we have achieved this last year with the National Program” In addition, Hewitt said “not everyone gets the chance to represent their country, so I am proud to be part of the squad.”
Tait told us, “I think that I have 92 caps now for the National Team, so it is not anything new but every time is it even more exciting.”

We then asked The Captain, Phillips, and Tait if they were disappointed with the results of the tournament. Phillips replied “It was mixed feelings. We were up against very strong teams, who have higher budgets and had more practice time. I don’t think we expected to get through to the Olympics, we are a little far off that. Although we all thought we could have put in a better performance than we did, to get the better results.”

• Interview with Geoff Parling - by Chris, Harvey and Jack

 England’s defeat to Wales hasn’t dampened the heart of lock Geoff Parling, who answered our questions recently.

Q&A with Geoff Parling

US: When did you start playing rugby and who did you play for?
GEOFF: I started playing rugby when I was 12 years old. My mate brought me down to the local rugby club which was Stockton RFC.

US: Who is your idol in your life and why?
Geoff: I didn’t have a sporting HERO; I just wanted to play the sport, instead of having to watch it. I guess in life it would be my parents for helping me get into rugby and buying me all the gear.

US: If you were not a rugby player, what would you be?
Geoff: In uni i studied business studies and economics, but I've forgotten all of that now. Now i would just like to be involved in rugby like coaching.

US: How do you prepare mentally for a big game?
Geoff: I'm not sure, I don't normally get nervous. I like to do the same sort of things, anything i do mentally that i do on the training pitch that im used to each week. I'm not overly superstitious but I like to keep my routine the same.

US: What do you think is unique about you that will get you in the lions squad?
Geoff: My Beard.

US: How would you feel playing for the Lions?
Geoff: Obviously it would be a great feeling, and it would help me improve my game, but I need to concentrate on the rest of the season first.

US: How do you deal as a player and a team with losing such an important game?
Geoff: It’s hard. it’s really hard… you try and switch off but you can’t really, sometimes in life you have to get on with it.

•  Cathy Brown Article - by Abi and Sav

Cathy Brown, fit, beautiful and an inspiration to women everywhere!
“You can achieve anything you want in life, if you want it enough” – Cathy Brown

At an early age Cathy was adopted. Her biological mother was banished from her home in Scotland to a convent in Leeds until Cathy was born because it was thought to be shameful in 1970s, as her parents were too young to bring her up. Before she was chosen by her adoptive parents and taken to Durham, Cathy was put into a Catholic Care orphanage after her birth. She was brought up in Lanchester, Durham until she left home to study Photography at the age of eighteen. After 4 years she then moved to London to work as a forensic photographer.

Kickboxing was a new passion for which she had a natural talent. Soon after moving South she began Kickboxing as a hobby, only to be so good that after just three months her trainer suggested that she entered her first competition.She was undefeated in twenty five fights, winning two British Titles. She became only the second woman in the UK to hold a Professional Boxing license. She loved the sport’s fierce competition and its tough training, and was determined to be the best, so she gave up her job with the Metropolitan Police and became a personal trainer at The Third Space Gym.

Within a year she won the European Flyweight Title, and after ten years and twenty one Professional fights, she became the first ever British female to win a Professional English Title in sporting history and became ranked number three in the World within the Flyweight division. She competed for WBC, WIBF, WBF world titles, WIBF, GBU and WBU international titles in Germany, Italy and Hungary in three different weight divisions: light flyweight, flyweight and bantamweight.

Cathy retired in 2007 due to neural damage in her neck; she was devastated to have to stop boxing, but she turned it into a positive by sharing her knowledge of strength, conditioning and sports psychology for athletes. Cathy is a true inspiration for mental, physical strength and motivation as she has achieved a lot of successes in her life. She is currently a personal trainer, strength and conditioning coach, professional boxing and kickboxing coach.
As well as participating in boxing challenges she sailed across the Atlantic in a world record attempt with Emma Richards. Cathy currently works with refuge charity to help victim of domestic violence.

Cathy experienced physical and mental domestic violence as a teenager and young woman. Cathy supports the refuge charity because she can fully understand the affect domestic and mental violence. She is a huge inspiration to women who are going through are have come out of an abusive relationship. “Refuge is a remarkable charity and needs to be more supported by the public and the government.” Cathy acknowledges this in her eyes.

Cathy has worked with many famous people; you should recognise Matt Serra from “I’m a celebrity get me out of here.”

Glamorous and Gorgeous, Cathy always has a smile on her face and is ready to cope with whatever life throws at her.

• Rugby Sevens, The Way into the Olympics? - by Rob, George and Ozzie 

Rugby sevens has been neglected of the attention it deserves for too long, but now with the introduction to the Olympics has opened up the small sport to the world’s eye. The recent coverage of IRB rugby world sevens by Sky has also giving rugby sevens a lot of coverage has encourage newer players to take to the sport.

Rugby sevens is played under substantially the same laws and on a field of the same dimensions as the 15-player game. While a normal rugby union match lasts at least 80 minutes, a normal sevens match consists of two halves of seven minutes with a one-minute half-time break. The final of a competition can be played over two halves of ten minutes each, with a half-time break of two minutes. In the IRB Sevens World Series, only the Cup final, which determines the overall winner of an event, is played with 10-minute halves; all finals for lower-level trophies are played with 7-minute halves. This allows rugby tournaments to be completed in a day or a weekend. However, sevens scores are generally comparable to union scores; scoring occurs much more frequently in sevens, since the defenders are more spaced out. 

Rugby sevens has often been used for international first team players, such as Jonah Lomu, to sharpen their handling, passing and running skills, it also gives a chance for players that can’t get into the first 15 to get to play internationally. With the introduction to the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio it brought many new players into the game, such as Carlin Isles, with the hope of getting to the Olympics in Rio. With the addition of these new players a lot of countries newer to the game are starting to look quite dangerous and may even start playing in the world cup.

•  What Does Easter Mean? - by Sam and Josh 

•  Jo Hunter, International Hockey Player

Jo Hunter, from the age of 15, has made a huge international impact in the world of hockey. Recently she captained the women’s team, against South Africa in the Investec Challenge, but is aiming even higher. She shares her experiences with interviewer, Paige:

1. Did you always intend to make a living out of sport, why/ why not?
Unfortunately in this country Hockey is still an amateur sport. There is some funding available to help athletes at the top level but once you stop playing, this funding disappears. Although I would love to make a living out of the sport, I think it is also important to have a job to focus on outside of playing. Coaching at school is completely different to when I am on the pitch myself and it’s nice to have that distraction from my own game.

2. What age did you start playing hockey?
I started playing hockey at the age of 8, a coach from my local club (Aylesbury Hockey Club) came to my school and we all gave it a go – I loved it and joined the club soon after!

3) Did you immediately like the sport?
Despite loving the game when I first gave it a go at school, I was very nervous before my first club training session as I was scared I wouldn’t know what to do. Those fears soon disappeared and from that point onwards, all I looked forward to was playing hockey.

4) What has been your proudest moment since playing?
My proudest moment was gaining my first senior international cap against South Africa earlier this year. We (England) competed in the Investec Challenge and finished 3rd.

5) What are your aims for the future in sport?
My ultimate goal is to win a medal at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

6) What has been your biggest disappointment since playing?
I have had to deal with a few setbacks in my hockey career so far. I remember being named in the squad for my first England U16 test matches where we played 3 matches against Ireland. I was asked to have a meeting with my coach before our first match and I was told I would not be playing. I found this really hard to deal with as I was so excited to be playing my first England match and in just 2 minutes this was taken away from me. I did play in the other 2 games though.

Another setback was when I injured my knee ahead of the England U18 Home Nations Tournament. I was not fit to play and so I wasn’t selected for this tournament. This was an important year as we also had the Europeans later in the summer so I was really disappointed and I couldn’t help but worry that I wouldn’t be fit in time to play and if so what my chances of selection would be after having so much time out. Luckily I got back to fitness in time and we finished 3rd in what was one of my most memorable and enjoyable tournaments.

7) How did you deal with it?
Dealing with being dropped is really tough. But after going through this process a couple of times I have found the best way to deal with it is to speak with my family and then just focus on enjoying playing the game. It is good to speak with coaches about what they think you need to improve on but ultimately I like to take it back to basics and do what I know I’m good at; that’s what got me noticed in the first place. It seems to work, I’ve had to come back fighting a few times!
Dealing with injury is a different matter; it can seem slightly easier because you simply have to do as you’re told by the physio. But the toughest thing about being injured is the frustration of not being able to play. I think other people (my family in particular!) find it just as hard as me as I can be a real pain to be around when I can’t play.

8) Who was your inspiration as a child?
My inspiration was Kelly Holmes. I used to do athletics when I was younger and even now I still would have loved to compete at the top level.

9) How do you deal with bad decisions by umpires?
It’s easy to complain about umpires and I used to when I was much younger but I have now realised that they are only human and they will make mistakes. As long as the decisions they make don’t completely change the outcome of the game, I just get on with it. The last thing you want is to be sent off for contesting a bad decision. Having said that, I do occasionally talk to the umpires and ask them why they made their decision; they may have seen something I didn’t.

10) Do you have to eat especially healthily to keep your game play at a peak?
I try to eat the right things like carbohydrates and protein but I do indulge in the odd Krispy Kreme!

11) What are your hobbies outside of hockey?
I love going out for fancy meals and spending time with my friends and family. The one other thing I do really enjoy is going to music concerts.

•  Obama Meets Abbas in Ramallah - by Ali

President Obama has arrived in Ramallah, West Bank, in an attempt to ease relations between Palestine and Israel. His visit is to converse with the Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas and is likely to focus on the Israel-Palestinian conflict.

Obama was welcomed off his helicopter by Mr Abbas, who has taken Mr Obama to the presidential compound. Their talks in Ramallah have low expectations however, on Wednesday, Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu re-stated their vows to formulating a two-state solution to the conflict.

Obama is being accompanied by the US Secretary of State, John Kerry and will be guarded by thousands of Israeli and Palestinian security officers. These will protect them from the risk presented by the protests leading up to the President’s visit.

The US President has shown his optimism, as has the Israeli Prime Minister, who said “we extend our hands in peace and friendship to the Palestinian people.”
After his trip to West Bank, Obama is expected to deliver a speech to Israeli students in Jerusalem. He will leave for Jordan on Friday.

•  Could 5SOS be the next 1D? - by Fred and Immie

One Direction is no doubt the biggest boy band in the world. But could they have some competition with a new band that they are touring all around the world with?

5 Seconds Of Summer (5SOS) is an Australian based band that has been together for just a little over a year now. They are going on tour with One Direction (Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, Zayn Malik, Niall Horan and Liam Payne) traveling to 21 countries. The band consists of Luke Hemmings (vocals, guitar), Michael Clifford (guitar, vocals), Calum Hood (bass guitar, vocals) and Ashton Irwin (drums, vocals).

They started off by just recording cover music videos and uploading them to YouTube. Their cover of the Chris Brown and Justin Bieber’s hit "Next to You" received over 600,000 hits. The boys released their first single Out Of My Limit on November 19, 2012, the video clip for the song receiving over 100,000 views in the first 24 hours when it was released.
They are young, they are fresh and they are gradually growing more and more popular, with over 300,000 twitter followers. Could there be rivalry on tour between the boy bands? And is there room for a new boy band with One Direction, The Wanted, JLS, McFly and many many more already on the scene? There has already been a lot of tension between a few of the boy bands as they took to twitter for some ‘friendly banter’.

It doesn’t seem like there will be any rivalry just yet though as 5SOS and Harry and Louis from One Direction were spotted playing a friendly game of football recently. They have also been spotted out having a few drinks with Niall and all seem to be getting on really well right now, but once they become more well-known and they build up their own fan base there could be some tension rising between the two boy bands.

• Should Computing replace the Arts & Languages? - by Joseph, Phoebe and Sean

Computing? Subject of the future or non-vital sideshow to real education? Only 3,800 students sat a computing A-Level last year, so should it be encouraged from a younger age?

People think that computing is just another version of IT, but many would disagree. Computing takes the creative side of technology and begins to get to grips with the potential the software and hardware holds. It is not simply programming - learning a programming language is useful but not fundamental to the subject, computing studies hardware as well, and in the ever expanding world of computer problems, anyone who can fix a computer will have a desirable skill in the bag.
Computing is useful simply because of the breadth of the options it gives to a person. The common accepted rule amongst programmers is that the first language is the hardest to learn, after that things begin to fall into place as similarities are developed. Each is suited to a different job, so you can start with what you want to develop. If you want to be a website designer, you learn HTML and CSS, if you want to be a game developer, you learn C++, you can choose what to do and control what you do with those skills.

It is necessary for a quality, balanced education and art is essential at all levels of human development also we define our culture and society with art. We use art to recognize and understand other cultures and societies. We define ourselves with art. All of the things we learn about I art we can learn about in other subjects.
Art isn’t in everyday life, history and culture can be learnt in other subjects making that aspect of art unnecessary and the values that is teaches irrelevant in a modern society, creativity can be expressed through computing. Art really is unnecessary and people who want to learn such skills can take extra classes, rather than teaching them to us all regardless of our interest and devaluing the skills that are being taught.

Languages are very important because languages teach use respect for other countries. We also use languages because it improves your own learning with other subjects and it helps us to explore different places. It is also a sign of intelligence as to whether you can speak a language or not. The language barrier is something we can all over come with the help of technology. Most of people who speak a foreign language will tell you that the internet is not enough that only practise and hard work will mean you can speak a language fluently.

In the modern age, instant translation is improving every day, and new pieces of software are filling the few gaps left behind at breakneck pace. Few will disagree with the statement the quality of translations is improving daily and new pieces of hardware like Google Glasses are making use of advanced instant translation methods to make learning a foreign language more and more unnecessary.

Computing is very useful because almost every job you are likely to do involves computing and people need to know this or they will struggle with it later in life. The downside to computing is that technology changes very quickly so what you learn in school could be useless in a couple of years’ time.

Computing should be done from year 7, alongside the arts and modern languages, but in year 8 you should be able to drop the arts and all but one language, so as to be able to focus on the subjects you care about for longer in preparation for life – not constrained by the demands of schools who want a well-rounded pupil that may limit your enjoyment and expression at school.