Chantry Middle School

Professor Stephen Hawking is with David Cameron in that the UK should stay in the EU. Mr Hawking said that it would be a disaster to science if the UK left the EU. 150 people of the Royal Society signed a letter to the Times newspaper saying that a Brexit would devastate research. Professor Hawking said, ‘A lot of the young and promising scientists were recruited from Europe’ (BBC News). They add that increased funding from Europe which had benefitted UK science. The scientists said this situation encouraged the best scientists elsewhere to move to Britain.

Professor Angus Dalgleish of London University is a spokesman for ‘Scientists for Britain’, a group of scientists arguing against the EU case.

Harry, age 12.

Messi has a lot of fans across the world but who is Messi’s biggest fan? Well, a boy who is 5 years old from Afghanistan may be his biggest fan. He couldn’t buy a Messi kit so he got a plastic bag and wrote Messi’s name and shirt number on the back of the blue and white plastic bag. His dad took a video of him and then he went viral. They tracked him down and found him. Messi very kindly sent a signed Argentina Messi shirt.

By William, age 11.

Today I asked four pupils from Chantry Middle School a very important question. How many hours of sleep on average do you get per night and how many hours of sleep do you think you need to stay healthy?

Pupil 1 -“I sleep 9 hours a night, but I think I need 10.”

Pupil 2 – “I sleep 4 hours a night, but I think I need 6.”

Pupil 3 – “I sleep 3 hours a night but I think I need 8.”

Pupil 4 – “I sleep 6 hours a night but I think I need 7 hours sleep a night.”

The average amount of hours sleep per night for these four pupils is 5.5 hours sleep, which is way under the recommended amount!

Your body works like a clock and has a scheduled sleeping time. When you are sleepy at night that is your body telling you to get rest and sleep; however, if you don’t go to sleep when you’re tired it will make you even more tired during the day.

Every one of the pupils I interviewed said they would get to sleep a lot easier if they weren’t disturbed by their phones and electronic devices. The actual amount of sleep needed for teenagers is 8.5 hours every single night with no exceptions.

Not having enough sleep can affect your life and your family in many different ways. It can change the way you drive: over 100,000 car crashes a year are because of drowsiness due to no sleep! It can affect school and yours marks could drop as well as affecting your mental and physical health. Parents need to make sure their children gets at least 8 hours of sleep a night.

Oxford University have proved that starting lessons in school at 10am will improve children’s grades as they are less tired and drowsy in first and second lesson. But if your school doesn’t start at 10, here are some ways to make sure you have the best night’s sleep:

Your room must be cool as sleeping in a hot room can disturb the body.

Try not to drink energy drinks or caffeine after 4pm as it will give they will fuel the body and you will have too much energy to fall asleep.

You need to make sure that if you have a nap it only lasts for less than two hours as it could affect how you sleep that night.

You need dim lights or, even better, no lights at all.

If you really struggle to fall asleep you should seek medical advice.

Sleep tight.

Grace Fisk, 13.

As a Dog owner, it’s very important to find the right dog for you. My dogs are Labradoodles: a crossbreed between a Poodle and a Labrador. I got my dogs from a specialist breeding company in Birmingham. If your parents work a lot you’ll need a sleepy dog or a small dog that doesn’t need walking too much. If you live in a small house with no garden, a big dog might not be a good idea!

Some smaller dogs are listed below:

• Boston Terrier
• Bichon Frise
• Cavalier King Charles Spaniel
• French bulldog
• Havanese
• Miniature Schnauzers
• Poodles
• Pug
• Shih Tzu

If you like bigger dogs, some of my favourites are German shepherds, Golden Retrievers, Labradors and most mixed breeds.

I
f you want a dog remember the quote: a dog is for life, not just for Christmas. It’s like a commitment having a dog because you can’t just suddenly think, ‘I can’t be bothered to have a dog anymore.’ Dogs cost a lot of money for food, toys, training, walking, accessories and kennels.

I hope this helped!

By Katie, age 11.

I have asked a few teachers and students to think of jokes and here is what they came up with:

Amy, Year 8 – Why did the skeleton go outside?

Because he was a numbskull.

Rebecca, Year 8 – Why did Adele cross the road?

To say hello from the other side.

Mr Stoker – What do you call a man with no arms or legs that can swim?

Bob.

Fay, Year 8 – I don’t trust atoms, because they make up everything.

Taira,  Year 8 – What is the silliest animal in the jungle?

The polar bear.

Miss Bartlett – Two drums and a cymbal fell down a hill.

Ba dum tssshhhh.

Mr Storey – What’s orange and invisible?

This carrot (holds out hand).

Thank you to the teachers and pupils for their jokes.

By Ellen, age 12.

Today I asked 5 pupils how many school hours they think would be appropriate and what job they wanted to have when they are older.

Pupil 1 – Grace thinks 5 hours of school would be appropriate and she would like to be a paramedic when she is older.

Pupil 2 – Martha thinks the current amount of hours is appropriate but she would prefer it if school started at 10 am instead of 9am. She would like to be a midwife when she is older.

Pupil 3 – Holly agrees with Martha and would prefer it to start at 10am but still have 6 hours and she would like to be a famous runner when she grows up.

Pupil 4 – Emma think 6 hours is a good amount of time spent in school but she would rather it start at 9:30am. She would like to be an architect when she

Pupil 5 – I think that 6 hours of school gives a good education but I would rather it start at 10am so I could maybe get a few things done in the morning.

In addition the school offers some great opportunities. In 2015 our open evening was a big success. We had pupils acting, baking, playing sports, doing wood work, playing musical instruments, dancing, doing science experiments and making crafts as you can see from the photos.

Cara, age 12.