Students from Chantry will be making the news for real today, 6th March 2019 as they take part in BBC Young Reporter Day. We aim to publish the news by 16:00 GMT on News Day, so please save this page as a favourite and return to it later.
Ben: Hello Mr Stewart, I am Ben.
Jack: And I am Jack, and we are both young reporters.
Ben: We would like to ask some questions about your career as a Headteacher.
(Ben) Q: How did it feel when you first introduced yourself to Chantry?
A: It was nervous, exciting, a great opportunity and he was focusing on the overall plan/view.
(Jack) Q: Obviously as a Headteacher you’ve had some ups and downs, so far, what do you think the greatest moment you’ve had in your career is?
A: During the Sign2sing, this is because he nearly cried in joy as he saw the culture of the school and the fact that it was for a great cause and we were trying our all.
(Ben) Q: Why did you decide to become a Headteacher?
A: When he was a PE teacher, he realised that he thought he would be good at having a bigger say for the school, he then became a year leader, during which he helped emotional support ect. Then he became a deputy at KEVI and he enjoyed so much he became a head teacher
(Ben) Q: And did you have any previous careers beforehand?
A:He was a waiter in a chinese restaurant for 15-19 yrs, then a security guard for 2 yrs and then for 3 months he worked in a clothing warehouse so he could get money so he could travel the world.
(Jack) Q: How do you think we, as a school have behaved in your presence?
A: Out of 584 pupils 99% are well-behaved, we want to learn, he loves all of the opportunities such as clubs, trips and the career aspects.
(Jack) Q: Do you think that it’s improved since you joined?
A: He doesn’t know as he wasn’t here, however he realises that there will be sometimes where there is poor attitude, and that it is important that we understand when we are having poor attitude. He is always looking for improvements.
(Ben): Thank you for having us.
By Ben and Jack, Year 7
Today we had the opportunity to interview our music teacher, Mr Todd. As he has lots to do with organizing the ensemble bands. We recently visited him in his classroom to ask him about his opinion on the many ensemble bands here at school.
Why should you people join ensemble bands?
Groups of people who enjoy the same thing gives a more focused less diverse sense of music. There’s something for everyone.
How does music affect people mentally?
Music has the power to bring back long forgotten memories, and affects people emotionally without words.
If you had to choose one ensemble to join which one would you join and why?
Percussion, because I’m usually involved in Choir, so it would be something different. And I like bashing things with sticks.
Which ensemble band is most popular and why?
Choir is definitely more popular, as we have something like 257 members.
Which instrument isn’t as popular as it should be?
I think the trumpet hasn’t taken off as much as people realise.
Do you think your time at Chantry has influenced students opinions on music?
I hope so, it’s always important that students like the lesson.
Do you play instruments that could be played in one of the ensembles?
Yeah, I play the bass.
Overall, we think music ensembles are a great way to share skills and connect with people you might not usually engage with. Music is a great way to relieve stress and express creativity. So… if you aren’t already involved in an ensemble, something new! You never know, you might really enjoy it.
By Sophie and Eva, Year 7
Scientists have found plastic in the stomachs of the deepest marine organisms known to humans.
Newcastle University students have recently discovered plastics in the stomach of lysianassid amphipods (a creature that lives 6000 meters below the Japanese and Chilean waters.) Students were studying the insides of this family of amphipods.
Despite that, the young scientists found plastic fibres, like nylon, in most of the creatures they studied. This means that all of our earth’s wildlife are being affected. The ‘sea fleas’ are food for fish and other small predators. But those fish are a lot further down the food chain. This means the micro-plastics could affect the food chain much higher up than the amphipods. But, this is extremely bad for us, as these small creatures are low in the food chain, meaning we are consuming plastic as part of our ‘fishy’ diet. As we all enjoy the occasional fish and chips, we all know that it has a dangerous amount of fats. But, it would be even worse if we continued including plastic to our classic chips.
By Sophie and Eva, Year 7
Students love our Spanish lessons here at Chantry Middle School. In them we include fun exercises that mean the pupils get to compete against each other in teams. There are songs and raps that our Spanish teacher creates to help kids learn. One of my favourites is a rap that goes along to the song Gangnam Style but instead of the lyrics, it recites the numbers 1 to 20 in Spanish.
Some pieces of Spanish work can be difficult but here at Chantry, we have developed a way where students can choose what level to work at. There is Developing – which is the l
owest level – Expected – a normal level of work – and Mastering – above the expected level -. In Spanish, our teacher makes three sheets – one for each level – and you can pick whatever level you feel most comfortable with.
A student was interviewed on what they thought of the Spanish lessons. When asked if anything could be changed about the lessons, they said that nothing needed to be changed and that the lessons were really good already!
By Ruby, Year 7
The snow leopard’s powerful build allows it to scale great steep slopes with ease. The hind legs of the snow leopard gives it the ability to leap six times the length of its body. A long tail provides the balance and agility and also wraps around the resting snow leopard as protection from the cold.
This magnificent cat was previously the king of the mountains. The mountains were rich with their prey such as blue sheep, argali wild sheep, bex pickes and hares. Snow leopards are found in 12 countries—including China, Bhutan, Nepal, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Russia, and Mongolia—but their population is dropping.
Snow leopards play a key role as both top predator and as an indicator of the health of their high-altitude habitat. If snow leopards thrive, so will countless other species.
STATUS: VULNERABLE
POPULATION : total estimated 4,080-6,590
SCIENTIFIC NAME: Panthera Uncia
By Ellie & Imogen
Countries such as Japan, Italy and Portugal are facing a population problem where more and more of the population is over 65, this is a big issue because less and less people work and it is affecting the country’s economy (money) very severely.
In Japan, for example, over 27% of the population is over 65 – the highest in the world. In Italy it’s 23% and in Portugal it’s 22%.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) by 2050 it’s suspected that over 2 billion people will be over 60, which means that countries will have to pay more for health care, pensions and other things that affect the older population.
The suspected reason why Portugal’s number is so high is because many people from colder European countries choose to retire there as it’s hot and sunny.
In Japan, last year 450,000 more people died than babies were born. 1.37 million people died and 921,000 were born, meaning there was a population decline.
Other risks of this include Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.
This is becoming a crisis very quickly but there are not many ways to deal with it.
By Eva, Year 7
This year’s Oscars took place in Dolby Theatre, Los Angeles and took place on the 24th of February, 2019 on ABC at 8 pm E.T.
For the second time in the Oscars 90 years history, there was no host due to the fact that Kevin Hart, who was originally planning to host, stepped down in December due to homophobic tweets resurfacing from as far back as 2009.
‘The Favourite’ and ‘Roma’ were in lead, both with ten nominations and ‘Vice’ and ‘A Star is Born’ were extremely close behind with eight. Rami Malek won the Golden Globe and BAFTA for his role in Bohemian Rhapsody.
‘Black Panther’ is the first superhero movie in a decade to be nominated for the Best Picture Award in a decade!
‘Mary Poppins Returns’ received 4 nominations so it didn’t get as many nominations as the original which had a staggering 13 nominations and won 5!
By Millie, Year 8
