The Ponteland school system is consulting on going down to a two-tier system. In Morpeth, we are one of the few places that still have a three-tier system. I wanted to know how students would feel if the two-tier system was introduced here.

How would you feel if we went from three-tier to two-tier?

Jasmine: I would not like it but I suppose you would get used to it.

Katie: I would not mind it because first school was a one-tier school.

Erin: I don’t think it is very fair because I would worry about education for the older pupils.

If it was our school getting closed what would you do?

Katie: I’d be very upset because I like our school.

Jasmine: I’d be really upset because you feel like you are getting ready for high school without little kids running around like at primary.

Erin: I would get someone to report on it and I don’t think a lot us are ready for High school so early.

Would you be mad at the people who changed it to two-tier?

Jasmine: Very mad because we have a great school here at Chantry.

Katie: I’d be very confused as there are a lot of first schools so I don’t see why we can’t keep two middle schools.

Erin: Yes, I would get very mad.

What would you do about this story?

Katie: I would show my mum and tell her to ring the school.

Jasmine: Tell my people to ring the school.

Erin: I would tell my mum.

Amelia, Year 8.

The oldest tree fossil has been discovered and the pine twig dates back to 140 million years ago. The fossil was discovered in Canada. Pine trees are extremely common in the Northern Hemisphere. Dr Howard Falcon-Lang of the Royal Holloway University in London, said, ‘The fossils show that wildfires raged through the earliest pine forests and probably shaped the evolution of this important tree.

The specimens are Charcoal within specimens from a quarry.’ (Geology Journal). Dr Howard also said, ‘They were sitting in my cupboard for five years before I actually worked out what was there.’

This false colour image is the fossil.

Harry, age 12.

Social media has taken over the current generation, from Snapchat to Twitter, Facebook to Tumblr, all these networks are what the current young adults use on a daily basis. Of course, this doesn’t include every young adult, but research shows around 90% of the teen-adult population in Britain have some form of social media whether it is on a tablet or smart phone. 68% of all women across the globe are part of social media, whilst for men it is only 62%.

With new mobile phones and tablets being created and put out quicker and more advanced than ever, the Technology and software are having to develop just as fast, with new updates and fixes coming in every few months. Snapchat have begun adding animated filters and live stories (a compilation of snapchats sent by users.)

Dating has also become a large part of social media matching your personality to the closest match of your favoured gender. However, this can also be risky as some sites include vague personality tests and some sketchy users.

The age range of people using social media is steadily expanding with children around 9-10 having Instagram accounts. There are age restrictions on these apps but they are not fool proof!

Social media is also an easy way to talk to friends or look at what your favourite celebrities are getting up too. It is also a place for people to express themselves and show their artwork or new products as well s short stories and fan fiction.

Social media also played a part in the US election with Hillary Clinton reaching out to young Americans to support her. It has also been used as an outreach for people with depression as they can express themselves in 180 characters on twitter or on Tumblr with as much space as they wish.

It is important to remember to follow e-safety guidelines whenever using social media or the internet to keep yourself safe! For more information you can look at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/curations/stay-safe

By Martha, age 13.

What is your favourite pet and why?

Miss Bartlett: Rats. I used to have two and they had excellent, posh names: Cordelia and Juniper.

If you had to be a type of dinosaur, what would it be and why?

Mrs Dunphy: A diplodocus because they can reach the top leaves that no other dinosaurs can!

Miss Bartlett: Velociraptor because they’re small and quick and could run and hide from a T-Rex!

Miss Falkingham: Pterodactyl because they can fly!

Miss Gordon: Pterodactyl because they can see predators coming. You could get out of there reach by flying away.

Miss McKenzie: Diplodocus because they are so tall and can see everything.

If you had to be a horse what colour would you be?

Miss Gordon: It would probably be roan because that is my favourite colour for horses.

What pet did you have when you were younger?

Miss McKenzie: I had two guinea pigs: Rolo and Twiglet. They lived until 9!

What would your pet be called and why?

Mrs Dumphy: My pets are called Honey (because it is a honey colour) and Nut (because it is completely nuts!)

If you could make up your own type of pet what would it be and what would it look like?

Miss Falkingham: I would mix an elephant, an orangutan, a dog and a pterodactyl. I would choose these animals because they could have a trunk of an elephant, it could fly like a pterodactyl, have the behaviour of a dog and the colour of an orangutan.

By Alice, Amrit and Chloe (Year 6)

In Chantry Middle School we have a huge variety of sports like Netball, Football, Hockey, Volleyball, Badminton and many, many more. We compete in many of competitions, and sometimes win!

Today I went round asking 4 people, of mixed genders, what is their favourite sport in Chantry and why. I also wanted to know their thoughts on the recent proposals that would ban contact in rugby at our age. They said:

Pupil 1 – “My favourite sport at Chantry is athletics because we get to do it in the summer so I am not cold!”

Pupil 2 – “In Chantry, my favourite sport is rugby because it’s fun learning how to tackle, I would be really upset if they banned contact rugby!”

Pupil 3 – “My favourite sport in Chantry Middle school is gymnastics. This is because I love using all the apparatus and being able to experiment with tricks.”

Pupil 4 – “I love football at Chantry because you can’t get injured as much as you can at rugby. I think I’d be glad if contact rugby got banned!”

From this research I have discovered that 1 person wants contact rugby to be banned but 1 person doesn’t. I have now asked the same pupils if they would be happy if contact rugby got banned.

Pupil 1 – “Yes, because I prefer tag rugby.”

Pupil 2 – “No, because it’s fun and getting muddy is amazing.”

Pupil 3 – “No, because it’s different to other sports!”

Pupil 4 – “Yes, because the risks are less than doing contact.”

This shows that 50% want it to be banned and 50% don’t want it banned! What do you think?

Holly, Year 8.

In this day and age adults would pray that with all of this modern technology they would invent a machine that would wash the dishes or make the beds. However, many teenagers might ask for something different.

Over 3.2 million students are victims of bullying each year. Approximately 20 percent of teens experience depression before they reach adulthood, and between 10 to 15 percent suffer from symptoms of depression at any one time. About 160,000 teens skip school every day because of bullying. 1 in 4 teachers see nothing wrong with bullying and will only intervene 4% of the time. All this and only 30 percent of depressed teens are being treated for it.

Teenagers may seem incorrect by not telling someone they’re being bullied but if you were in their shoes, would you? Getting bullied isn’t something to be proud of: it’s humiliating. Being confronted for being yourself is wrong and it shouldn’t happen. Being bullied can lead to stress, anxiety and depression. All of those symptoms can lead to suicide. According to suicide.org, a teen takes his or her own life every 100 minutes. Suicide is the third-leading cause of death for young people aged 15 to 24. These statistics should be a lot lower or even non-existent.

Bullying can be in the form of physical, mental and cyber. Cyber is most common as the increase of technology means that almost every home has a smart phone. The popularity of Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, Facebook and many dating sites have proven to increase the amount of Cyber-attacks and bullying. This means it is so easy to type a horrid comment and send it. The bad thing is, you can delete comments so any teacher, not digging so deep, wouldn’t be able to see.

Stress and anxiety can be caused by many little things such as work, your children and busy lifestyles; however, for many teenagers it is different. Teenagers (13-19yr olds) usually stress and worry about school, homework and tests, especially if they’re in high school which is a crucial time for your future and can be really tough. Some advice for stress would be finding something you love and focussing on that because taking your mind off of things could be the difference between overcoming your stress and gaining more. For anxiety,

I wouldn’t really know because I have never suffered from it however I would say spend time with those you love and tell them about it because a problem shared is often a problem halved. All I can really say is if any of the above is happening to you try to tell someone you trust and you know will help because you can never really expect what happens in your life. If life gives you lemons, make lemonade 

Hannah, Year 8.

We asked several teachers a simple question: if you were stranded on a desert island and could only listen to one song, which one would it be?

Mr Hutchinson: Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen

Mrs Stewart: Jazz singer by Neil Diamond

Mr Nicholson: Fly like an Eagle by John Denver

Mrs Buckton: Shake it off by Taylor Swift

Miss Gordon: Bring me sunshine by Morecambe and Wise

Miss Debbie: Perfect day by Lou Reed

Mr Shields: Ashes to ashes by David Bowie

Mr Storey: Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen

Miss Bartlett: Dynamite by Taio Cruz

Mr Ord: Gone Till November by Wyclef Jean

Mr Reilly: The weight by The Band

Mrs Irving: Don’t let the sun go down on me by George Michael and Elton John

By Hermione and Georgia, age 9.