Today’s News (26 March 2009)

Primary schools shun SATs

Primary school teachers are trying to abolish key stage 2 tests for fear that they cause too much stress for the students.Primary school teachers are trying to abolish key stage 2 tests for fear that they cause too much stress for the students.

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Shallow Impact

240 fragments of the ‘Almahata Sitta’ formally known as 2008TC3 Asteroid that collided with the Earth’s upper atmosphere on October 7, 2008 have now been recovered. Weighing 80 tons – roughly equivalent in weight to a small lorry, hit the Earth’s atmosphere and exploded violently 40 miles over the Nubian Desert, Sudan raining meteorites down over North East Africa.
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Privacy complaints as Google ‘Street View’ is released

Privacy campaigners have made formal complaints to the Data Protection after Google Street View was released, it emerged today. read more ……

Earlier Work

Proposal to merge Grammar with Comprehensive

A proposal has been set forth to merge a local grammar school; St. Bernard’s Catholic Grammar School, with a local comprehensive, St.Joseph’s Catholic High School to form a new, larger school. The St. Bernard’s School building is an old building and needs money for renovation and in the current financial state the diocese has considered it more economical to merge the old school with St.Joseph’s comprehensive into one larger school likely to be built on the St.Bernard’s site.

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Will the Third Runway Take-off?

The government is progressing well with its plans to expand London’s Heathrow Airport, and is ready to wipe an entire village of 700 homes off the map.
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High Street or High Price?

Are Teens Spending Too Much Money?

Are teens spending too much money on designer clothes? Should we just stick to high street brands? Research has shown that teens are more likely to buy expensive designer items simply for the logo.
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Jade Goody and Cancer – the Story Behind the Trauma

Was it a dream wedding or mocking exploitation of the media? Whatever your opinion of Jade Goody, the reality TV star insisted that she lived her final months in the public spotlight to secure the future of her two young boys.
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Is Graffiti Art or Vandalism?

Graffiti is a controversial topic which has long been debated as a nuisance to society inflicted upon the public or more recently as a legitimate form of creative expression. But is it art or vandalism?
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Privacy complaints as Google ‘Street View’ is released

By Ciara, Jessica and Charlie 8B
St Bernard’s Grammar School

Privacy campaigners have made formal complaints to the Data Protection after Google Street View was released, it emerged today.

Google Street View is software made by the search engine Google, and is designed to help people search the streets for restaurants, car parks, etc. However, recent complaints have been released by Privacy International to Data Protection watchdog, about how these CCTV cameras can invade your privacy. These complaints state that ‘the whole thing is complete nonsense. CCTV should not be put in places where it is not needed; we need our privacy.’

In a recent survey it was proved that 90% of children think that Google Street View does not help them, but may help other people who want to stalk or even hurt them in their local area. This shows that children do not feel safe in their local area with Public CCTV cameras.

Google argued that the fact that people can get directions to your door is just like Sat Nav, and that Sat Nav has caused hardly any trouble.

When this argument was released, campaigners were enraged and fought back. They told close sources that over 95% of people caught on Google Street View are identifiable and fewer than 20% of faces are automatically obscured.

CCTV Cameras – the Public views

CCTV plays a major role in Police work, but many people believe that public CCTV is a bad idea. After the complaints to the Data Protection watchdog, many more complaints from the ordinary public were released.

To find out just how dangerous the public think CCTV is, we interviewed children at St Bernard’s School. Only half of the students feel that public CCTV makes them feel safer. These results show that children still feel extremely unsafe in local areas with public CCTV.

How can CCTV be extended?

Even after the complaints and campaigns to get rid of Street View, Google would like to extend its policies to schools and shops all over the country. Google believe that it can stop crime and help police to solve mysteries of murder more easily.

Schools think that this could possibly help, but the children themselves feel that the CCTV could make them feel unsafe instead of secure.

Primary schools shun SATs

Primary school teachers are trying to abolish key stage 2 tests for fear that they cause too much stress for the students.

Ed Balls yesterday announced that KS3 SATS would now be scrapped and replaced with more teacher assessments. Also, Report Cards will be introduced with grades given from A-F. Balls didn’t agree with the idea, saying it would be a let down to parents and children. Balls said today that KS3 tests indicated how individual children and schools were performing and KS1 tests were more of a “teacher assessment” and enabled teachers to help children that were falling behind. He also said that with the SATS, we can know what’s happening.

Mrs Hurden, a mother of a primary school child in a local primary school, and also a teacher gave her opinion on the SATS, “I think that they have helped to improve the standards and it helps children when they want to move from school to school. I would rather see the SATS staying in place because as a parent I think it also give you guidance in a very direct way.”

Ed Balls also commented that the results would enable children who were falling behind in English and Maths to get the help that they need to improve their understanding in these subjects.

Rhiannon, a student at St. Bernard’s School, also gave us her view on how the SATs affected her: “I enjoy exams, if that makes any sense. It’s weird how you perform when you know there’s something expected of you. I think the Year 9 SATs were abolished for a good reason; it gives us a chance to focus more on our GCSE’s. But with the Year 6 ones, it comes so soon after the 11+ and I think they’re completely different.”

We conducted a phone interview with Miss Underwood – a teacher at St. Bernard’s Prep School.

Do you think it is a good move to abolish SATs for primary school children?
-I think it is a good move but children should still be monitored over the term year.

Do you think the children should have a say?
-Yes, children should have a say because it is their education, however there would be very different views.

Do you think SATs put too much pressure on children?
Yes, there is too much pressure with these exams. The parents also put too much pressure on them as the children may feel dis-heartened if they do not do as well as their parents expect them to.

Is the government making a good move forward?
-I think the government are trying to find a good way forward but they need to come up with something that will stay the same for a long period of time.

We also interviewed BBC radio reporter Gordon Farquhar, and he told us about how his son,10, has already done his exams and his daughter,7, may or may not have to face exams in her primary school future depending on how the boycott progresses. Also, the stress of exams may not be a problem if handled right by teachers and other school staff. He also stated that stress from tests rests with the individual child or if the teachers make a big deal leading up to the exam, “The exams shouldn’t be given to children so young and the school shouldn’t make it all about league table positions.” Gordon said that some schools are good with dealing with the children leading up to exams but “some place too much pressure on the children.” His final statement was the government should listen to parents and see if it is really worth the hassle.

‘Shallow Impact’

Article by: Freddie and Moye

St Bernard’s Catholic Grammar School

240 fragments of the ‘Almahata Sitta’ formally known as 2008TC3 Asteroid that collided with the Earth’s upper atmosphere on October 7, 2008 have now been recovered. Weighing 80 tons – roughly equivalent in weight to a small lorry, hit the Earth’s atmosphere at 12.4km/s angled at 20o and exploded violently 40 miles over the Nubian Desert, Sudan raining meteorites down over North East Africa. The resulting explosion created the equivalent force of 1 kiloton of TNT. The asteroid, which is suspected to be 4.5 billion years old and created when the Solar System was formed, gave the scientists an unique chance  to study the strange and alien materials which the asteroid has brought to Earth.

Astronomers from 26 observatories around the world tracked the path of the asteroid as soon as they learnt it was on a collision course with the Earth – just one day before the explosion. This gave the scientists not only the chance to track the asteroid and watch it explode but to retrieve almost 280 fragments of the asteroid for study as well. The material studies revealed material 4.5 billion years old during the forming of the Solar System. The scientist also discovered that the asteroid that exploded above the Earth was formed when two larger bodies collided in the Asteroid Belt between Mars and Jupiter. The ‘parent’ asteroid is suspected to be ‘1998 KU2’ a monstrous 1.6 mile wide asteroid.

The Asteroid explosion is so extraordinary because this is the first time scientists have predicted and monitored an asteroids cause before impact. The scientist had one day to watch the asteroid, and calculate the atmosphere entry location. At 45 seconds past 2:45 am (Universal Time) 2008TC3 exploded raining pieces of debris over the desert below. Images have been captured by satellite of the explosion and a camera in Egypt may have capture footage of the explosion. A webcam 725km north of the site below the explosion also captured the brightening of the sky linked to the explosion.

The fact that scientists can study the movement of an asteroid so accurately and effectively poses the question - would we be prepared to deal with the asteroid if it been so it had gone through  the atmosphere and  remaining large enough to create a crater and massive explosion and cause global catastrophe? The honest answer would be ‘no’. Although many ideas have been thought of to protect the Earth from possible disaster none of them been employed to defend the Earth in the cause of a collision detection. One of the most famous meteor craters in the world is in Arizona. The asteroid which was calculated to have weighed 300,000 tons is 375 times heavier than 2008TC3. If an asteroid of equal size was discovered to be on a collision course with Earth just 1 day before impact the Earth would have no method of annihilating or deflecting the asteroid from its devastating trajectory.

Proposal to merge Grammar with Comprehensive

The following report was prepared by the students and does not necessarily reflect the views of the school and its governing body. 

By Sophie, Luke, Phoebe, Sarah, Moye, Adam & William
BBC School Report

However, 65% of students also commented they that the proposed merger could bring with it numerous exciting opportunities such as a new building and modern facilities as well as positive positive contributions from new students.

Grammar and Comprehensive

There has been a long history and much speculation about the future of grammar schools. Grammar schools operate on a selection system in which students have to pass the 11+ Examination to be considered for a place in the school. Autumn 2008 marked the end of the 11+ Examinations in Northern Ireland. While it is yet to be decided on a replacement for the test, people against the idea of grammar schools will agree with the removal of the 11+ Examination as they argue that people who are able to pay extensively for tuition have an unfair advantage, with some children preparing for the examination as young as 8 years old.

Due to the popularity of grammar schools amongst many parents, it is highly unlikely that the end of grammar schools is imminent in the near future. However, the entire selection system may need to be revised in order to create a fairer method of secondary school placement as people argue that getting into a grammar school is not totally dependent on intelligence and can be largely affected by background. If the merge was to happen it would make St.Bernard’s the first grammar school to close since 1997.

Grammar schools are rapidly losing support from the government. Labour agreed in the 1995 Labour Party Conference that they would cease opening grammar schools; the Conservative Party favoured the grammar school system but have recently revised their position and withdrawn their support siding now with academies for the future. The Liberal Democrat party has said that it won’t get rid of any grammar schools but will not open more either.

Merging

The merge between St.Bernard’s and St.Joseph’s would create a completely new school and building likely to be on the St.Bernard’s site. The merge could begin as early as 2011 and could be completed by 2018. If St.Joseph’s and St.Bernard’s were to merge using the 2009 intake numbers the combined number of students could be around 1450 pupils.

Is Graffiti Art or Vandalism?

By Michele, Freddie, Alan and Quinlan
St.Bernard’s Catholic Grammar School, Slough

Art

There are many graffiti artists who put time and effort into their work, such as Banksy, Marc Echo, Seen and Cope. Aik Saath is an organisation in Slough that has paid graffiti artists to paint a mural in the style of graffiti that the council has authorised on a public walkway. Graffiti can be very artistic, colourful and can brighten up an area. It can display the artist’s feelings or opinions about the world around them; in this case the mural above captures the ethos of the conflict resolution charity Aik Saath who aim to foster positive relationships across different sections of the local community.

Vandalism

Vandalism such as graffiti is usually done by the younger generation as they are influenced by the more experienced artists as mentioned, therefore they usually get in trouble by writing swear words which little kids can see and doing graffiti on walls, where they are not allowed to or have permission to do it. The stereotype image of a graffiti artist is no good nicks that do it just to annoy and disrupt the community.

History of Graffiti

People first recognized graffiti as an art form during the 1970’s and 80’s when graffiti artists began colouring the NYC subway. The first graffiti artist, a young boy from America, with the alias TAKI 183, graffitied on subway trains, stations, sign posts and buildings. The New York Times published an article about the mysterious TAKI 183 tag; making him known to the rest of the public.

The new craze grew and the boy then had a whole gang of graffiti artists; the groups were known as ‘crews’. They would try to hit (spray paint) as many trains as possible. When they got caught they found out that the quality of graffiti was more important than the quantity in exposure in public areas.

In order to make their graffiti unique they created their own style of art like block and bubble writing. They used colours to brighten up their work.
The United Graffiti Artists was created in the early 70’s and some wanted their graffiti art to be displayed in professional art galleries. Art dealers in Europe took an interest at the New York Cities (NYCS) subway art during the 1980’s and many of the graffiti artists were asked to travel with them around Europe.

The NYC MTA (Metropolitan Transportation Authority) wanted the subways to be clean of graffiti. However, graffiti started to extend its perimeters out of New York due to the MTA. Today, graffiti can be found all around the world being done by many age groups.

We conducted a survey asking 32 people in our class about the issue of graffiti focusing on two questions: do you think graffiti is art or vandalism and whether graffiti should be legalised or not.

Will the Third Runway Take-off?

Report by Andre (Editor), Andrew (Sub-Editor), Charlie (News Editor) & Gavin (Photo Editor) 8B News Reporters (Video): Jack & Jon

Sipson, the village which is to be demolished, has a handful of shops which serve the estimated 2,000 inhabitants. Every lamppost in the village is marked with a poster saying “NO” to the project, while campaigning signs are placed in most front gardens.

But Heathrow’s owners, British Airports Authority (BAA) remarks that it’s imperative that the development continues to advance. Transport minister, Geoff Hoon said it was vital to “ensuring that this country remains an attractive place to do business.” Critics say that over 50 communities will suffer from increased noise.

The government says it would have to be confident that any expansion would be able to comply with EU limits on air pollution and would not breach limits on the size of the area affected by aircraft noise.

‘Deprived of peace’

The 2M group, which represent 12 authorities in the Heathrow area, says that the project will mean 900 extra flights a day, resulting in increased noise for several towns and communities ranging from Maidenhead, eastwards to Kensington & Chelsea in Central London.
This is a view which has also been supported by many MP’s. Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London remarked, “This is a truly devastating blow for millions of Londoners whose lives are now set to be blighted by massive increases in air pollution and noise”.

2015 Estimated noise contours if planes were taking off and landing on both of Heathrow’s runways is 540,000 ATMs a year, but before a third runway is built.
2030 A third noise contour projection showing three runways in action with 702,000 ATMs a year.

She added: “At a time of climate change, with aviation having such a big impact, shouldn’t we be completely rethinking this and putting that kind of investment into rail?”

But the GMB union said expansion was needed because the current infrastructure was worn out and a major cause of delays to flights.

David Frost, of the British Chambers of Commerce, added: “Heathrow expansion is one of the fundamental infrastructure projects necessary to keep the country competitive.”

‘Over Capacity’

Many also argue that as Heathrow being the UK’s airport hub, it should be able to expand to be able to operate with the growing demand. At the moment Heathrow is operating at around 99% capacity compared to around 75% at its European rivals.

BA has argued a third runway could be worth £9bn a year to the UK economy.

But, John Sauven, executive director of Greenpeace UK remarked that, “The economic costs of climate change will dwarf any profits business might make from a third runway”.

High Street or High Price?

Are Teens Spending Too Much Money?

By Isabel, Louise and Jessica 8B
17th March 2009

Louise with the opposing opinion said: “If you’re willing to pay a lot of money for a piece of clothing then there must be some reason; whether it’s for the logo or the quality. There’s nothing wrong with buying it!”

Lucy also quoted: “Designer clothing is always better quality, and makes you feel special. There’s nothing wrong with buying it, all my friends do.”

Teens wearing designer clothes have had influence on the younger generation too. Younger children like toddlers have started to wear designer items, and parents have become more laid back about buying designer clothes for their children. Adults are now more willing to pay for these expensive clothes.

In a poll of thirty 13 year olds, 7 people owned more than 20 items of designer clothing, and 12 owned over 10. This shows that not many children were without any items of designer clothing.

Most of these children’s clothes are bought by their parents. One parent that we interviewed said that they are against designer clothes and won’t buy them for their own children.

So what do you think? Is designer clothing for you, or is high street more your style?