Northfield Academy has been accepted to participate in the RHS Rocket Science project. The project will see the school receive 200 rocket seeds, 100 of which have been on the international space station since September and will return to Earth in March. Science club pupils will become space biologists by participating in experiments which investigate how the seeds grow and will learn about the challenges of preserving life on other planets in the future.
Thanks to everyone involved today with the Northfield Academy BBC School Report.
It’s been a long day – time to go home to reflect on all that we have achieved.
Jenny Laing spoke to me on the radio and I asked her if she could answer some questions about herself. she said ” yes”and we did a quick fire questions round.
A national health survey has discovered that nearly half of eight year olds and one third of five year olds have signs of tooth decay already. Could this be due to the amounts of unhealthy foods children are eating nowadays? The survey found that rates of tooth decay were much higher among children in more deprived families, where more than 40% of five-year-olds have some decay, in 15-year-olds, that figure rises to nearly 60%.
Tooth decay is a problem which occurs when the acids in your mouth dissolve the outer layers of your teeth. Tooth decay can be prevented by eating healthier and by brushing your teeth twice a day. Tooth decay can eventually lead to losing teeth. There were reductions in tooth decay present in the permanent teeth of 12 and 15-year-olds in England, Wales and Northern Ireland between 2003 and 2013.
Another study showed that one in five 12 and 15-year-olds said they had experienced difficulty eating in the past three months while one in three 12-year-olds said they were embarrassed to smile or laugh because of the condition of their teeth and parents said they had taken time off work because of their child’s oral health in the last six months.
So what can we do to stop tooth decay? Northfield Academy has issued a water policy around the school. Pupils will not be allowed to take any fizzy juice or energy drinks into school because it is unhealthy. The water policy only allows water to be brought into school, making the school more water friendly.
Jordan talks about Northfield Academy’s recent successes at Go4Set.
The people who took part this year were:
Hayley, Erin, Caitlin and Rachel from S5.
Joe, Rebekah and Brittany from S3.
Jordan from S2 and Cameron, Nicole, Amy, Josh, Jake from S1.
The team was lead by Mr Rae, Miss Smith and Miss Darroch. We were lucky enough to be joined by Fiona Stalker from the BBC and the Media Department from NES College as well as a group of students.
The NES College team allowed us to use their facilities which helped us to improve the quality of our news stories this year. BBC School Report was bigger and better this year as we had a wider range of news and a bigger team to work with. Although the day was busy it was very exciting and eventful, mirroring what it is like in a real news room.
The news we gathered came in from Pittodrie, Aberdeen City Council and even Alex Salmond’s car. The whole day was a great success!
We would like to thank everyone who took part and everyone who helped us.
Last year, young people aged 16 and over were fully submerged into politics as they were given the right to vote in the Scottish Referendum. For the first time, young people were taking an interest in what was happening in their country and were engaging in political discussions. However, less than a year later they now cannot vote in the General Election. We asked two of our senior pupils about their opinions on how they now do not have the right to vote.
How did you feel about being able to vote?
Hayley: I felt it was important that 16 year olds could vote in the referendum as it wasn’t our grandparents’ or parents’ future that it would affect. It would be ours. If you didn’t vote then you didn’t have the right to complain about the result.
Rachel: I felt it was important for us to vote on our future as it will affect us the most and we should be able to make important decisions that will affect our lives.
Did you feel that you took more of an interest in the political debate?
Rachel: Yes, because I has the right to vote for the first time I wanted to use my vote sensibly and make sure I was making the correct decision for me.
Hayley: Yes because I needed to make an informative decision about my future. I looked through some sections of the White Paper that interested me as well as engaging in discussion with my peers, parents and teachers.
The General Election is almost a month away and you will not be able to vote this time. How do you feel about this?
Hayley: I feel like it is a bit silly as we were trusted with a monumental and history making vote last year and we were able to make a decision for our future. Whereas, now we can’t vote as to who runs our country and cannot influence any decisions that ultimately will affect the way that we live the rest of our lives.
Rachel: I think that it is quite unfair because they gave us the vote and then took it away from us. When you look at the various television debates throughout the build up to the referendum I feel that some of the most well informed contributions and questions were from the young people aged between 16 and 18. We had proved ourselves that we can take the vote seriously and make a decision that was right for us rather than copying our parents’ opinions.
What do you think needs to be done to continue to engage young people in politics?
Rachel: I think they should change the voting age to 16 permanently as I know from personal experience that once I was given the vote I maintained an interest in the political news stories and things that were affecting me.
Hayley: I think that more discussions in school should surrounding local political issues so that they have more of an awareness about things and changes that will affect them. I also feel that a lot of the issues that affect young people are never really addressed towards them so they are not interested in these issues.
Thank you for taking the time to talk to us today.
The new Apple watch is going to be released on the 24th of March. For the regular version of the iWatch you will fork out £300; for the more advanced version it will set you back £13,500! Some of the features on Apple’s latest gadget include a heart rate monitor and a fitness tracker. The screen is made out of strengthened ion-x-glass. Analysts offered early sales estimates from a few million to as many as 40 million in the first year.
Most of the first years at Northfield Academy went to Loch Eil on the week beginning March 2nd . There were two groups that went, Wallace went from Monday – Wednesday. Stewart and Macbeth went from Wednesday – Friday. We had to be at the school for quarter to eight. From Monday to Wednesday it was snowing there so whilst the pupils of S1 who stayed at school were nice and warm, we were freezing at Loch Eil.
When the S1 pupils were at Loch Eil they all had fun. They did lots of fun activities that were amazing and hysterical at times. Some of the activities were quite difficult and some were okay. Some of the activities included mountain climbing, jumping in the loch, wee wall ( climbing over a wall) and torrelian ( making a zip wire).
A lot of the pupils who went said they enjoyed themselves.
Some second and third years went and some of us might even get the chance to go back next year.
Here is what some people had to say about the trip:
Nicole:” I found it really fun and hopefully I get to go back again next year”.
Cameron: ” I enjoyed it but I didn’t enjoy the bus journey that much”.
Josh: ” I had fun! My favorite activity was playing camouflage”.
Lanya: ” I liked Loch Eil a lot”.
Olympic Medalist Tim Baillie kindly agreed to be interviewed by Hayley and Joe
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