Youth Philanthropy Event 2016-17

READ OUR LIVE REPORT AND VIEW PICTURES ON THE EVENTS TAB

Callum Miller 2D

For the ten weeks leading up to Christmas pupils from Boclair Academy and 250 other schools have been working on promoting a small charity from the local area. The charities are chosen because they are small and need to be promoted in the community and get a voice.

They have been getting to know their charities and are developing an understanding of what they need. The grand prize for the competition is a £3000 grant from the Wood Foundation. Some of the pupils are even so enthusiastic that they want to continue work with the charities post competition.

The pupils have also developed skills and understandings of local charity work, and why the money will mean more to these groups than larger ones that bring in millions such as children in need. There will be presentations on Monday by the top groups to impress judges to win the £3000 grant. We will be attending the event on Monday and hopefully catching up with some pupils too so that we can update you on the latest after the weekend.

Callum, BBC School News Report
Boclair Academy

Slow down; don’t throw your fresh spuds out just yet…

New research has shown that when browned, roast potatoes are the secret killer in our everyday meal. The FSA claims when spuds are cooked for too long at a high temperature there could be a fatal threat involved.

When cooked for too long the potatoes go from a brightly coloured golden to a nasty looking black. This is said to give off high levels of acrylamide, a substance which has been linked with cancer in mice.

However Cancer Research UK sees a problem to this accusation. They argue it would take 312 slices of brown toast, crisps or potatoes each day to be at any risk.

It’s not the best idea to rule those potatoes out of your diet, but I would say that you may want to cut down on those delicious Sunday roasts (I know it’s a lot to ask).

Starchy foods like potatoes may not be on the same cancerous level as smoking cigarettes says FSA but scientists say there is a small risk so cook them carefully just to be safe.

To conclude NO, roast potatoes are not the secret killer in our meal they are just fine to have fairly regularly, though scientists are not ruling out the chance of threat…

Written by Calum M 2D