Should homework be banned or not? Should pupils get less homework? We spoke to the teachers of Bellahouston Academy.

Deputy Head, Mr Keatings said “We don’t need homework but if any work is not completed in class then take it home to finish it off.”

He said, “If you have been absent or need to catch up then homework is fair”.

We also have asked one of our English teachers. Mrs Gardener said, “It’s important for pupils to spend time at home revising for topics in greater detail.”

She also said that homework is fair “depending what it is.”

“If teachers could communicate with each other and not overload pupils with homework and only to give one homework for one subject a week.”

“I like giving homework because you have to learn to be independent and it encourages pupils and helps pupils to learn time management.”

A parent of a Bellahouston student said, “Yes pupils should get at least half an hour of homework to make you learn and get you more educated.”

She went on to say “Homework is fair and its good getting it because it helps your mind think over with what you have done throughout the day.”

President Holland in France has banned homework throughout primary and secondary schools, but it doesn’t look like homework is going anywhere in Scottish schools.

By Kamni (12)and Nimra (12).

By Sophie (12), Yasmin (12)and Charley (12).

Rise Of The New Samsung S7 And S7 Edge

The new Samsung S7 and S7 Edge are said to be the best new phones of 2016.

One of the other new and upcoming phones is the iPhone 7.

The Samsung S7 has an amazing enhanced camera also fast auto focus and the back of the S7 Edge is curved so it feels like you’re not holding a box.

The Samsung S7 and S7 Edge have expandable memory up to 128 GB. Both the S7 and the S7 Edge run on the new Android software, Marshmallow.

Both the Samsung S7 and S7 Edge are waterproof and dust proof.

The battery of the S7 is 3000 mAh, but the Samsung S7 Edge has 3600mAh so it lasts longer also they both have 4GB RAM.

The Samsung S7 and the S7 Edge might just be the best phones of 2016.

Only time will tell if the Samsung S7 will be the best phone of 2016 or if the iPhone 7 will rise above the competition.

By Hamzah(12)

PSG destroy Chelsea as they win 2-1 at Stamford Bridge

Chelsea knew that if they got knocked out of the Champions League they probably would not get in again next season. After losing 2-1 in Paris to PSG it was crucial that they got an away goal in Paris.

This is the second time in two seasons that Chelsea has drawn PSG in the last 16. The game kicked off and PSG was at it from the start, they were controlling possession and passing it about like it was just them on the pitch. They had 63% possession to Chelsea’s 37% and 19 minutes in Rabiot got the first away goal with a tap in from close range.

Chelsea knew they were in trouble as PSG were winning 3-1 on aggregate. Chelsea had to get back into it and they would have to win by two goals. Seven minutes later Diego Costa found the back of the net 27 minutes in and it was 1-1. Chelsea had to score two more to go through to the quarter finals. In the 67^th minute Ibrahimovic found the breakthrough and PSG went 2-1 ahead and 4-2 on aggregate.

PSG will go through to the next round.

By Cameron (12).

Wednesday 9^th of March was an important day for Chelsea. They played Parisian team, PSG in the sixteenth round of the Champions League. Paris Saint Germain went into the game winning on aggregate 2-1 from the first leg.

Chelsea fans were not only disappointed with the score, 4-2 on aggregate, but also with Hazard’s performance. The Belgian winger scored 19 goals last season and was on his way to win Player of the Year, but this season Hazard has only scored 2 goals. It is not just Hazard’s performance though; the team is out of form, sitting tenth in the table with 9 wins, 10 draws and 12 losses in the English Premier League.

This is not the season for Chelsea, with underdogs rising up the table like West Ham (5^th) and Leicester City (1^st). Chelsea fan and pupil Ryan (12) said “their strikers are getting through but they struggle to score”. He also mentioned that he thinks Chelsea should bring in a world class defender as a lot of their current defenders are injured. With the potential of young players like Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Kennedy, Matt Miazga and Kurt Zouma, Chelsea could have a great team in the future.

By Ryan (12)

Due to the war in Syria millions of people have been displaced.

Britain is doing its part to help though. Over the next five years the Prime Minster, David Cameron, has agreed to resettle 20,000 refugees in the UK.

Civillians suffer most in war but Syria has suffered terribly over the past few years.

Bisan is an 11-year-old girl who came from Syria to Scotland in the hunt for a better life. She is a high school student at Bellahouston Academy. She is a refugee from a small city in Syria called Daraa in the south.

Bisan has told us she had to come to Scotland because her brother was very ill and needed an operation on his hand. She came one year ago and attended primary 7 in St Albert’s Primary School. In Syria she was only allowed to go to primary school as people have to pay for additional education there. So when she came to Glasgow, Scotland she had more opportunities and career choices here.

Bisan says that she really likes her community and her neighbourhood is quite safe. She would like to go back to Syria for a visit but she can’t due to the circumstances there. Her hobbies are drawing, playing computers games and watching TV.

Bisan said, “When I was leaving I was afraid of the war in Syria.”

“I was heartbroken and emotional for leaving but I knew I had to.”

“I started to miss my friends and family.”

Now Bisan is in Glasgow and she is really enjoying her life here.

By Nimra (12), Kamni (12) and Bisan (12)

Homework is a big issue for children’s education. Parents have a big influence on their children when doing homework. Some pupils just think that homework is nothing to worry about, but this has a big impact on the pupils learning.

Parents have a lot to do with pupil’s homework. Some parents don’t mind if pupils do their homework because they think five hours of school classes is already a lot for them, but other parents think it helps their child remember what they did that day in school. It also helps the teacher know that their pupil understands their lesson and also the teacher knows that they can help them progress in the future.

We interviewed our local Campus Police Officer, PC Harry, and one of our enterprise teachers, Mr Atha.

PC Harry said, “The benefits of homework promote self-study and put more responsibility onto the pupil.”

Mr Atha said, “It important for you to have responsibility to complete the work in your own time and bring it in to the teacher on the deadline.”

Homework or no homework is a case that will never be closed.

By Hamzah (12), Muhammad (12), Ali (12) and Haseeb (12).

By Divyaansh (12), Adam (12), Conor (13) and Reece (12).

Teenagers all over the UK love Wi-Fi, it’s practically a part of their lives now. We’ve been doing research and asking teachers and pupils in school to see if it’s a good idea for pupils to have access to free Wi-Fi in school.

We interviewed a few teachers in Bellahouston Academy to see what they think of free Wi-Fi in school. Here’s what some of them said, Mr Keatings the Deputy Head of Bellahouston Academy said “If we were to get the school Wi-Fi the students would have to be responsible and only use it for work” he also said the password would be given to everyone as that would be most fair. “I think pupils would use it more than staff”, continued Mr Keatings.

We asked him if it would cost a lot and if there would be a budget for the price, he said “it would be very expensive, we would need a license which is also very expensive but we are looking into it for the future”. We also asked a teacher from the maths department, Miss Lamond, we asked her the same questions. She said “the Wi-Fi should just be for staff” and “Wi-Fi would cost a lot, and I don’t know where all the money would come from”.

BBC News School Report team also interviewed pupils in S1. Here is what Abby said, “I don’t think pupils will use their phones more in class but they will use it more at interval and lunchtime because they have access to free Wi-Fi” we also asked if she would find Wi-Fi useful, she said “Yes, it would be useful as pupils could search for relevant stuff on the internet” she also said that pupils would use it more due to all of the social media. Conor was also interviewed from S1, here’s what he had to say “yes it would be useful as people might need access to Wi-Fi for any types of emergencies but also there is a downside as pupils will also use their phones a lot more in class”

Now that we have finished our investigations on Wi-Fi in Secondary schools we’ve come to a conclusion that Wi-Fi is a very popular idea and schools are very fond of this but only time will tell whether this idea will take place.

By Maryam (12), Sara (12) and Mirna (12)

We’re all learning about how news is made and should have some stories published here very soon. Watch this space!