The Wyvern - Issue 16

The Wyvern Issue 16

@DSMS_Wyvern

Student Governors

Darlington School of Maths and Science

Watch the latest episode of The Wyvern TV: http://goo.gl/po3wX

After Harry and Amy did such a good job as student governors last year, the Governors have decided to have another election so other pupils can get a chance to voice their opinion and make a difference.

The pupils who wanted to run for student governor needed to fill in an application form explaining why they wanted the role

Newspaper

TV

Online

Summer 2013

and they needed a pupil and teacher to second them. Then during June everyone in the school got a chance to vote for the candidates they think should be student governor.

The job of student governor is to attend the governors meeting and represent the views of pupils at DSMS.

Joe Clark, year 9, and Annie Park, year 9, got elected to be the student governors. Their responsibilities will start in September. Joe says “I can’t wait to attend the meetings to share my opinion, I feel privileged that I’ve got this opportunity and I will not let people down.”

By Liam Pape

Wyvern Shines The train journey began at the Darlington station at 7:30am where there was a painstaking two and a half hour journey which was filled with thoughts of the tough competition this year.

With around 32 schools attending the award ceremony, no one could predict the outcomes of any categories and nothing was guaranteed.

By 11:45 we were at Stationers Hall, awaiting the award ceremony which would follow (after lunch.) Stationers Hall was littered with stylish

wall carvings and stained glass windows depicting important scenes of the Liam, Ben and Jack at the Shine Awards history of the awards. After the train hall. During the award ceremony between 1:00 at 4:30 and an arrival at 7:00 in Darlington and 2:30, the atmoswe were tired, beaten, phere was tense as the slightly disappointed, categories rolled out but a very exciting and and winners were anfun day was had on the nounced. There were whole. several schools who did More here: http:// not win an award as goo.gl/SOxiG there were only 14 categories, however the

By Ben Maclean school who fared best won a total of three

PAPE“R”MAIL

website: www.papermail7.blogspot.com How Twitter alone

Stubbing out Smoking

During March 2013 some people from Fresh North East came into DSMS to ask selected pupils about their opinion on the tobacco industry, cigarette packaging and smoking in general .The film was shown at their conference on March 20th where there were various other speakers talking about how bad the tobacco industry is and how they’ve been lying and deceiving people. I also made a short speech at the conference presenting a teenagers point of view of the tobacco industry and the damage they are doing. When writing the speech I was told numerous times that I need to be anti-smoking – not anti-smoker. This means I couldn’t have big rant putting down everyone who smokes because, quite frankly, it is their decision if they smoke or not.

State for Health) and Jenny Chapman (MP for Darlington) asking them what they were doing to help the push for plain packaging. For writing this letter I got interviewed by the Northern Echo and Radio 1’s Newsbeat so I could tell them what I was doing.

Not everyone agreed with what I was doing though. A group for plain packaging who think that it wouldn’t make a difference got hold of the letter and wrote quite a lengthy blog post questioning some of my points. There were also a few dozen comments agreeing with the blogger and asking if the writer of the letter was even a real teenage boy or if I was just a name Fresh NE used to write letters to important MP’s. I can give you a Wyvern Exclusive now that although I share some qualities of Pinocchio, unlike him I am actually a real boy!

“I needed to be anti-smoking not anti-smoker”

One thing I heard many times throughout the day was Plain Packaging. This is what most people at the conference (including MP’s and Doctors) wanted. Plain Packaging is where cigarettes are packed in a mouldy green colour and have graphic health warnings instead of fancy, attractive and colourful packaging which is currently on sale in the UK. So during May I wrote a letter to David Cameron (Prime Minister), Nick Clegg (the deputy Prime Minister), Anna Sousbry (Department of Health), Jeremy Hunt (Secretary of

To conclude, although it is not going to be happening in the near future I think that by this time next decade plain packaging will just be accepted and there will be no complaints about it.

Cigarette Packaging in Australia

is ruining the English Language

As more of the younger generation get Twitter and mobile phones it is inevitable that they are going to start using text language sooner or later. In some countries it is accepted and you are even allowed to write exam it the short version of English however in most places it is a language that is only allowed to be used on the Internet. In my opinion, text language is the most annoying thing in the world. Doing smiley faces is fine however when people start sending you stuff like OMW and BRB, it just gets confusing. I suppose text language is OK if it stays on social networks however when people are in a conversation in real life and say LOL, it just makes me cringe.

Facebook doesn't cause this as you don't have a character limit when posting a status however on Twitter, you have constant limitations. You can only post a tweet 140 character long and you can only use 160 character to describe yourself in your 'bio'. This causes people to start using abbreviations and text language. It's not good English and you're not allowed to use it outside of the Internet so why bother with it in the first place. I suppose when you're texting/messaging friends it is easy to give a quick reply however if they are friends, you could at least spend a minute or two giving them full words.

Feature on a Teacher Name: Miss Bloomer Subject: English, Media and Drama Years at DSMS: 2 Most memorable moment: Passing my Masters Degree is definitely a big one and also working abroad in Norway – it was great to experience a different culture (a much more relaxed atmosphere than the UK) and see new places.

Pets: A 2 year old Springer Spaniel called Brax (pictures are available) and a Leopard Gecko called Oscar.

Funniest Moment: Falling head first into a recycling bin while teaching a group of 32 Year 7s in my first year of teaching.

Advice (Words of wisdom): Don’t let other people get you down – if you believe you can do something/ believe in yourself that is what’s important.

Teacher’s Pet Name: Smoke and Otis (They are brother and sister, named after the soul singers Otis Redding and Smokie Robinson) Age: 18 months old Mr (and Mrs) Chapman's pet lurchers (Bedlington whippet cross) They love to run and play hide and seek in the long grass in south park where they have met Amber Whitby who walks her dog in her pyjamas. They have beaten (and scared the life out of) Akhi Islam in a running race in north lodge park.

Otis can play the violin.

They are currently getting to grips with the new experience of being tormented by a frantic crawling toddler.

Sahima on Stereotypes Let’s say you were sat on a bench at school, your hood was up because it’s cold and you just so happened to be listening to rock music. A group of people walk past and stare, you hear them whisper ‘what an emo, they’re so negative and depressive, why don’t they just hang around in a graveyard, how would you feel? Exactly! Why should people judge you without knowing who you really are?

Many people have different opinions of one or another but just as the wise saying ‘you should never judge a book by its cover’. Everyone has judged someone without getting to know them at least once, stereotyping someone is something which society can’t help but it should not become a habit.

People are often judged form the way they look, the clothes they wear, the music they listen to and so much

more. Appearance isn’t even half of a person. If you don’t understand them as a whole, both personality and appearance you have no right to judge them. All it does is make that person feel insecure about themselves. Teenagers often argue

“Yes we all have around’- an inspirational quote flaws and differences walk from Harper Lee’s ‘To Kill a MockingThese simple words have a big but that just means bird’. message; Stereotyping is a bad habit can stop but we still need to we are human” noputone an end to it because people get that people judge them without knowing them, but even those people at one point have judged someone by what they’ve heard from others.

‘You never really know a person until you step into their skin and

hurt and judged in a negative way: Yes we all have flaws and differences but that just means we are human.

We have our own personalities. We are unique. The world would be a boring place if we weren’t.

Is there Life on Mars? few years without issues we hope.

The Voyage

Over the last 5 years, thanks to advances in technology and science, exploring Mars has been made possible.

The Rover The Mars Curiosity rover is a vehicle built to travel over tough terrain and document everything it comes into contact with. It was sent up to the Red Planet by NASA to try and gather evidence to answer the question of: ‘has there been life on Mars?’ Since its launch in November 2011 it has drilled into the surface of Mars, snapped some amazing HD photographs of Mars (unfortunately showing no Martians) and even played one of Will.i.am’s songs! ‘Curiosity’ will continue its amazing journey over the next

Sending remote control vehicles is okay however, a Dutch company is taking it one step further: ten people are being sent to Mars in 2023. This is part of the Mars One project that hopes to create the first permanent settlement outside Earth. Mars One believes human exploration of the solar system should be a global effort, greater than the ambition of an individual nation. Mars exploration offers an opportunity to celebrate the power of a united humanity.

The Crew In 2013, Mars One will conduct a global search to find the best candidates for the first human mission to Mars. On Mars, the primary responsibility for the astronauts is to keep everything and everyone, up and running.

This will be a particular challenge for the first teams. They will need the skills to solve any potential problem - some of which will be completely unforesee-

able. Their combined skill sets of each team member must cover a very wide range of disciplines. The astronauts must be intelligent, creative, psychologically stable and physically healthy!

They also need to be a certain height, have perfect health and although anyone in the world can apply to be one of the astronauts they need to speak one of the 11 most common languages spoke on Earth.

The Technology There are many pieces of technology needed for this mission: a Lander that contains the systems for the generation of energy, water and breathable air within the settlement, a Lander that contains food, spare parts and other smaller components, an inflatable living space, and many more Landers for other various items.

By Jonathon Deery and Liam Pape

The out-of-this world panoramic image of ‘Mount Sharp’ taken by ‘Curiosity’

Finally a Facebook Phone?

Facebook is the social networking site that recently hit one billion users world wide.

The website allows people to share posts, pictures, websites and other content for people to like and comment on.

Anyway, earlier this year (on a Thursday evening) Facebook held a special press event when they announced the HTC First which is the first smartphone ever to run Facebook’s new operating system.

The operating system is called Facebook Home and it is built

on top of Android so you can still use all of your favourite apps and Google features however Facebook has made some huge changes.

As soon as you turn your phone on you are greeted by the live lock screen which shows you the latest photos from your Facebook news feed. This looks beautiful (providing the photos your friends upload are good). This even allows you to like and comment on images without unlocking your phone.

The next major feature is Chat

Heads which is currently available on the iPhone and iPod Touch versions of the Facebook app however it is a lot better on Facebook Home because they are always there. This means you can continue messaging people even when you are in other apps such as Instagram or even Twitter!

In conclusion, although Facebook Home is currently only available on the HTC First, it is ideal if you use Facebook a lot and like messaging people.

Bingo Arrests?

On the 25th June 2013, 28 English and Irish citizens were fined for holding a bingo match in Portugal with the top prize being biscuits and bottles of alcohol. A fine of 700 Euros (£595) was given to landlady of ‘The Yorkshire Tavern’ in Albufeira, Portugal on Friday 21st June.

Ms Pittaway, a woman aged 34 was given a 4 month suspended prison sentence.

She said she was "still in shock" and that the country's regulations were "wrong in a lot of aspects". Ms Pittaway (the landlady of The Yorkshire Tavern) said that her bar would not

be hosting bingo after Fridays shocking events.

Was It Just A Joke?

Ms Pittaway announced before her court appearance that they only held a game of bingo for a bit of fun.

“First we were all having fun and the next minute 3 of us were being bundled away in police vans!” she stated. Among them were Lee Williams and Claire Fairhurst, from Wigan, who were not involved in the bingo.

The couple were allowed to go back to the UK.

Mr Williams said: "When we tried to leave three of the police -who were armed- actually made a barricade in front of us and told us were not allowed to leave; we actually had to go to the police station to be read our rights as we were being arrested as part of an illegal gambling group.”

Is the law in Portugal strange and bizarre? Or do we just think that it is because we do not reinforce these restrictions? Keep reading and watching more editions of The Wyvern to get more of the latest news.

By Adam Plumb

Australian Aboriginal Culture Bendy Feet Alert!

Many young people are so busy with their everyday life that they do not take the time to become interested in different cultures. The Australian aboriginal culture is a big inspiration to art we have now.

The Australian aboriginal culture started when the Macassans (Indonesian) first arrived on the northern Australian shores after 1700 AD. Even contemporary aboriginal art is based on stories and symbols revolving around ‘the dream time’- During this period many people had different beliefs on how the world was created.

These stories were passed down through generations.

Scientists at Boston University have recently discovered that about 8% of the population have feet that bend in the middle, which is similar to the flexible feet found in tree climbing apes.

The oldest form of aboriginal art is bark painting which has unfortunately been lost over time. Although aboriginal art is very beautiful and cultural, they hold some concern when it comes to ancient stones especially one concerning sacred information which is meant to be secretive, This means an artist needs permission before to paint an aboriginal inspired story. Australian aboriginal painters can’t paint stories that hadn’t been passed down to them through family lineage.

“stories and morals were taught through paintings”

Australian aboriginal people have no written language of their own; instead their creative art, dances and songs were used to pass down vital information throughout the years, in order to keep their culture alive!

Their art work was also used for the education of children, stories and morals were taught through paintings, the only problem was that the story the children would infer from the paintings may have been different from the adults/elderly persons point of view.

Hopefully, the inspiration and majestic work of aboriginal art will continue, it allows culture to spread around the world, bringing people closer together with it.

By Sahima Begum

Scientist had once thought that human feet were rigid and this is how we were able to walk upright. People with bendy feet don’t actually notice anything different but when walking around barefoot it was clear that their feet bent at the ball of the foot as well as halfway between the heel and the ball.

So next time you’re walking around barefoot or just “aping around” have a look at your feet and see if you if you still have feet like your ancestors.

By Miss Kelly

Patrick Monahan inspires Kenya fundraising pupils

Patrick Monahan, comedian, came to our school to talk to the 21 students that have been picked to go to Kenya. The reason he came into school to talk to these pupils was so he could give an idea of storytelling to the students. The reason he did this was so he could give the students inspiration for storytelling when they are in Kenya so

that they can tell stories to the children. This visit to our school also brought some publicity for the trip to Kenya which included ITV news and The Northern Echo. So now when the students go to Kenya they can have an idea of telling stories to the Kenyan children.

By Lauren Hebden

Controlling Robots at QE On Monday, March 29th, six year ten pupils from DSMS went to the Queen Elizabeth college to take part in a STEM Lego challenge. The aim of the project was to programme a robot to manoeuvre around an obstacle course.

It was not complicated programming however it took great determination and skill to precisely move the robot through the gates. One student who went said “It was a very good experience to try something that could be a job opportunity on later life”. This was one of several other trips to the QE with DSMS pupils that involves engineering and science.

By Ben Maclean

DSMS Talent Show Earlier this year (Red Nose Day) the very first DSMS talent show (DSMS factor) had taken place. Many amazing musical performances were done and they got really great comments.

The talent show was hosted by our very own Mr Parr, as Dermot O’ Leary, and every performance was judged by our three very special judges; Mr Kipling as Simon Mr Johnson as Louis Mrs Cairns as Sharon Osborne After many fantastic performances, there were three winners chosen; Waka Waka by Niommi Atkinson Beautiful by Reja Joy Salemul and Sarah Joy Abanador Valerie by Rebecca Richmond Waka waka was the opening act and it certainly got the crowd going wild, not only the audience but also all three judges gave the thumbs up. Beautiful was sung with full confidence and the

audience seemed to be very impressed with it. The very last performance was Valerie and it got almost every student on their feet dancing and cheering, all judges described it as ‘perfect’, even little old Simon. Although these three performances were the top, there was one special guitar performance by Beth Pedelty. It was something different and was also the first act to bring a smile to Simon’s face. The talent show was a great opportunity for people to show off what their talents were and the audience also seemed to have a lot of fun. A lot of time and effort was put in to the talent show, so many thank yous to all the contestants and judges, but one person in particular deserves a great big thank you, and that’s Miss Kelly for putting effort and hard work into Enrichment Week, and the talent show!

By Sahima Begum

Dog Poem The dogs I love are as soft as clouds, They are as loyal as closest family, Their moods can change like the weather, Sometimes unsettled… then bright and breezy, My Labrador Ben was naughty but also cuddly and playful, He was curious about everythingin life just like me.

By Ellie Ryde

Review: Little Shop of Horrors Little Shop of Horrors is consistently amusing and churns with non-stop musical momentum, with being based on a previously written play.

It’s based on a nerdy scientist discovering some sort of flesh eating plant. However, unlike the play, the film had the expected happy Hollywood ending, as in the play Seymour was also eaten by a bloodsucking plant. Some say this is where the film went wrong as it lost the whole tragedy side of story line, however, some believe it was just as big a success. Instead of feeding the plant a chopped up, all that was shown were newspapers and boots being eaten, taking

away the natural gore of the play.

A more depressing ending was filmed and shown to test audiences.

The test audiences cried during it, so it was removed, but isn’t that the

“but isn’t that the point of a sad ending? To move the audience?” point of a sad ending? To move the audience? Although, without keeping to the main points, the film was well loved by everyone and is still a classic today.

As you can see, there are mixed views on the movie. Some wanted more gore and tragedy whereas others were happy with the humour and enjoyed the movie.

Either way, our drama cast this year will be putting on a performance of Little Shop of Horrors, but which ending will they choose?

To find out ask Miss Loughlin for details of the performance and order your tickets!

By Roxanne Wood

Scout Fete on Cockerton Green On Saturday 15th June it was the 8th Darlington Scout Group Garden Fete on Cockerton Green where there was raffles, stalls, Zumba, games, live music, prizes to win, dancing displays, competitions, animals and much more. The fete opened at approximately

1:30pm and went on until after 4pm. Luckily the weather was dry and bright meaning that approximately 900 people turned up to the 62nd annual fete.

Thanks to great efforts from volunteers, the Fete raised over £3500 which

will contribute to keeping the Scout Group running successfully.

The scout group running the fete based in Cockerton will is soon celebrating it’s 100 year anniversary since the group was first set up.

By Liam Pape

The Wyvern More articles, reviews and videos on the Wyvern Website: www.wyvennews.blogspot.com Follow us on Twitter: @DSMS_Wyvern If you would like to contribute an story, join the paper or have any ideas/criticisms/ advice, you can e-mail us at: wyvern@dsms.org

Sports Day More DSMS sport at www.wyvernnews.blogspot.com

On Tuesday 18th June 2013 it was the biggest sporting event since the Olympics at DSMS. It was Sports Day where pupils of all ages, genders and academic skill were joined together to compete for their house. The day saw over half a dozen school records being smashed - most of them by

year 9 pupils. Ronnie Park, year 9, achieved the triple jump record by hop, skipping and jumping to an outstanding 9 meters 60!

brilliantly organised by Mr Hillary.

The enthusiasm and effort of the pupils is excellent. It’s been a good day.”

The weather reflected the attitudes on the day and because of this the day was a huge success. Mr Tierney, house leader of the Topaz Tigers said “Sports Day has been

Matthew Currey, Year 8, says “Sports Day is great because it gets pupils to do things they wouldn’t normally do.”

RESULTS 8 BOYS 8 GIRLS 9 BOYS 9 GIRLS 10 BOYS 10 GIRLS 11 BOYS 11 GIRLS MASCOT TEACHER TOTAL SHARKS 13 20 12 29 27 24 19 9 3 1 157 TIGERZ 33 33 30 28 30 33 35 32 1 3 258 EAGLES 25 9 34 16 23 36 11 13 4 4 175 RATTLESNAKES 33 28 26 0 36 18 38 40 2 2 223

More Sports Day coverage... Town Sports Videos, Pictures & More http://goo.gl/ziBYG

Once again it was that time of year when Town Sports came around where all year groups from all schools in Darlington compete to see who is the best at field and track events. DSMS did better than ever this year finishing at a very high 4th overall. All the competitors from our school did extremely well and did their best to win

as many points as possible for our school. Matthew Currey, 13, competed in the 800m and long jump, he said “The atmosphere was depressing because everyone expected Carmel to win.

Nether the less everyone tried their hardest.”

The whole day was a huge success for all and was a highly enjoyable day.

By Sam Hutchinson

“The only way to do great work is to love what you do.” ~ Steve Jobs