Branksome Bugle - Issue 4

Supported by the Courier

Branksome Bugle Issue 4

Your magazine, your opinion, your school!!

SAVE OUR SWIMMING POOL As you all may know Branksome Science College is known for having a swimming pool, however if current plans go ahead there may not be a pool in our new school. This is because the estimated cost of the new pool could be £4,000,000! If we bought this our budget would be lower for the rest of the school.

The Branksome Bugle think it is important that the new school has a swimming pool because we don’t want to miss our swimming lessons or have to travel elsewhere.

BRANKSOME YOUTH CLUB Branksome Youth Club is brilliant!!!

Its on every Tuesday and Wednesday, 7:30pm till 9:30pm. It has a 30p entrance fee. It is run by Paul Hepper, who is also working as a youth worker in school. There are many things to keep you occupied such as Xbox360, tuck-shop, Pool, TV, Badminton and much more.

The kids enjoy going there as workers are kind and pleasant. So go and try it out its at the Branksome Community Centre!

By Chrissey Straw

Branksome Science College Record On the 25th of February 2010, Mr Tucker’s year 10 group beat the year 11 record of the time of setting up chairs for a whole school assembly. The time to beat was 15 minutes set by the year 11’s and the year 10’s did it in 12 minutes!

DVD of the month: UP The story is moving, entertaining, one minute you are crying, the next laughing. It is a lovely story which both adults and kids will enjoy. You see an old man who embarks on an adventure with a young kid and the friends, enemies, and problems and crazy things that happen along the way.

The characters are well developed, each one bringing believability to the cartoon which really takes this film to the next level.

Girls Workshop: Friday! No school until Monday and you might be a bit bored. Well be bored no more because on a Friday night Sarah Amiss and other youth workers run a Girls’ Workshop at Branksome Community Centre from 5:15 until 7:30pm. Activities include pool, nail arts and maybe even a games console. There is no charge and it is fun to attend. I attend all nights and I would like to say thank you to Sarah and other helpers for running this club. Sarah would also like to mention please could you bring CDs as we would like to listen to the music.

By Rebecca Parkinson

Branksome Girls Win Dance Festival A group of girls from Branksome Science College won the overall trophy at the Darlington Dance Festival held at Darlington Arts Centre. Most of the town’s schools had teams in the event. The winning group were – Shayma Begum, Nayema Begum, Shahnaaz Akthar, Tauhida Akther, Shui Akthar and Jamila Miah.

The girls choreographed their own routine and gave up their time during lunchtimes, break and after school to practise.

Well done girls!

PAPE“R”MAIL Hello readers, in this issue I am going to tell you a bit about myself. If you do not already know, I am the editor in chief of the Branksome Bugle and I love making the newspaper. I am also a keen cyclist and I cycle to school and back everyday. I get at least one puncture every month and every time I go up a curb my bell rings.

All about me, but mostly the things I hate!

My friends: James Allison and Katie Appleyard are the secretaries I also have a huge team of journalists writing articles for you to read.

Katie Appleyard

This article is about you, the reader. It may be small but it has a giant message to get across. On the news you see car crashes and many of the people involved were not wearing seat belts. There were others on mobile phones or even just not concentrating. A clunk, click every trip could save your life. By wearing a seat belt you might get hurt but you’ll have less chance of being killed. I urge you this year to join the campaign. Just by a clunk, click. Every trip.

Feature on a Teacher Name:

Mrs S Grant

Subject:

Learning Mentor

Years at Branksome:

6½ years

Most memorable

...is always still to come

moment: Funniest moment:

Being accidentally locked in the music block after school!

Pets:

Inflatable parrot

Advice:

Believe in yourself and be happy.

Teacher’s pet…

This is Mrs Philips’s six year old dog called Oscar and he is my hobby so I call him Super dog.

Over the winter holidays he would pull the sledge.

More exciting times in the science department since the last issue. We have now started to take delivery of some new and specialised equipment for the science college and it is hard to say who is more excited – the teachers, technician or pupils?!

The new equipment includes a hydrogen fuel cell model car that runs on water and gives out water. Crazy but true. There is also a brand new Van der Graaf generator for those who like their hair styled with static electricity, some new microscopes for looking at insects and other micro creatures from the local area, a laser for demonstrating properties of light, a ripple tank for showing waves and a whole suite of data logging equipment for making experiments in science more ICT related and interesting for all. All of these purchases will be integrated into lessons during the next few weeks so make sure that you look out for them.

Mr Burford took 5 year 7 pupils on a trip to Teesside University last week to attend an environmental issues event. The pupils were very successful and returned to school excited about their achievements. Congratulations to Liam Pape, Jay Reeves, Chloe Bradley, James Allison and Reece Cummings. 15 pupils in Year 8 will soon be attending a sports and nutrition event at Teesside University so we also wish them a successful day.

There were some interesting articles about science in the news this month. One story from the Times explains discoveries made about the Ancient Egyptians and their diets. Long before fried food and McDonalds, the ancient Egyptians food habits meant that lots of them died very young from cardiovascular disease. Contrary to what lots of people believe, this shows that obesity and dietary problems are not a new problem!

In other news, the Guardian reported this month of the death of a trainer at Sea World in Orlando. The trainer was killed by a killer whale that dragged her under water and held her there until she drowned. Some people think people could go to their environment with specialists who know the animal and their habitat.

Good luck to all Y10 pupils and those resitting in Y11 with their science modular exams next week.

Peter Haylock Assistant Headteacher – Science Specialism

Haiti earthquake

by Rian Atkin & Jack Barker The earthquake occurred at approximately 16:53 local time (21:53UTC). Its epicentre is approximately 25km (16miles). It happened on 12th January 2010 at the depths of 13km (8.3miles).The international red cross has estimated over 3 million people have being affected by the earthquake. Help and support is coming in from anywhere to save other peoples lives. Also JLS take that Joe McEldery and Leona Lewis and some more singers are helping raise money for Haiti.

Game of the Month

This terrific game has now become game of the month! Swords and Sandals 2 is an epic game that is based on gladiators. It involves you making your own gladiator that fights against other gladiators for money. The money can then buy your man’s equipment that he can use to fight.

By Jake Milner and Bradlee Goldsmith

Sport Reporter Tom Davis standing with head of sport Mr Fitzmaurice to help raise the importance of health and fitness throughout the school.

Teams of the week Name: TSC Colour: black and blue League position: 11th Home pitch: Blackwell Biggest win: 5—1 north flyers Biggest defeat:7—3 fishburn

Sports news wrote by Sam Hutchinson, Ewan Barr, Carly Scott and Tyler Hutchinson.

Frankie Dettori Frankie is one of the best jockeys in the world. His father was also a jockey named Gianfranco Dettori they are both Italian. He was born as Lanfranco Dettorie on December 15, 1970. Frankie had a head-start as his father, Gianfranco, was a top Italian jockey who had won the 2,000 Guineas in 1975 & 1976.

His mother was a professional circus performer. He became good at being a jockey very quickly because his father was a very talented jockey himself plus his mother specialized in doing back flips astride two horses and he grew up with horses.

At the age of eight Frankie was given his first horse, a palomino pony every night he would practice on his horse for about half an hour. When he was thirteen he became a stable boy and an apprentice jockey the next year he left Italy for Britain to work for an Italian trainer, Luca Cunami, in Newmarket Name: Cumby Rovers Colour: orange and black League position: 4th Home pitch: Heighington, County Durham Biggest win: 11—1 over Mount pleasant B Biggest defeat: 6—1 against Primrose

Branksome Science College pupils meet Member of Parliament We interviewed MP John Denham when he visited Branksome Science College.

Here is what he said:

John Denham How did you become an MP and why? Once I became involved in politics, being elected to a council is one of the ways to get things changed, and becoming a Member of Parliament obviously gives you a bit more of a chance to change things in your area.

What happened is the MP in my area said that he was standing down and I got the chance to take his place.

Tell us about your school education and any other jobs you’ve had?

I went to a local primary school in a village in East Devon, where my father was the head teacher at a two teacher primary school, then I went to the local comprehensive school. After that I went off to Southampton University and did a little bit of chemistry research, then after that I went into the voluntary sector, that’s when I worked for organisations like ‘War and Wants’ and ‘British Youth Council’ and organisations like Christian Aid and I did that up until the time I became an MP. Why did you come to Darlington?

The main reason for coming here today was to meet with people who manage town centres from right across the country. Because of the recession lots of towns have problems with empty shops. The Government have given places like Darlington money to help them get people into the shops, to tidy up the city centres and to make the places look attractive. And I’m here today to look at the best examples of what has been going on. There is one example here from Darlington, where the 6th form college are taking over an empty shop and are putting art work for the public to enjoy and make artist’s work look more attractive.

There has recently been a youth of parliament election, what advice do you have for the people who weren’t successful? Well the people who weren’t successful, I hope they understood, because they want to get involved with changing things and there are always other ways to get involved in changing things even if you don’t win an election. What I would say to them is to look around and find what sort of problems they want to try and tackle. They might not have got to the youth parliament but if you have a local issue go and talk to the council, talk to the people in charge of your area and find other ways. Don’t give up in trying to change things.

If money was no object what would you change about Britain? That’s a very good question because in practice in government, money usually is an object, and I’m not really sure that money alone is a central issue. Probably the thing which would transform this country the most is to continue what we have done in the last few years which is to raise, not just standards in schools in exam results, but the young people’s sense of what they can achieve in their lives.

What pupils want in the new school.

By Mrs. Philips, set 1 textiles class and Kayleigh McCarthy

Lockers

Social Rooms

More

Touch screen computers

Smart boards

Computers

Voice command computers

Separate head of year to supervise social rooms.

Big library with computers.

holidays

New School

Better music room

More books.

School radio

Listen to music Science Equipment Escalators

Slides

More school disco’s.

Vending machine

Blow stuff up.

Swimming pool

What the School Council think: The school council think that some of these are good ideas but some of them are a bit extreme. Overall they are all fundable and these will benefit all pupils whether in sports or academic subjects. Also the school council are coming up with a list of positive and negatives. If you have any ideas please contact the school council or Mrs. Surtees as soon as possible.

Jacqueline Wilson Jacqueline Wilson was born Jacqueline Aitkin in Bath, Somerset, in 1945. Her father was a civil servant, her mother an antiques dealer. Jacqueline spent most of her childhood in Kingston upon Thames, where she went to Latchmere Primary School. She was an imaginative child and enjoyed reading and making up stories. She particularly enjoyed books by Noel Streatfeild, as well as American classics like Little Women and What Katy Did. Even as young as six and seven, she knew that she wanted to be a writer and would fill Woolworths’ notebooks with stories of her imaginary games. At the age of nine she wrote her first "novel" which was twenty two sides long. The book was called Meet the Maggots about a family with seven children. Although she was good at English when she was young, Jacqueline Wilson had no interest in math's and would often stare out of the window and use her imagination rather than paying attention to the class, leading her final year teacher at Latchmere to nickname her "Jacky Daydream". She later used this nickname as the title of the first stage of her autobiography.

There are several Jacqueline Wilson books in Branksome Science College Library

Year 9 Graphics A year 9 Graphics class is taking part in a design competition against other schools in Darlington and across Teesside this term.

The competition is called “The 8th Wonder” and is to design and make a model of a building that would impress and be used by the community.

Branksome Science College ATTENDANCE 19 Tutor Groups had 90% or more attendance in December *STAR GROUPS* for December: 8CSO & 8JSA both with 96.6%

Knickerbocker glory with chocolate sauce Ingredients For the chocolate sauce 3 tbsp double cream 2 tbsp cocoa powder 2 tbsp caster sugar 1 tbsp honey for the Knickerbocker glory 3 scoops ice cream 35g/1½oz hazelnuts, toasted Method 1. To make the chocolate sauce, mix all the ingredients in a saucepan and warm through to create a smooth sauce.

2. Take a large glass and place some ice cream into it. Drizzle the chocolate sauce, repeat the process till the glass is full, sprinkle with toasted nuts and serve.

NOT SUITABLE FOR PEOPLE ALLERGIC TO NUTS.

By Tom Davis

Year 10 Craft Construction This year’s Year 10 Craft Construction class, comprising:Ross McKerchar, James Brown, Dean Nicholson-Dixon, Brady Gallagher, Adam Burton and Shane Madderson have formed their own construction company, calling themselves 10CC, to make a variety of items for the school staff to purchase for a nominal sum.

The items they have made so far have included clocks, garden planters, coat hangers, storage boxes, desk tidies, bird tables, and bookends.

There have been numerous satisfied customers and pupil job satisfaction has been obvious.

The order book is fairly healthy but if anyone is interested in placing an order please approach one of the above mentioned company directors.

The class is visiting The Workplace in Newton Aycliffe for some workshops to help them with their project on Wednesday 27th January.

By Mr. Clark

Car of the Month Name: Ariel Atom Price: £20,000/£45,000 (turbo charged) Top speed: 155mph or 249km/h 0-60: 2.7 seconds Rating:

Ariel Atom

Credits: Once again thank you to everyone who has helped with the newspaper. They have given up their time at break times and lunchtimes to come to meetings and work on computers.

Liam Pape (Editor) Mrs. Surtees (Librarian) Katie Appleyard (Secretary) James Allison (Secretary) Elisabeth Davey (Secetary) Ewan Barr (Sports Editor) Rebecca Parkinson Robert Archer Bradlee Goldsmith Jake Milner Ryan Atkin Roxanne Wood Sarah Moitt Chloe Ryde Carly Scott Robyn Thompson Chrissey Straw

Twilight:

Bella’s mother is going to Florida with her new boyfriend but Bella wants to spend some time with her dad so she went to a town were her dad lives called Forks.

She goes to a school called Forks High School where she met Edward Cullen and he is a vampire.

Edward hated Bella at first because he was very desperate for her blood. Edward has two sisters and two brothers called Alice, Rosalie, Jasper, Emmett and his mother and father are Esme and Carlisle. Edward falls in love with Bella and Bella falls in love with him.

Edward takes Bella to play baseball with his family. After a while 3 other vampires come and one of them called James who is a tracker, hunts down Bella because she is a human. Edward and his family try to help Bella get out of this horrible situation, they rip him apart and burn the pieces.

James bites Bella while Edward was down and the venom was spreading quickly. Edward had to suck the venom out but didn’t know if he could stop. Bella had to go to hospital because she lost a lot of blood.

The best romantic story of the year!