Mind's Eye Prep

their articles every year, I am much better informed, and we all know that teachers love to learn.

This age group is so full of wonder and naturally so concerned about the future of the world, and the human and non-human animals who live there, that what they choose to write about becomes an index of what really matters. And it always amazes me that the latest thinking in astro-physics, neuroscience, technology, sociology, psychology and a host of other disciplines, has always found its way somehow into the enquiring minds of our contributors.

Being so young, they are not concerned much about fashion and celebrity but more about where the universe came from, whether spending billions on going to Mars is worthwhile, and how to deal with liars and tyrants. They don’t care much about how to tie a scarf, how to water-bath a rib of beef, which beaches have the whitest sand or how to make cut flowers last longer, but ask them if refugees are being treated fairly, how you can manage your emotions under pressure, or why the Roman Catholic Church is still holding out on gay people, and off they go.

In the following pages you’ll find their moral, emotional and intellectual comfort zone embraces earthquakes, finance in education, the practical uses of philosophy, online poison, space, dutiful dogs, boys who ballet, nuclear fusion, bear bile, scholarships, space travel, sexism in sport, the NHS, rap music, attention spans, sibling rivalry, black holes, the dark web, the Big Bang, AI and the brain. And there’s a lovely piece about Lego.

Warm thanks once again to all the English teachers and Heads of English who encouraged and guided their young writers, and even warmer thanks to the writers themselves, who have done their schools and teachers proud.

It has been a privilege once again to work with you.

Anthony Lyons Editor The King’s School Canterbury

Design by Cobweb Creative

BomBed out

Part I: Ukraine under Attack! First Minutes

24 February 2022. At 4am Russian planes, tanks and artillery started to bomb Ukraine. I was sleeping in my bed that morning, like many other Ukrainian kids. I could hear bombs exploding. It was dark and everyone was screaming, just like me. At first, I couldn't understand what was going on. My parents started calming me down, but it soon became clear that war had broken out against my country. The attack was just as unexpected as the assault of Nazi Germany in 1941, which also started at 4am, as I learned once in my History class. It was the day that forever changed my whole life and the lives of my parents, grandparents, friends, classmates and millions of other Ukrainians.

I will never forget that morning. My father and mother frantically discussed what to do next. The same question I heard again and again: ‘How we can save our children?’ Then they started to pack winter clothes for me and my two siblings. My youngest brother was two years and three months old at that time, so I helped him pick his favourite toys – a tiny sports car and a little plush dog, with which he often fell asleep. Nothing else would fit in his small yellow backpack. I began to collect my personal belongings – only the necessary, as my parents told me, along with school textbooks and notebooks. I didn't know for how long we would be leaving our home and what would happen next. At that moment I didn’t even assume that I was leaving for good.

Part II: The Day Before

23 February was a regular day for me. I clearly remember it. Nothing was wrong that day – I went to my Ukrainian school, and after that I had my basketball training session. My coach chose me to captain the team in a big competiton. I was happy and honoured. When I got home I shared this great news with my parents. I did my prep, checked it with my dad and then went outside to play with my friends. I do remember that during those days everyone was talking about a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine but none of my friends believed it, so we kept on playing games. I never thought the next day would be the worst day of my life.

Part III: Terrifying Road to Nowhere and Relocation

It is incredibly hard for me to recall the suffering that I experienced during relocation from my native city of Kyiv to the Western regions, away from the capital of Ukraine and closer to the borders of my country, which at that time were not being bombed. All the main highways were already destroyed by 

Tymofii Ladnyi of Vinehall School recalls the week when he was forced by Russian bombs to flee his homeland.

airstrikes. By the middle of 24 February, Russian tanks were almost in Kyiv and it was a total collapse, just like in horror movies.

We got in the car to get as far from Kyiv as possible. We were moving slowly using minor roads because all the main roads were either ruined or blocked by thousands and thousands of similar cars full of families trying to escape and save their lives. I have never seen so many cars on the roads. Some cars were running out of fuel, and the queues for gas stations were many miles long. Even if you were lucky to get to a fuel station, you could buy only 10 to 20 litres, which was not enough for big distances. I saw some people abandon their cars and walk on the road with their children to who knows where, against a strong wind in minus zero temperatures.

At one moment our car was jammed in and caught by other vehicles in heavy traffic that was not moving for hours. My dad decided to turn off the

road and drive through frozen fields. I heard the branches of trees and shrubs beating against our car. But what was important was not to get stuck in the mud lying under the ice and not to stall in the fields, because there was no help to be had. It took us more than 22 hours to travel 400 miles from Kyiv to the safe place. I couldn’t sleep at all during that horrible trip. But when we finally reached our friend’s house the next day, everyone fell asleep at once.

Part IV: Chance for a New Life

But life for my family in Western Ukraine turned out to be not so safe. Soon the bombing began. The blackouts lasted for days at a time. Sometimes there was no electricity, no water in bathrooms, and no heat. Those were dark days and very cold nights. One day I heard a powerful explosion at the thermal power plant, which was many miles away. But our house trembled. The windows almost wiggled. My youngest

I could hear bombs exploding. It was dark and everyone was screaming, just like me.

One day I heard a powerful explosion at the thermal power plant, which was many miles away. But our house trembled. The windows almost wiggled.

I didn’t know for how long we would be leaving our home and what would happen next.

I worry about my youngest brother, who is staying in Kyiv with my mother. They must descend several times a day to bomb shelters during rocket attacks.

brother, Phillip, crawled under the table with my puppy, Willy. Then my mother said we needed to leave again for a safer location.

Now I am in England, at Vinehall School. I am grateful to my current school for helping me avoid bombing and death. I try to study hard and not to let my school down, and to make new friends. I am happy that I can study and live in warm and peaceful conditions, not hiding in bomb shelters. And I am grateful to the whole United Kingdom for helping my country.

But I do miss my parents very much. Not a day goes by that I don't think about them. I worry about my youngest brother, who is staying in Kyiv with my mother. They must descend several times a day to bomb shelters during rocket attacks. I worry about my dad, who joined the Armed Forces in the first days of war to defend Ukraine. I worry about my friends who were not able to leave and are now staying somewhere back home.

I really want to return to Ukraine, but understand that while the war is going on it is too dangerous. I hope the war ends soon so I can embrace my parents, my siblings, my grandparents and my old friends again.

I hope the war ends soon so I can embrace my parents, my siblings, my grandparents and my old friends again.

I worry about my dad, who joined the Armed Forces in the first days of war to defend Ukraine.

Rooted Up

Humans began to settle, build houses and form cities about fourteen thousand years ago. You may think this is a long time, but it really isn’t. The earth has existed for over four billion years, humanity has existed for roughly two hundred thousand years and our civilisation as we know it is only twelve thousand years old. As you can see, in the grand scheme of things it is almost nothing, and the time we have spent on this planet so far is just a blip.

This has led to some problems: our evolution has been slow and gradual, but our way of life has changed dramatically. Before the first human settlements, our ancestors lived in small groups of no more than a hundred people. Back then, survival depended on coordination within this group and taking a firmly negative view of outsiders. Anyone who did not look, act or feel like you was an enemy. These ‘enemies’ were to be attacked and not allowed to enter the territory of the ‘tribe’.

Over our meteoric rise to being the undisputed dominant species on Earth, our brains have not evolved enough to accommodate the modern world. We subconsciously still think in terms of groups that we belong to and others don’t. That is where things like biases come from. The small-group thinking mindset also leads to our prejudice against others who we do not think of as ‘our people’. This sheds light on the root cause of some of humanity’s worst behaviour: war, genocide and other

atrocities. It is one of the biggest barriers to world peace. Examples of such thinking include the Cold War, the China-US trade war, and the war in Ukraine. Such thinking is detrimental to our very continuance as a species since we have nations with the power to destroy the whole world with the push of a button.

One way to avoid disaster is to be proactive about what we hear, and challenge views and statements even if we are inclined to believe them. We are becoming more and more aware of this: movements centred around world peace are gaining popularity. All the while racism and other forms of persecution, which are also in partly stimulated by this bias, are diminishing because they are now seen as wrong and unjust. However, this bias, though partially buried, can be brought to the top easily with just a drop of propaganda or a competent but divisive speaker. This contributes to the rise of tyrants, dictators, and leaders with extreme views.

So, we must always think proactively about the way we look at events and statements made to us or we may unwittingly fall for this age-old trick. Most people are manipulated subconsciously and are not complicit in the damaging results. The best way to combat such brainwashing is to take your time to explore different perspectives on the same issue and not believe the first thing you hear. People should also listen to facts and not emotions and try to differentiate between the two. Thinking for ourselves instead of blindly believing others is crucial.

With some effort and proactive engagement, as a society we can limit the impact of subconscious biases that lead to many conflicts present in today’s world.

Ivan Klimentchenko of Eaton House the Manor reminds us that our culture has outstripped our biology.

Over our meteoric rise to being the undisputed dominant species on Earth, our brains have not evolved enough to accommodate the modern world.

in Life Colour

Whether you like a colour frequently depends on childhood memories and your association between colours and feelings. For example, if your mother made you wear yellow one day and your classmates made fun of you, yellow is not likely to be your favourite colour as an adult.

But how far does colour affect your mood? Think of the film ‘Inside Out’: one of the characters, ‘Joy’, is yellow; ‘Fear’ is purple; ‘Disgust’ is green; ‘Sadness’ is blue and ‘Anger’ is red. According to the film’s director, they chose the colours partly based on colour expressions in the English language. For example, we feel blue or see red.

In the late 1960s Alexandra Schauss began investigating whether a certain colour could cause a physical response. She then believed that exposure to the colour ‘pink’ had a calming effect, lowering heart rate and blood pressure and weakening muscle strength. Following this, Gene Baker and Ron Miller were convinced that they should paint a complete prison in pink, which they did in 1979. This project became known as ‘Baker-Miller Pink’. Their artwork served as a working prison where Baker and Miller found that, after five months of prison time, the criminals' violent activity reduced.

Another aspect of colour psychology is Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). This occurs when a lack of sunlight might stop a part of the brain called the hypothalamus from working properly, which makes sufferers depressed. They need more light and colour so their brains are tricked with artificial light. Light boxes are commonly used by patients with SAD.

You can also see colour psychology in advertising, suggesting that some colours or shades can have a wide range of effects, boosting our moods or causing anxiety. For example:

Warm colours are associated with red, yellow and orange and are often linked to the emotions of passion and excitement.

Cool colours include blue, green and purple. These are matched with calming and soothing emotions but can also be linked with sadness.

Happy colours are pink, peach, lilac and pastel colours. The brighter the colour, the happier and stronger you will feel.

Sad colours join together with dark blue, green and grey/ black. Most colours that are dark and muted evoke feelings of anger.

From the clothes we wear to the cars we drive, our choice of colours can determine how people see us.

some colours or shades can have a wide range of effects, boosting our moods or causing anxiety.

Bonnie Steel of Bede’s Prep explains how different colours express different feelings.

Baker and Miller found that, after five months of prison time, the criminals’ violent activity reduced.

Good Move

Are you keen on sports, like me, or just enjoy sports at school or a local club? If so, you will probably do a few warm-ups with your coach before heading onto the pitch or court. However, do we really think to question why we do warm-ups and the reasoning behind them? I am going to explain some of the main benefits of warmingup and how it really does help reduce injuries.

Warming up also stimulates the central nervous system (CNS), helping adjust hormone and enzyme levels needed for energy production.

is increased your body temperature is raised. Increased blood flow allows oxygen delivery to the muscles to produce energy before activity. Warming up also stimulates the central nervous system (CNS), helping adjust hormone and enzyme levels needed for energy production, helping prepare mentally for exercise and decreasing the chance of injury.

become damaged and the same for the range of motion for the joints. The human body is designed to move and ‘motion is lotion’. If you don’t use it, you will lose it, so the muscles atrophy and the joints become stiff….so exercise must be done to prevent this from happening.”

We may all be familiar with the idea of ‘warming up’ before sports, but in recent years two main theories, preparing the athlete mentally and physically, have expanded to include improving performance and reducing or preventing injury.

Warming up tells your body to prepare for exercise. As the heart rate

Here is the opinion of John Gibbons BSc OST, a well-known sports medicine author and lecturer, osteopath and sports injury specialist: “Muscles are designed to contract and relax and the synovial fluid within joints need to be warm to allow correct functioning – the engine in a car has oil and you warm up the engine prior to racing, and the human body is the same. The warmer the muscles are the less likely they will

A key message sports professionals keep advocating is that warming up ideally should be specific to the sport that the athlete is playing. This would include specific exercises focusing on warming up muscles from key muscle groups about to be used.

Warm-ups generally have three phases that need to be considered. The Pulse Raiser focuses on increasing the heart rate, oxygen delivery and breathing rate. Good pulse raises involve wholebody activities such as jogging, swimming and cycling, but should be targeted at the activity about to be performed. Dynamic Stretching uses

How Important is Warming-up Before Sports? Tilly Taylor-Young of Saint Ronans keeps us on our toes.

stretches that involve movement to help increase the elasticity of muscles and tendons. For example, high knees, lunges and heel-kicks all focus on the lower-body muscle groups and would be appropriate for a runner. Last, Skill Familiarisation. Now that the pulse has been raised and muscles warmed up, it is time to focus on the skills that are going to be used in your chosen activity or sport. If this isn’t done, then it could lead to mistakes in training or the start of a game. This is why tennis players go on court before any matches to practise their ground strokes, volleying and serving.

It is important also to mention something about common injuries that can and do occur and which are made worse if warming up and cooling

down properly hasn’t taken place. For example, as tennis is played on a hard surface with a lot of changing direction and impact, injuries usually occur to the knees. Tennis players also tend to injure their shoulders because there is a lot of rotation and force when hitting shots. Common injuries in netball tend to be to the ankles and knees, the worst being an ACL tear in your knee, which would need surgery rehabilitation and a significant time to recover.

The advances in Sports Medicine today have certainly benefited amateur and professional athletes across many sports. The topic of warming up is complex and frequently changing but most importantly the key message is on focusing on specific warm-up exercises depending on the sport about to be played.

as tennis is played on a hard surface with a lot of changing direction and impact, injuries usually occur to the knees.

Dynamic Stretching uses stretches that involve movement to help increase the elasticity of muscles and tendons.

Time Flies

Time Flies When You’re Having Fun, says Olive Jevons of Newton Prep.

You may think that you have forever. Forever seems like everyone’s goal yet it gets closer with every breath you take, every step you walk and every time you open your eyes. It all seems like the important things get swept away in the sands of time while the inferior things get caught up and attached. Forever doesn’t last as long as you think it does, but why?

People love to spend time with friends, family and other people close to their hearts, but where does all the time go when you want it to slow down? Well, scientists and neurospecialists have discovered that when you are performing an activity that you enjoy, the release of dopamine is increased because the cells in your brain work faster, causing time to appear as if it is speeding up. The release of dopamine causes your perception of time to speed up, which makes everything seem as if it flies by. Everything changes when you want it to change the least.

For instance, if you are doing an activity that you love, you gradually end up in ‘your own flow’ because you get stuck in. You get lost and misaligned between your ‘mentalimage time’ and ‘clock time’; somehow your internal clock runs faster than ‘clock time’, which means your time speeds up while everyone else’s time has stayed still. You get lost in time all because you were enjoying an activity that you were doing. Or really disliking.

the release of dopamine is increased because the cells in your brain work faster, causing time to appear as if it is speeding up.

When you’re doing an activity that you really dislike, your brain is expecting that you will not enjoy it, so you anticipate it to be dull and you want the activity to end. Well, because your brain is trying to get you out of a situation that you dislike, it takes more time for your brain to think of better solutions that are more complex than to think of solutions that will take less effort but are more simple and more likely to fail.

Activities that you love, and even hate, influence your perception of time. Most of the time it’s because you get stuck into whatever you are doing, whether it be your favourite thing or your least favourite thing. Time goes on even when you least expect it to or when you want it to the most.

Ultimately, life is short, so spend it doing the things you love with the people you love. Take advantage of the time you have on this Earth and use it wisely. You’ll never have a do-over, you’ll never have a second chance and you’ll never be able to turn back the clock. Time keeps going forward and will never come to a stop. Time flies and you can’t control it.

Thinktwice

Sophie Cornwall of Marlborough House warns us about The True Cost of looking fab.

Fashion’s had trends throughout history, from bonnets and paisley shawls in the 1800s to leather miniskirts in the 1980s and slip dresses and scrunchies in the 1990s. The current trends consist of oversized clothing and corsets, along with a 2000s-style comeback.

Some designers manufacture more ethically than others. Vegan designer Stella McCartney is one of the best, but my favourite, Vivienne Westwood, has good ethical standards – their code of conduct covers all of the international labour organisation (ILO) requirements, the items are high-quality and long-lasting, and her workers are paid fairly. Sadly, Dame Vivienne passed away at 81 years old on the 29 December 2022, but her work continues to be made ethically.

Not all designers consider their workers. Take Juicy Couture. Juicy is a popular clothing and accessories brand, and although it is very expensive, reasonably good-quality and fashionable, sadly the production is not ethical – they don’t pay a fair wage to workers, and their beauty products and fragrances are tested on animals. Another company like this is Dior; their workers are not paid fairly, and they also test their products on animals, so try your best not to buy from them, even if someone is encouraging you!

Everybody has heard of Primark, Shein and Cider. Why? Because the clothing is cheap? If so, have you considered the person making your skirt, dress or shirt, and the life they live? On average workers in China make less than half our living wage and work 16-hour days. Wouldn’t you rather have one less Starbucks and not contribute to child labour?

The poor people who have to make your clothing, to have enough money to eat dinner, also have to work in the most horrible conditions: they have very little space, can lose their jobs without any notice, are expected to deal with dangerous chemicals that could poison them, can easily get ill from breathing the same air as hundreds of other people, and have to work overtime to make the money that they need to get enough food for their families. Have you ever said that you feel bad for the people making your clothing, but then continue to buy from unethical brands just because you can’t be bothered to do a bit of research before buying? 

Did you know that sweatshop workers make just 13p an hour?

Did you know that Primark and M&S sweatshop workers make just 13p an hour? That on average, a secretary in the UK makes £12.31 an hour? Compare those two numbers. Does that seem fair to you? How would you like it if you were forced to work in a compacted space, inhaling unwanted chemicals, just to get the money to put food on your plate at night?

How would you feel if you got a job, knowing that the people you are making clothing for have so much more money than you? Knowing that they can go shopping without worrying about having enough to get a coffee? Eat a meal big enough to get seconds?

It is not only clothing brands that are cruel. Many makeup brands use animal testing, but their trick is to pay China to test on animals for them. Some of these companies are: Clinique, Bobbi Brown, Nars, Maybelline, La Mer, Benefit, O.P.I

Everybody has heard of Primark, Shein and Cider. Why? Because the clothing is cheap? If so, have you considered the person making your skirt, dress or shirt, and the life they live?

and Estee Lauder. The things done to the sweet innocent animals are horrendous. For example, they are forced to have chemical exposure in toxicity testing, and have their ears and tails clipped. How would you feel if your pet was taken away from you, hurt, possibly killed, and all so someone else could have a safe product to use?

So, the next time that you are purchasing a trendy, cool, stylish dress, or some newly trending makeup, try and think about where it is coming from. Who made it? Who embroidered the flowers into your skirt? Which innocent little animal had possibly poisonous solutions poured into its eyes? What the true price of fashion and beauty is?

I hope this will make you think twice before you buy clothing and makeup. Surely you will want to enjoy your new dress and eye makeup and not have a guilty conscience.

Next time that you are purchasing a trendy, cool, stylish dress, or some newly trending makeup, try and think about where it is coming from.

Vivienne Westwood has good ethical standards - the items are high-quality and long-lasting, and her workers are paid fairly.

Moving

How did the Moai get across Easter Island? asks Lyra Phipps of Saint Ronans.

What even are the Moai? Well, these stone heads can be found across Easter Island (Rapa Nui) in Chile. The Moai were created as a symbol of respect for important Rapa Nui people who had passed away. They were carved out of stone in a place called Rano Raraku Quarry, where they were then transported to their designated spot on Easter Island. But how did they move them? Well, here is what we think.

The Moai are heavy statues so to move them it would take a lot of man-power and secure transport for them not to break, so I will share three of the most common methods that have been discovered.

The first theory is called the ‘stable walking’ method. In this theory the Rapa Nui people used ropes and momentum to shimmy the statue forward. There were three ropes, two on each side to shuffle it and one at the back to stabilise. We believe that if they used the force of gravity they could make the Moai ‘walk’ along the ground until they reached their destination.

The second method is the ‘arch lift’. For this theory to work, the Rapa Nui people needed a wooden arch, a sledge and ropes. They attached the Moai laying on the sledge with a rope to the arch which they then pulled forward with ropes and a team of people and it lifted the Moai up and forward. They would have repeated this process until they got to the designated spot.

The last theory is the ‘roller and sledge’ method. This theory suggests the Rapa Nui used a system of wooden rollers and sledges to move the Moai statues. They would have carved a trench in front of the statue, placed the statue on a sledge, and used ropes to pull it along the trench while adding more rollers behind it. The process would have been repeated until they once again found their specific resting place.

In the end it looks like there isn’t one single answer to my question because none of these theories have been proven to be the ultimate way to move the Moai across Easter Island. Perhaps it’s fair to say it could have been a combination of all three I researched, but for now the answer remains unknown.

GoWild

Rewilding transforms a farmed piece of land into wilderness. Native species of plants and animals that originally lived there, but for some reason were lost, are reintroduced. This can help with the problem of climate change because more trees and plants absorb more carbon dioxide from the air. This lets nature take care of itself, repairing damaged landscapes and creating more biodiverse habitats.

Rewilding is largely achieved by letting the land regenerate: for example, the removal of dams and dykes frees up rivers. Animals declared extinct in the wild are reintroduced. A keystone species is an animal that keeps the ecosystem healthy and productive. For example, in the Yellowstone National Park in the US, some reintroduced wolves have helped the local

environment in many unexpected ways. The wolf is an example of a keystone species.

Originally, wolves hunted the elk that used to eat all the young trees, which deprived the birds of branches in which to build their nests. When the wolves were gone, coyotes took over as the top predator, but coyotes are not big or strong enough to kill elk, whose population exploded. So the elk, who suddenly had no predators to worry about, did not need to move around as much, and they overgrazed trees like willow and aspen. This sent the songbird population into decline and the beavers had fewer willow trees to feed on in the winter; and fewer trees meant fewer berries

When wolves hunted the elks, this brought an end to overgrazing, which stabilized riverbanks and recovered rivers when they flowed in new directions.

for bears to eat. When the wolves came back, they killed the coyotes, which left more mice, rabbits and shrews, who are prey for badgers, foxes, and hawks. When wolves hunted the elks, this brought an end to overgrazing, which stabilized riverbanks and recovered rivers when they flowed in new directions.

‘Reintroducing an animal species is one of the most popular and well-known ways to rewild an ecosystem. Reintroducing a keystone animal (an organism that helps hold the system together) species can cause an entire ecosystem to change.’

This statement shows that a whole landscape and ecosystem can be

Martha Leigh-Pemberton of JKS explores rewilding.

changed, creating benefits for the environment. Rewilding can also be used to manage climate change since it can re-encourage foliage and tree growth.

Some people nevertheless are against rewilding. Farmers balk because it could take away their livelihood. When their land is rewilded, they can’t grow anything anymore. Food is already expensive and getting rid of their land will only make prices increase, so rewilding should be managed sensitively with this in mind. Furthermore, the animals and plants that already inhabit any area will also be affected, so rehoming them should also be of central concern.

Anyone can rewild their garden. Adding a pond, or letting a lawn transform into a little wildflower meadow can bring in new species. Rewilding does not need 1000 acres! You, too, can plant your own mini-forest in your garden. To attract bees and other pollinators, you can plant flowers like lavender, delphinium, and sunflower.

With compassion, understanding and careful planning, rewilding can be a valuable part of our futures, making the planet a better and a naturally more efficient place to live.

Anyone can rewild their garden. Adding a pond, or letting a lawn transform into a little wildflower meadow can bring in new species.

Rewilding can also be used to manage climate change since it can reencourage foliage and tree growth.

Inaara Vaswani of Newton Prep wonders if Video really did Kill the Radio Star.

Technology has recently become the centre of modern music, such as genres like EDM or dance music. From auto-tune, software-based virtual instruments to hologram concerts, technology has massively changed the music industry and how music is made and played. Music technology has opened up many opportunities for how we can create and manipulate music. However, many people argue that music made on a computer is not real music and requires no real skill, and that the real musicians are the ones who can actually sing and play instruments. So, is technology changing music for the better, or for worse?

Firstly, what is music technology? Music technology requires a musician or composer performing or composing to notate, play back or record songs or pieces, or to analyse or edit music using computer software. They can do this by using software-based virtual instruments and MIDI technology to layer different sounds and instruments on top of each other to make music. This method of making music allows musicians to use millions of different sounds – even ones that we’ve never heard before – and manipulate and programme them in complex ways. This offers a huge amount of creative freedom and potential to the musician or composer. Some say digital software is a game-changer for the music industry, allowing producers to release their songs with higher quality and ease. Additionally, things like hologram concerts allow us to relive the ‘greatest era of music’ and this new technology creates things like the ABBA Voyage concert and Michael Jackson’s hologram concert.

with things like auto-tune, where you can sing or play terribly and computer software will make it sound good. Additionally, nondigital music just sounds better and is a lot more original. By definition the MP3 format, which stands for MPEG Audio Layer-3, is designed to compress the audio file to make it more manageable but decreases the sound quality. Finally, creating music digitally is just using other people’s sounds.

the sound and style of guitar used by the most famous guitar players in the world are unique because of things like the way they hold the guitar, the pick or the way they strum.

However, when musicians use non-digital music, it’s better quality and the sound is more original. For example, the sound and style of guitar used by the most famous guitar players in the world are unique because of things like the way they hold the guitar, the pick or the way they strum. Kurt Cobain’s scruffy look and ‘sloppy’ guitar-playing launched the ‘Grunge’ fashion trend of the 90s. You don’t get things like that in digital music. And really, how many famous digital musicians can you think of?

The most successful musicians are the ones who can actually sing (and don’t use autotune at all). Singers like Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston and Freddie Mercury, arguably some of the best singers/musicians of all time, never used auto-tune or digital software.

But many people think music created by a computer is not real music. They think you need no real skill to create music on a computer, just basic knowledge, especially

So technology is doing wonders for the music industry. It gives musicians many new opportunities and opens many new doors in the creation of music. But perhaps it’s not really music-making since the best musicians don’t use music technology and auto-tune. In my opinion, music technology can make music a lot better if used in the right way: musicians such as Calvin Harris and David Guetta use it really well. As long as it doesn’t take over the whole music industry and people still use their real voices and real instruments, I’m happy with it. So, no: video didn’t kill the radio star.

Keep

Cool

Sport psychology is the mental side of any sport. It is the most important part of being a good athlete because, no matter how talented you may be, you are never going to reach the top if you cannot keep a cool head when losing.

In tennis, sport psychology is so important because it is a solo sport: you don’t have someone to lift you up when you are down. You have no one to blame. Because of this, you must learn how to lift yourself up when you feel like nothing is going your way. I have always been told by professional tennis coaches that the game of tennis is 80% mental and only 20% talent! Despite this shocking fact, only 15.6% of top athletes have a professional sport psychologist on their team. They’re happy to invest thousands of pounds in toplevel coaches but not many will spend that money on a sport psychologist.

Being down on yourself is easy in tennis: whether it is one negative thought or smashing your racket on the ground, you are still being negative. Despite this, it is impossible to never become negative at all. When this happens, you will be nervous and fear messing up your next shot. Most players try to trick themselves into not feeling this feeling but this is not good. All that is going to do is make you slow down and miss more often. The best players in the world will embrace that feeling and use it as a drive to improve on what they are messing up on. Patric Monatougalu (the best tennis coach in the world, in my opinion) said that you cannot lie to yourself when you are losing. All you need to do is

think of someone who you aspire to be like and think, ‘I am great. I can come back from this.’ Never slow down your shots; all that is going to do is make you miss or even slow your feet down, which is only going to make you worse. Think: ‘I have only made a few mistakes. I am better than this.’ As people, any time we miss we will judge it as bad even if it is not; for example, if you hit a backhand wide you will naturally think, ‘Oh, that was bad.’ But if you say that out loud, it will positively affect your opponent and negatively affect you.

You are never going to reach the top if you cannot keep a cool head when losing.

So sport psychology in tennis is the mental side of the game, all the way from negative thoughts to a broken racket. However, it is not only the negative mental side. It can also be the positive mental side. For example, when you get better at tennis you will need to work more on your psychology when you are winning. I’ve shown you only the tip of the iceberg.

The best players in the world will embrace that feeling and use it as a drive to improve on what they are messing up on.

Harry Oscroft of Bede’s Prep assesses the biggest menace in tennis.

Eleya Presler-Jones of Cumnor House examines the plight of refugees.

'Italy migrant boat shipwreck: more than 100 people feared dead.’ This is the news story of the week. Twelve children are among the victims, including a baby. We have seen the images of floating debris and broken timber. The faces of those who survived. As a person who finds the plight of the refugees horrific, I feel that their deaths were unnecessary. In a developed world, the deaths of refugees are inexcusable.

Since the 24th Feb 2022, we have heard from and helped the fleeing citizens of Ukraine. The war between Russia and Ukraine has had a social and economic impact on people all over Europe. The Ukrainians are a growing number of the 25+ million people who are now called refugees – and many have become a part of our immediate lives with the Homes for Ukraine Programme, in which I have played a part.

These refugees are among the tens of thousands who flee to Europe in a hope of a safer life. They are among the thousands who risk death crossing the Mediterranean, fleeing a life where they constantly fear the next day. We’ve seen these people on the news, and heard about the grief and danger that they are put through.

Sometimes we work with those who are successful in their journey to Europe, and learn from those who find a home among us. Most refugees are not as lucky. Some will be deported by our government to Rwanda, where they know neither the language nor the people. Often these refugees will set out again for a second chance to enter Europe. Still others will drown in the Mediterranean or be killed by smugglers looking for money.

Refugees don’t come to Europe to steal or harm. They come because bombs are raining down on their homes.

Sometimes we work with those who are successful in their journey to Europe, and learn from those who find a home among us. Most refugees are not as lucky.

They are among the thousands who risk death crossing the fleeingMediterranean, a life where they constantly fear the next day.

do we ever stop to imagine what our lives would have been like if we had been born in Syria instead of England?

Since the Syrian Civil War broke out, almost one in three Syrian citizens have become refugees.

Since the Syrian Civil War broke out, almost one in three Syrian citizens have become refugees. Over 100,000 each year flee to Europe, where many are denied the right to enter the continent, and contained as if they are criminals. Those who are allowed through enter a world of hardship and trial where they are subjected to pity.

Some people believe our governments are too generous, that the small numbers of refugees in Europe shouldn’t be given rights. But refugees don’t come to Europe to steal or harm. They come because bombs are raining down on their homes. We have all heard of their situation, seen the images, read the headlines.

But do we ever stop to imagine what our lives would have been like if we had been born in Syria instead of England, if we had lived in a country where a civil war had broken out when we were toddlers, where conditions worsened until we were forced to flee, traveling thousands

of miles to Europe in the futile dream of sanctuary, being trapped on a Greek island unable to leave, trapped by the people of Europe, who would rather we stayed homeless?

This is the refugee crisis that is happening on our continent, where few do anything to help. Those who try are set back by lack of care: economic growth is considered more important than those fleeing war. I do not believe in prohibiting or harming those only seeking refuge.

because every second breath comes from the ocean, our oceans are our system,life-support and it is failing.

Support Life

Did you know that 71% of the world is water? Or that 97% of the planet’s water is in the ocean? Earth’s oceans are almost as old as the planet itself. Formed more than four billion years ago, they have been evolving ever since. Their waters are constantly on the move, flowing in currents, pulled in a daily cycle of tides, and rising and falling in waves that crash on shores.

The sea has many wonderful creatures, and so far about 200,000 recognised species have been described, but there could be as many as 100 million. There are many habitats created by the ocean but thousands of species are at risk.

Pollution is one of the biggest problems. Over five trillion pieces of plastic litter the ocean in six giant garbage patches. These are places where the tide has gathered all the plastic nearby, so it is floating in one space. People do not realize that most of the plastic used ends up in such conglomerations.

Cutting down on plastic use is very important, because we can live without it: multiple-use water bottles cut down on needless plastic bottles and a simple switch from a plastic to a bamboo toothbrush could save a marine creature’s life, but we need to push this initiative even further by trying to go plastic-free and removing excess packaging. If this is left unchecked, it will break down into smaller pieces, making it easier for animals to eat and harder to clean. These are known as microplastics and are harmful to turtles, fish and mammals. They could also enter our bodies through the food chain from prey to predators.

Nets entangle animals. Oil destroys birds’ feathers. Crop dusting, which has come about from the use of fertilizer, and sewage are dumped in the sea, poisoning animals.

This is a worldwide issue, since plastic that is dumped on the Cornish Coast can end up in Canada. It is estimated that 80% of plastic in the sea comes from inland, especially roads; it then finds its way into the sea through rivers. Plastic is easily carried by the wind but it is really hard to remove after it has been transported.

Our early ancestors gathered shells and seaweed from the shores and hunted fish and seals for food. Later they fished from boats, and today we have fish farms. I would advise you to eat responsibly-sourced fish, which is better for the planet than wild fish because overfishing has a huge impact on lots of animals. The annual fish consumption per person has gone up from 9 kilograms (in 1961) to 20.5 kilograms (in 2017). It is important to make efforts to cut down on meat and fish.

There are many projects that have been set up to reduce damage to the oceans, including the project set up by Boyan Slat, a Dutch inventor, who is the founder and CEO of The Ocean Cleanup, a non-profit organisation developing technologies to rid the world’s oceans of plastic. The organisation aims to put itself out of business, with the goal of removing 90% of floating plastic by 2040.

Scientists and activists aren’t the only ones who can save the ocean. As a team, we can make a difference by doing simple things like litter-picking and beach cleanups. These are worldwide efforts to collect and recycle junk. Buy bamboo straws, since these are easily grown and do not damage habitats. It will not be long before plastic straws are banned in the UK. Don’t use singe plastic: only buy recyclable versions.

People are trying to save the world from a major crisis that will happen if we do not help our oceans, but everyone needs to be involved. Take part now, helping to reduce the drastic effect humans have had on our oceans. Because every second breath comes from the ocean, our oceans are our life-support system, and it is failing. Let’s make it our duty to restore and enjoy our oceans.

Emma Sayers of JKS says we neglect our oceans at our peril.

Imagine yourself stepping onto the stage, lights shining bright, cheers and screams ringing in your ears, and you're ready to put on a show. The faint taps of your ruby-red slippers flow through your brain as the music starts. Wig glued on tight, dress zipped up, you begin. This is what it is like to be a drag queen.

Drag has been around for centuries and is loved by many. Although it is known as men dressing up in feminine clothing, it has many different meanings and has been used as a form of survival. As far back as Greek and Roman mythology, men dressed as women for many reasons. Achilles, the son of the Greek King Peleus and Thetis,

Drag Along

a sea goddess, dressed as a woman to avoid being dragged into the Trojan war by Odysseus. Royal boys wore female clothing to avoid being murdered by relatives hoping to take over the throne and early drag was often connected with religious rituals too.

However, the major reason for men dressing as women was due to religion. During Shakespearean times when theatre became available to practically everyone, the Christian Church had specific rules that only men could be actors and women were forbidden. The clergy thought it ungodly to allow women to prance about onstage

in front of a vulgar rabble. If there happened to be a female role, then that would have to be played by a man dressed as a woman. Elizabethan dresses consisted of many ruffs, hoops and corsets, making them extremely heavy and hard to move in. This is thought to be where the term drag came to life – because the dresses men wore to play the female characters would often drag along the floor.

While this was happening in England, scholars have traced the beginnings of Japanese theatre all the way back

Juno Cooper of Saint Ronans says don’t be a drag - be a queen!

Royal boys wore female clothing to avoid being murdered by relatives hoping to take over the throne.

to the early 17th Century. Kabuki theatre, which had begun with male and female actors, devolved around 1628 by banning women yet again. All the actresses were accused of being courtesans, so the men took over. Female roles were taken over by attractive young men known as wakushu, who were then replaced by older men called yaro, who formed the troupe known as Onnagata. One of the most famous and influential Twentieth-Century onnagata is Tamasaburo Bando, who looks and sounds incredible.

Jump forward a few hundred years and drag is now more visible than ever before. The first recognised drag queen in English history was Princess Seraphina (aka John Cooper), who was born around 1710. Cooper was a gentleman’s servant and Seraphina was actually part of his everyday life as opposed to just something he did as an onstage act. Homosexuality was illegal in this era, yet Seraphina was never arrested; she even appeared in court as a victim after the theft of her clothes.

Many paved the way to keep drag alive and attitudes began to change over time, sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse. In the early Twentieth Century, Vaudeville (also known as variety theatre) became hugely popular, with one of its biggest

stars being Julian Eltinge. Many thought Eltinge was a real actress rather than a character. Julian would remove his wig to reveal his true sex to the audience at the end of a performance, which surprised lots of people who thought he was a woman.

Even though the practice was still not accepted by most of society, some drag artists managed to break through over the years and appear on national television, including Danny La Rue and Dame Edna Everage. Now in the 21st Century, drag is much more accepted because of programmes like Ru Paul’s drag race. Some are still dismissive of the art form, but we have come a long way in accepting drag as part of mainstream theatre.

The music fades away, your number is finished, the song has ended, and the curtain has fallen. Roses cover the stage, and the audience shrieks for more. Filled with excitement and joy, you hop off the stage with a huge smile.

During Shakespearean times a female role would have to be played by a man dressed as a woman.

Some are still dismissive of the art form, but we have come a long way in accepting drag as part of theatre.mainstream

Reality Bytes

The Metaverse is the future of technology – an immersive, virtual expansive world, where you can experience life in ways that would otherwise be impossible in the physical world. The online experience has evolved from text to photo to video, but Meta has found a way to go a step further. The Metaverse is a place where you can not only look into an experience but also be inside it, whilst remaining in the comfort and safety of your own home.

One of the main things that virtual reality can already enhance is gaming; it has become the most technologically advanced form of entertainment, capable of providing many of the most immersive experiences. This allows people to have fun in alternate worlds together while still physically apart.

Although virtual reality is mostly associated with gaming, the Metaverse is so much bigger than that. It will bring a whole new meaning to making a phone call, because you will not only see the face of the person you are calling but will also be able to visualise the whole person. This will give you a sense of deeper connection than just staring at each other through a glass rectangle.

You could say that progress in this technology is a waste of time when there are so many other problems in the world. The $36 billion spent by Meta on the Metaverse, not to mention its brilliant minds, could be better used on relieving the world’s suffering.

But Meta argues that it is beneficial because it can solve future problems by bringing people together and spreading ideas to break the geographical barriers that isolate people who are unfortunate. People who are born in undeveloped

countries will be able to work for companies that would otherwise need them to visit major cities.

And the traditional work style has been forced to transform itself through technology because of the constraints of lockdown. Offices can now be half empty on a daily basis while employees work remotely, using the internet and Google Meet to continue billion-dollar industries that would have disappeared without the tech to make this possible. One of the flaws in this argument is that social contact has almost disappeared from the workplace when people look at their colleagues, not over the barrier between desks, but through yet another screen. The Metaverse could help reconnect people by providing a virtual shared office space where you can visualise your colleagues from home, and if you are in the ‘empty’ office, holograms of your colleagues can be ‘sitting’ at their desks, and fully interact with you.

But the technology isn’t ready yet and will not be for years to come; if Meta fully launches the Metaverse when it is not ready then it will lead to an unusable platform. This will lead to an untrustworthy reputation for future virtual reality expeditions.

In summary, even though the technology is still a long way off, it is said that in the next 10 to 15 years many of these virtual reality ideas will be an actual reality. One of the ultimate goals of technology is connecting people; one of the goals of VR is to create a platform where you can virtually experience anything, anywhere, and the Metaverse is the tool to do this and hopefully one we can all benefit from. But everyone needs to be careful about how and when the virtual world is developed.

The Metaverse is a place where you can not only look into an experience but also be inside it, whilst remaining in the comfort and safety of your own home.

Olaf Munk of Newton Prep explores the metaverse universe.

Skinfluencers

Charlotte Chaudhury of Newton Prep wonders whether celebrity skincare is really worth it.

The glowing skin of celebrities is often more the result of skilful glamour than science.

For many years celebrities have created their own lines of makeup, haircare, and bodycare. But most recently they have started making skincare lines. Many celebrities credit their skincare products as the key to their flawless skin, but they rarely discuss the other elements: diet, lifestyle, and expensive beauty treatments. As a result, celebrities are taking advantage of their fans for their own gain, so is it worth buying these products?

The glowing skin of celebrities is often more the result of skilful glamour than science. If you include the makeup, contouring and lighting tricks, you can never truly trust the result of the product.

When a makeup product doesn’t work, you can simply wipe it

But skincare products have the potential to harm your skin’s barrier .

Kylie Jenner was a trailblazer when she launched her line in May 2019. Shortly after, Rihanna followed in Jenner’s footsteps when she created her new line, Fenty Skin, which was a complementary brand to Fenty Beauty, in the summer of 2020.

With the success of both companies, this inspired others to get in on the action. These include: Hailey Bieber’s Rhode Skin, Scarlett Johansson’s The Outset, Jennifer Lopez’s JLo Beauty, and Kim Kardashian’s SKKN BY KIM.

When a makeup product doesn’t work, you can simply wipe it off. But skincare products have the potential to harm your skin's barrier and wreak havoc. Because of this, celebrities have an important role when launching their skincare line.

In 2019, Kylie Jenner created a video called ‘my everyday skin care routine’ which was used to promote her brand. She said, ‘It’s an everyday thing.’ and ‘I can’t live without it.’ Although good skincare can play a big role in healthy skin, this is not the full story: lifestyle and the money that they spent on it are also factors. Moreover, these celebrities use their own problems and their skin to find the best products for them. This means that the products will mostly benefit them and that is why they can easily promote them.

Everyone’s skin is different so you can’t rely on beautifully designed containers or the stars that made them. Recently, skincare marketing has been based on a buzz for specific ingredients, for example retinoids, peptides and 

In 2019, Kylie Jenner created a video called ‘my everyday skin care routine’ which was used to promote her brand.

off.

celebrities are taking advantage of their fans for their own gain, so is it worth buying these products?

niacinamide. When celebrities hop on these trends, consumers believe that the only way they can achieve this ‘perfect skin’ is by smothering on highly concentrated ingredients. Focusing on your skin's specific needs will benefit you more than feeding it components it doesn’t need. A YouTube influencer stated that she thought using products with a lot of chemicals would make her skin better, but once she stopped using them her blemishes had gone away and were easier to handle.

Celebrity skincare lines can be worth it if they cover the needs of your skin, but you should keep in mind that you can find products that have the same purpose for a lower price. When buying a product, you should always make sure the ingredients are suitable for your skin before you purchase. You should look at skincare products like you would look at what’s inside a salad.

Celebrity skincare lines can be worth it if they cover the needs of your skin, but you can find products that have the same purpose for a lower price.

Everyone’s skin is different so you can’t rely on beautifully designed containers or the stars that made them.

Long-standing complicated and divisive debates surround the Catholic Church's view on homosexuality. The Catholic Church has drawn criticism for its inconsistencies and for opposing the idea that everyone should be treated with respect.

The Catholic Church's official position on homosexuality is that it is a disorder, but that individuals who identify as gay should be treated with kindness and not disrespected but should also be seen as sinful. The Church also teaches that homosexual inclinations are not sinful in themselves, but that acting on those inclinations is. This has led to tension within the Church, with some members advocating a more accepting stance towards homosexuality, while others hold a more traditional view.

In addition to the official teachings of the Catholic Church, there are also many Catholics who hold personal beliefs that differ from the Church's official stance on homosexuality. Some Catholics believe that the Church should be more accepting of LGBTQ+ individuals and their relationships, while others believe that the Church's teachings on homosexuality are correct and should not be changed.

community is the Church's stance on gender identity. The Church teaches that gender is determined by biological sex and that any alteration of one's Godgiven sex is considered a sin. This view is not accepted by many in the LGBTQ+ community, who argue that gender identity is not determined by biology but by an individual's personal sense of self.

Notwithstanding, in recent years the Church's stance toward homosexuality has undergone a transformation, signalling a more empathetic and inclusive viewpoint. Pope Francis, who rose to the papacy in 2013, has launched a more compassionate approach, encouraging the Church to be more hospitable and accepting of all individuals, including LGBTQ+ people. In 2013, he famously stated about homosexual priests, ‘If someone is gay and seeks the Lord with goodwill, who am I to pass judgment?’

in recent years the Church’s stance toward homosexuality has undergone a transformation, signalling a more empathetic and inclusive viewpoint.

The Catholic Church has been criticized for its handling of sexual abuse scandals involving LGBTQ+ individuals. Some argue that the Church's teachings on homosexuality have contributed to an environment in which abuse can occur, while others argue that the Church has been slow to address and act against abuse.

Holy Orders

One of the key points of contention between the Catholic Church and the LGBTQ+ community is the Church's opposition to same-sex marriage. The Church teaches that marriage should be between one man and one woman and that any other form of union is not a true marriage. This has led to many LGBTQ+ Catholics feeling unwelcome in the Church.

Another area of tension between the Catholic Church and the LGBTQ+

In conclusion, the relationship between the Catholic Church and homosexuality is a complex one that has evolved over time. While the Church officially teaches that homosexual acts are ‘intrinsically disordered’, it also calls for individuals who identify as gay to be treated with respect and kindness. There is an ongoing debate within the Church on this issue, with some calling for a more inclusive and accepting stance towards LGBTQ+ individuals, while others hold to the traditional teachings.

Ethan Sparey of Saint Ronans navigates the Catholic Church’s views on homosexuality.

BreakingPoint

When you type ‘breaking point’ into Google, the definition is: ‘the moment of greatest strain at which someone or something gives way.’ That, for me, is close to the mark, since my bones break very easily because of Osteogenesis imperfecta or, as its more commonly known, Brittle Bones Disease. Osteogenesis imperfecta (OI) is a genetic condition present from birth. Its primary feature is fractures, usually caused by minimal impact.

OI is a rare condition, so the number of people born with it is about 1 in every 15,000, and there are around 5,000 individuals in the UK living with OI. I inherited OI from my mother: when she had me there was a 50% chance I would have the condition as well.

I feel like people should know more about OI because a lot of people who I've known for a long time still have no idea what it is, or don't fully understand the condition. There are eight different types of OI, ranging from mild to severe.

I have Type 1, which is the most mild and common type.

Type 1 happens when the COL1A1 gene or, less commonly, the COL1A2 gene is mutated, which then reduces the amount of collagen produced in the body, making your bones more brittle and easier to break. Type 2 is the most severe type of OI and people born with it usually die shortly after birth.

So far, I have broken my legs three times, I have compressed fractures in my vertebrae and a permanent slipped disk in my lower back.

Having OI means that I can't take part in anything to do with high-contact sports and activities such as hockey, lacrosse or horse riding. I also can't participate in gymnastics or trampolining. However, I can do a lot of other non-contact sports that don't put me at risk, such as swimming, badminton and netball.

So far, I have broken my legs three times, I have compressed fractures in

my vertebrae and a permanent slipped disk in my lower back. The first time I broke my leg was when I was three years old, at nursery. I remember most vividly when, aged five, I was playing with one of my friends at school and I slipped over in the mud. Even though I was only five I can still remember the excruciating pain I felt. It was agony. I got rushed to the hospital, where I got x-rayed, and given a hospital room. I remember getting poked and prodded by the doctors when they looked at my leg, and my mum bringing me biscuits from the canteen in the middle of the night.

The recovery is long for each broken leg: I was in a plaster cast for six weeks but full recovery took six months. Those six months dragged by painfully. I remember at the time my family and I were about three weeks away from

Isobel Bennett of Marlborough House shares her expert knowledge of brittle bones disease.

is

going on holiday to Greece. So that meant I had to go on a plane for three hours wearing a plaster cast. Not even a broken leg could stop me from doing what I love the most: swimming! But I had to do it with a plastic bag wrapped securely around my cast.

There is no known ‘cure’ for OI because it's a genetic condition. Most patients with mild or moderate OI are treated with physiotherapy and management of symptoms when they occur. The main treatments used are called pamidronate and zoledronic acid. Both are a type of bisphosphonate, which is a medicine that prevents loss of bone mass. When I have X-rays of my spine you can see the coating of pamidronate on my bones, as a white outline.

Every six months I go to the hospital and have a pamidronate infusion given to me via a cannula over a period of four hours. It has been very effective, and

I haven't broken a bone since I started receiving the treatment. (Touch wood.) My bone density levels are now the same as a child without OI.

Having a breaking point as literal as this is both a hindrance and a blessing, since not being able to do some things makes me excel in the things I can do, such as swimming and music. I don’t see OI as a bad thing in my life, and people who have it should definitely not be ashamed or embarrassed. I have spent time worrying about it, but it’s definitely not worth it because Osteogenesis imperfecta is part of who I am and that will never change.

Most patients with mild or moderate OI are treated with physiotherapy and management of symptoms when they occur.

not being able to do some things makes me excel in the things I can do, such as swimming and music.

The recovery

long for each broken leg: I was in a plaster cast for six weeks but full recovery took six months.

STAR Quality

Audrey Hepburn was a film star, style icon and UNICEF ambassador who died 30 years ago. She was born in Belgium but during World War Two she and her mother moved around until they settled in England. Hepburn’s interest in dancing had brought them to Britain, where she accepted a scholarship.

Even before she was in double figures, Audrey was scarred for life. Although her early childhood was privileged due to her wealthy father’s banking job, that was the only thing he gave her. Her mother, Ella, also had form for questionable behaviour: she met Adolf Hitler and collected money for the British Union of Fascists.

In 1935, her father Joseph left the family and become deeply involved in Fascist activity in London, never visiting his daughter abroad. This left a deep mark: although Hepburn linked up with Joseph later, she called this ‘being dumped’.

During the war, Audrey and Ella moved to the Netherlands in the hope it would remain neutral. For six years, Audrey attended the Arnhem Conservatory, studying ballet. She was a star pupil, but events deteriorated: her uncle was executed, a half-brother was deported to a labour camp, and another went into hiding. The Dutch famine (1944 - 1945) led families to resort to making flour out of tulips. Audrey became gravely ill with jaundice and a respiratory infection. It was a desperate time.

When the war ended, things were looking up, though not for Ella: used to society life, she was forced to take work as a housekeeper because they were pauperized. To help on the financial side of things, Audrey managed to snare a role in film, making her debut in 1948 as an air hostess in Dutch in Seven Lessons.

She continued to dance, accepting a ballet scholarship in London that year, but decided to focus mainly on acting and took various West End roles, as well as elocution lessons. Her star quality was soon spotted by Ealing Studios, which resulted in her securing some minor roles.

Her first main part was Princess Ann, a demure European princess who runs away with Joe Bradley (an American newsman played by Gregory Peck) in Roman Holiday. She sprang into the public eye, even though the part had not been intended for her. The makers of this 1953 film wanted Elizabeth Taylor to star, but Thorold Dickinson, a director who had worked with Hepburn before, filmed a screen test and sent it to William Wyler, the director. He changed his mind immediately. Audrey had ‘everything he was looking for’ and was ‘very funny’. This film pushed her through the door of stardom, giving her a Golden Globe, a Bafta and an Academy Award. She was signed to Paramount Pictures.

Soon she starred in the Cinderella comedy Sabrina (1954), Ondine (a theatre production), and many nostalgic films, such as War and Peace (1956), Funny Face (1957), and The Nun’s Story (1959). Audrey was fast becoming one of the world’s most famous female thespians but she was yet to land her most famous role in her most stylish film.

Breakfast at Tiffany’s was released in 1961 and is best known for Audrey Hepburn’s appearance in arguably one of the most famous little black dresses in history, complete with cigarette holder, cat draped around her shoulders, wide-brimmed hat and sunglasses. This film marked her out as a style icon, wearing Givenchy’s flattering shapes. During this film, she became fast friends with the designer.

She was a massive success, not just in Britain, but in America, too. However, because of her own early painful experiences, she itched to help those in need, and began doing so. In 1988, she travelled to Ethiopia, to help the same organisation (UNICEF) that helped her as a hungry and mournful child. She continued for another five years until she died of cancer at her home in Switzerland.

I have written about Audrey Hepburn because she was an amazing woman. She had everything we hunger for: fame, money, and beauty, but her life was tough. Her father disappeared and she had a hard time finding kind husbands. Through all of this, despite being in the spotlight, she managed not to put herself first, perhaps unlike many celebrities nowadays. Instead, she used her fame nobly to lift up less fortunate people.

Pippa Jones of JKS charts the journey of Audrey Hepburn from style icon to charity legend.

LiveS Broken

In the countries of the Middle East, on 6th February, Turkey and Syria were hit by devastating earthquakes, striking millions of people's homes while they were in a soundless slumber. Tens of thousands were killed and many more injured. Helpless babies, young children and adults have been taken before their time.

The Earth's crust is made up of gargantuan pieces of rock called tectonic plates that grind against each other causing earthquakes, tsunamis, and mountains. There are fault lines around the plates, such as the San Andreas fault in California where earthquakes are prone to happen.

In Turkey and Syria, two earthquakes happened in one night on the East Anatolian fault between the Anatolian plate and the Arabian plate. Stuck between the epicentres is a city called Kahramanmaras, which suffered utter devastation. Many buildings have collapsed completely.

In North Syria, destruction was already rolling through the country as the result of civil war. Civilians were trying to carry on with their lives that were already on the edge when it turned to hell. Devastation ruled the land then the earthquake turned their homes to rubble. 

After the recent earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, Milo Dhar of JKS surveys the damage.

Turkey and Syria were hit by devastating earthquakes, striking millions of people’s homes while they were in a soundless slumber.

Also, the infrastructure and houses in south Turkey and Syria weren’t technologically advanced, so they were weak even without war and earthquakes. Roads have cracked up and water supplies are running low, making it even harder for help and aid to reach the disaster-struck towns and cities.

Can you imagine what it would be like to be trapped underneath tons of rubble, your loved ones screaming your name, tears of despair all around you when you can’t respond? That is what the poor civilians felt in the earthquake. Life’s value goes up somewhat when you have friends and family you may never see again, without a final goodbye.

Extraordinary events unfurled. A baby was born under rubble just before her mother died. The mother was in labour when the merciless earthquake dropped masonry on her head. All the surrounding family had died already, and in the loving mother’s last moments she pushed her child into a safe space to spare the girl’s life. The baby was still attached to her mother by her umbilical cord when the white helmets discovered her and put her in an incubator. The baby has been named Aya. Many individuals have offered to adopt her, but the authorities are seeking a family.

The death toll has now reached 33,000 and is still climbing because civilians have died of dehydration and pressure from the man-made masonry falling on people. Just remember that there hasn’t been a major earthquake in Turkey or

'Devastation ruled the land then the earthquake turned their homes to rubble.'

Roads have cracked up and water supplies are running low, making it even harder for help and aid to reach the disaster-struck towns and cities.

Their suffering is unimaginable and reminds us how fragile life is.

The death toll has now reached 33,000 and is still climbing because civilians have died of dehydration and falling masonry.

Life’s value goes up somewhat when you have friends and family you may never see again, without a final goodbye.

Syria for decades, meaning that most buildings were not designed to be earthquake-proof.

This Turkey-Syria earthquake has caused many buildings to be demolished and many people's lives to be put on completely different paths, and some have ended far too early. We, in England, are lucky to be in a non-earthquake zone and not to be right now in the shoes of the suffering Turkish and Syrian people. Their suffering is unimaginable and reminds us how fragile life is.

A baby was born under rubble just before her mother died. The mother was in labour when the merciless earthquake dropped masonry on her.

Thinking Good

Sofian Sheikh of Eaton House the Manor believes creative thought is essential to our future but points out it always takes its time.

ristotle once gave us a guide on how he thought people could be happy: there were three main ways, and one of them was intellectual happiness. To achieve this type of happiness, we need to understand philosophy, but what is philosophy? Philosophy, in simple terms, means ‘love of wisdom’, but to truly attain the title of a ‘philosopher’ we need to be deep thinkers whose purpose is the improvement of society. And to do that one must refine its intellectual character. The real question is how do we become deep thinkers?

A philosopher, or deep thinker, needs time to produce worthy, brilliant ideas. And time is a finite resource. We need time to evolve our ideas for them to achieve their full potential. Even if one is writing about a preferred topic, there is always something to learn to become a true expert. The next question is ‘How do we use this time?’ A philosopher doesn’t just think and produce, but also constantly observes to learn how society is evolving. The world is ever-changing, so keeping up to date on current events is important. One could use this information to compare the past with the present, and maybe use this to predict the future. Exposure and open-mindedness about all views allow absorption of different perspectives.

Travelling widely requires dedication but is also crucial for diversification of thought, since every country provides a unique, different opportunity to learn. For example, the Japanese are minimalists – perfect, clean, meticulous, and a huge contrast to some western cultures.

A philosopher also needs to understand what comes with being a ‘deep thinker’. A deep thinker paradoxically needs to be ‘foolish’. For example, take the story of Thales. Thales was a philosopher who one night was staring at the stars when he fell into a well. A deep thinker should always be embroiled in his thoughts, and sometimes may forget about ‘reality’. Thus, with wisdom comes foolishness. Second, it would be very hard for a deep thinker to have a busy social life. Because deep thinkers need to use their time wisely, they would probably favour their ideas over people. With constant thoughts flooding their minds, deep thinkers may have less time for other people and social niceties. Last, they will accept that they are a little different to others. A deep thinker is highly analytical

with a higher level of thinking and is likely to see the world differently and feel more alone in the world.

A philosopher needs to develop original ideas. Creating original ideas means that other people can develop your thoughts. Just copying others doesn’t benefit society or you or anyone. What you can do is develop them. Putting your own ideas out there means that people have a choice of what to do with them. Either develop, be inspired, or criticise. When one idea is given to society, it can be developed, and the development can be developed. In the end, we can get the full potential of an idea. If many people do 

A philosopher, or deep thinker, needs time to produce worthy, brilliant ideas. And time is a finite resource.

Thales was a philosopher who one night was staring at the stars when he fell into a well.

this for society, healthy debates are formed out of different opinions.

A philosopher isn’t just in search of truth, but opportunities. A deep thinker isn’t looking for a fact, but what could be a fact or what potentially will be a fact. Therefore, linking philosophy only with truth is not the right approach. Deep thinkers need to recognise they don’t know everything, so aren’t perfect. From all this, we can also conclude, deep thinkers can help society by planning what could come in the future.

To be called a ‘deep thinker’ or philosopher one needs to have time on one’s hands and know how to use it, be willing to make sacrifices, come up with original ideas, and always be searching for possibilities. By gathering all these impressive qualities, only then can one develop society intellectually and achieve its improvement.

Future Warning

Lizzie Firebrace and Leila Pace of Skippershill send us A Warning from the Future

A philosopher isn’t just in search of truth, but opportunities. A deep thinker isn’t looking for a fact, but what could be a fact or what potentially will be a fact.

We used to worry about climate change, But now there’s no climate left to change. We used to worry about the rising sea, But now we’re making Planet B.

It seems I'm the only one who can remember, The lion, panda, giraffe and zebra. We used to worry about pollution, And yet we still have no solution.

We used to spend time reading books, But now you’re just focused on our looks. We used to hang out or meet up with friends, But now we do lonely social media trendz.

We used to play outside, in the sun, But now those happy days are gone. So now I hope you take my warning And do something, next time, about global warming.

No More Bullying by Grace Nash of Skippershill

Bullying should not be accepted so we should all try to put an end to this wicked, unjust, disgusting behaviour. This is a lot more easily said than done, since bullying is a worldwide problem that causes many to suffer in unspeakable pain, both physically and mentally. Bullying is a horrible thing to go through and sadly many go through it alone. I know from experience about the dark, desolate, dingy places your mind, and the minds of others, can take you. Bullying lowers self-esteem and can even cause depression and suicidal thoughts.

What do you do if you're bullied? Always talk to a trusted adult, whether it’s a teacher, parent, guardian, or another person. It’s great to unload.

BulliesBeGone

Online Target by Jasper Akers-Douglas of Skippershill

Should we be able to post whatever we want online whether it hurts people or not? If someone is unhappy, they can just shut down their account.

I don’t think we should be able to post whatever we like on the Internet: in my opinion it has a high risk of upsetting people, and you never know what your post might do to some people. Whether it be a mean picture or a malicious comment, they both have the same effect on people.

Although it may seem like a good idea to post what we like, I think it is a terrible idea because if someone saw what you posted online and felt very upset because of something that has happened to them, or someone else in real life, it could cause them real sadness. You never know what could have happened to them at home.

If the target just shuts down their account, then that's not going to help, because those comments or pictures are still going to be there!

Magic Mountain

When people think of the Dolomites, a stretch of land at the northernmost tip of Italy and just 100 kilometres from east to west, they think of mountains. Mountains. And more mountains. But what they don’t know about is the secret life of the Dolomites that makes this quiet backwater an earthly paradise.

Breath-taking beauty in a haven of tranquillity awaits visitors to the Dolomites. Its mighty mountains are covered in rich emerald vegetation and an ocean of stately pines. The lush evergreen landscape stretches endlessly, interrupted only by azure lakes and sleepy hamlets. Dolomite cliffs boast drops of over 100 metres, while long rapid rivers meander through the jagged rocks, all of which lies beneath a calm, celestial sky. But beneath the towering peaks lies the magical world of secrets, fairy tales and legends.

When you start your adventure at the foot of the mountain, you can enjoy the various wonders of the land, which offers different delights in different seasons. Whatever the weather, during your climb you will see some of the most stunning waterfalls in the world. The icy liquid gushes out of the clifftop, crashing onto the rocks and lakes below, the tumultuous thump ringing joyfully in your ears. In some areas you may find the finest berries that mother nature has to offer; the sweet and sour tastes will make your tongue tingle with pleasure. Climbing finally to the tallest peaks, you can drink in the grandeur and serenity of the panorama.

Walk among this earthly paradise and you are bound to meet some of the Dolomites’ fascinating residents. Suddenly, a marmot will peer out of its hiding place, glancing at you cheekily as it scampers across the rock; if you are lucky, you will be able to hear the high-pitched squeals of nearby colonies, bidding each other ‘Good morning!’ You might be able to spot a solitary chamois (a small mountain goat-like animal) on a grassy peak quietly grazing, tiptoeing delicately between the rocks. You may also be able to catch a glimpse of a hare racing to avoid the predators of the mountains; every journey is a sprint for survival. Although most of the animals you find there are benign and harmless, there are others with more lethal intent. You may occasionally come across a brown bear wandering about in the forest, beating its chest. When visiting areas where such encounters are possible, there will be signs informing you how to behave and what you must do to stop yourself from being killed, and then eaten. Take the advice! At a safer distance, peer up to the skies and

you will spy the imperial eagle, its wings spanning the horizon as it squawks its arrival to lesser beings. The Dolomites are also one of the few places where you can find falcons frolicking in the wild, free to hunt to their hearts’ content.

Unlike falcons and eagles, human visitors to the Dolomites have no need to hunt, since the local restaurants offer mouth-watering specialities. Among the many different delicacies to be sampled is polenta, for which the Dolomites are famous. Polenta, which consists of boiled cornmeal and can be used like flour to make diverse dishes, is also eaten on its own. With a texture like soft, creamy porridge, polenta is the ideal breakfast for a hike up the mountains on a cold, snowy morning. There, you may also go foraging for wild mushrooms and make different dishes with them, including pasta and soup. The Dolomites are also famous for their delicious wines and spirits.

Being a linguist is an advantage when travelling around the Dolomites, since the road signs tend to be trilingual. This is because there are three official languages: Italian, German and Ladin. Ladin is an ancient native language spoken by a tiny majority of the Ladins; however, nowadays the number of people who speak it has decreased. With the abundance of timber, woodcraft is a thriving industry responsible for a wealth of souvenirs and other wooden ornaments with which to recall the essence of the Dolomites.

The area is also steeped in fables and myths involving dwarves, witches and dragons who, according to legend, haunt the slopes and lofty peaks. There are countless myths about the origin of the landscape: long ago a princess visiting the Dolomites from the moon ordered the cliffs to be whitewashed so she felt less homesick, while a wizard once caused a rainbow to collapse into the Lago di Carezza, producing its luminous green glow. There is even a myth of a giant called Langkofel who was a prankster and played tricks on the residents of the Dolomites. Superstitious locals may avoid leaving their front door open in case an ogre wanders in and kills them.

Aleksandr Smoliyaninov of Holmewood House reveals the secret life of the Dolomites.

Top World of the

Molly Burden of Skippershill claims Travel broadens your

Travel is so important that everyone should, at least once in their life, be open to it. This is because it broadens your mind and helps with everything subsequently, like love and gratitude, open-mindedness and want of knowledge.

Nature is beautiful. Studies show that even the act of being out in nature and seeing those beautiful views can make your wellbeing get so much better. When travelling, part of the attraction to a place is because of the views and the experience of nature, not the crowded, dangerous, boring towns that you left behind. Imagine the freeing feeling you would get standing on the top of a mountain or swimming in crystal blue water. Wouldn't it be amazing? Wouldn't you feel grateful for the chance to go there? Wouldn't you love the world you live in? Travel reaffirms how lucky we are to be alive and how we should cherish every second. Then when you come home a whole vista of new and exciting opportunities is open to you, and you might want to try something you might never have even thought of before this trip.

Like with all learning, if you love it then you will want to know more, and travelling is hands-on learning.

garments, wondrous songs, and unimaginably fantastic culture. These wonders are for you to enjoy. You may at first be not too eager to take part in these native experiences but in going on a trip to this place you have immersed yourself in their world and you must try everything! This teaches you to try new things and not worry about things but to take risks and grow as a person and become more open-minded. This could also teach you not to judge people as fast and to get to know them before saying you don't like them.

Finally, travel sparks questions and curiosity. Like with all learning, if you love it then you will want to know more, and travelling is hands-on learning. It will inspire you to want to know more about everything, like the world and its history. This will make you a more curious person: you will want to ask: How do they make this? When was this tradition started? What is the purpose of this? Who were they? Once you have sparked your curiosity it is amazing.

On these adventures you see a whole new world, like other countries, rich cuisine, beautiful

Travel is an amazing learning experience that can open your mind about everything, especially people and new things, because you never know what new adventures are waiting for you!

mind.

Travel reaffirms how lucky we are to be alive and how we should cherish every second.

Filter No

Why do teens feel the need to hide Behind a Mask? asks Lucy Begley of Broomwood Hall.

What is happening to our teenagers? Why suddenly is there an immense rise of mental health issues and eating disorders? Why do we feel the need to put on a mask of makeup to hide our face?

2019 is when the app TikTok skyrocketed in popularity. In fact, it was downloaded 693 million times in 2019 and 850 million times in 2020. Hours can be spent endlessly scrolling through the millions of videos. Unlike Instagram, it’s not as edited, which some could say is a good thing, but in my opinion is bad. As a teenager, you already compare yourself to people you see in magazines and on Instagram but with those you know they are edited. In contrast, TikTok is often not edited so you know that what you see is what they genuinely look like, which can be upsetting and make you feel terrible about yourself. What you don’t see is the hours of preparation that went before that video, only for the subject to pretend they just rolled out of bed looking that way.

You must have the perfect features: glass skin, soft silky hair, and the trendiest clothes in order to be perfect. Well, that is what is instilled in teenagers’ minds. With

this mindset, it is difficult to accept flaws. Automatically, we try to find something to do about a perceived flaw, a way to ‘fix it’. Teenagers have even ended up doing extremely damaging things to their faces and bodies. Some young people don’t even feel comfortable leaving their house or going about their day without covering up and masking their insecurities.

If you were to look at a photograph of a 13-year-old five years ago and a 13-year-old now, there would be a dramatic difference. Children are growing up and maturing at a much faster rate these days. This is for several reasons. One is that more and more social media is downloaded. Constantly seeing beautiful people online makes teenagers want to try being like them, causing young teens to lose their childhood much faster.

The speed with which clothes go in and out of trend is mind-blowing. One year, galaxy patterns, tie dye and thick black chokers are in trend, whereas the next year they are seen as hideous, embarrassing and uncool. There is so much pressure, especially as a teenager at school, to be wearing the same as everyone else. This leads to an enormous volume of clothes being wasted, which is harmful to the environment. Yes, a lot of people donate the clothes they no longer wear, but there is still a huge amount of 

Why

suddenly is there an immense rise of mental health issues and eating disorders?

What you don’t see is the hours of preparation that went before that video.

The

speed with which clothes go in and out of trend is mind-blowing.

Some young people don’t even feel comfortable leaving their house or going about their day without covering up and masking their insecurities.

money being wasted in the fashion industry because of peer pressure to fit in.

What if mirrors weren’t there? Imagine if we couldn’t just look and stare. I think, however, teenagers would still manage to feel down about their appearances because of the amount of unfiltered stuff some people say to others to try bring them down or rise them up. This is a prominent issue that needs to be understood and recognised more. It’s not a simple issue to be fixed overnight but, if more and more people educate themselves and empathise with people who particularly struggle with self-acceptance, we could begin to see a change for the good.

Carnivores

Nithil Kongala Liyange of Bede’s Prep searches for the origin of carnivore killers.

My goal is to do nothing but make you a fan of the natural world. That’s it. This is the story of modern mammalian carnivores.

Today, the most successful carnivores alive are mammals; but how did they become so efficient? Delving into the origins of mammalian carnivores reveals a strange and shocking past. It all started with strange tree-dwelling creatures, eating smaller animals and balancing with their long tails. These were the miacids, the first model of what would become a set of killing machines.

The miacids became civets. In Southeast Asia, civets walk on people's roofs and telephone wires. The rest of the miacids became dog-like beings, evolving into bears, dogs and seals. To think about it is incredible. One type hunts on land with massive bodies, while the other type gracefully snatches fish out of the water.

While the cat population was dwindling, long ago civets and genets became less arboreal, daring each other to go down to solid earth. They became cats, but soon the fire driving them was running out of kindling, and they had a solution: the sabre-toothed cat, a well-built killing machine. But as larger mammals died out, so the sabre tooth gave way to a new genus of felids: the predatory cats that we know today.

However, hidden amongst them all was a strange kind of killer. Twenty million years ago, a storm swept African civets and other viverravids into the sea on pieces of wood. They landed in a strange new land - Madagascar - and they evolved into the strange Malagasy carnivores that we know today. Sadly, their population is running out and they need our help. We must help them and save the environment.

And that is the story of the carnivores that we know today.

There is still a huge amount of money being wasted in the fashion industry because of peer pressure to fit in.

System Sound

Music is everywhere. It wakes us up in the morning, narrates movies, makes us cry, dance, sing and shout, but why?

Well, for many years people knew music affected us in some way, somehow, but what they didn’t know was to what crazy extent they were right. Music affects the right side of your brain, the left, the top, the bottom, the back and the front. In fact, there is not an area of the brain that humans have mapped that music doesn’t affect. According to Northshore University Health System, blood flows more easily when music is played. It can also reduce heart rate, lower blood pressure, decrease cortisol and increase serotonin and endorphin levels in the blood. So, simply, it decreases stress and increases happiness. You should clearly listen to more music!

Music can reduce heart rate, lower blood pressure, decrease cortisol and increase serotonin and endorphin levels in the blood.

Music can also help with your language skills. Have you ever considered that reading music is actually understanding a completely new language? With symbols, clefs, time signatures and dynamics, it’s quite a complicated one. All of the parts of the brain you use to read music are being practised and strengthened for when you need to learn French or Spanish. Increasing your ability to remember where notes are on the stave also builds up your ability to recall what vocabulary means.

When we hear an emotional piece of music there is a physiological response that activates the nervous system. This can make us cry or force the hairs on our skin to rise. The messages to your brain are altered by the type of music you hear.

Music does more, however, than just elevate a listener's mood. Another common misconception about the power of music is that it only taps into the right hemisphere of the brain. This is untrue. It affects all parts of the brain. For example, when a musician practises their instrument, they are considering time signatures, melody, rhythm and how to hold their body; these are controlled by the left side of the brain. As a musician myself, I know this can be very challenging. The parts of the brain that music develops are also used primarily for maths. Practising music helps your brain with problem-solving and decision-making – also preparing you for later life.

So next time you hear an alarm clock with a strange interval, especially designed to make you wake up, or an upbeat tune on an advert purposely trying to get you in a good mood, think past your first impression and think, just briefly, of the power contained in every note.

When we hear an emotional piece of music there is a physiological response that activates the nervous system.

Madeleine Boileau of Cumnor House celebrates the power of music.

A HelpingPaw

Dogs are often called ‘man’s best friend’, but they can be so much more: they can be ‘man’s saviour’. Assistance dogs are specially trained to help people in need. Most people probably know about dogs for the blind and deaf, but there are over ten different kinds of assistance dogs, with over 7,000 of them working in these roles, and that’s just in the UK! There are hospital dogs, courthouse dogs and limited mobility assistance dogs, to name a few. I was astounded by the skill and scope of these marvellous animals. But why have humans bonded so closely with dogs?

Humans have chosen dogs to assist them for a variety of reasons, such as their obedient, calm, affectionate, intelligent and reliable natures. Labradors, Golden Retrievers, German Shepherds and a few other breeds express these traits and are therefore ideal for training as assistance dogs. We trust dogs and they trust us because we have lived together for centuries.

Let us not forget the practical help they can provide. If someone is in a wheelchair and cannot reach an item, a dog can retrieve it with its soft mouth without marking or scratching. Dogs are a suitable size for wheelchair users and humans in general. Historically, the Golden Retriever crossed with the Labrador has produced the most successful assistance dog of all, combining many of the great traits of both breeds.

must be eighteen but in some that rises to twenty-one and, in others, it drops as low as ten years old.

If someone is in a wheelchair and cannot reach an item, a dog can retrieve it with its soft mouth without marking or scratching.

Training for assistance dogs is tough. During a two-year programme (that’s roughly 13,140 hours!), starting at 1418 months old, assistance dogs learn over 90 commands. They also learn specialised commands to specifically help their owner, such as pulling a wheelchair, opening doors and bringing items to their handler. To become a handler of an assistance dog it's all about age; in most countries you

Let me introduce you to Tucker. Tucker was a hospital dog trained by Maureen Maurer, author of Wonder Dogs and owner of assistance dogs of Hawaii. He was a golden retriever and a natural at being a hospital dog. During Christmas one year, Tucker was chosen to cheer up sick children because he looked just like a teddy bear. Everyone instantly loved him: he helped children take their medicine by comforting them; and he lifted the spirits of both the patients and the staff. During his visit, Tucker visited a young girl who had been taken off life support two days ago. He carefully snuggled up against her and she moved her finger to stroke his soft, silky ear; this amazing dog had successfully brought her back from the dead. The mother cried, ‘Thank you, Tucker. You're our Christmas miracle.’

Charlie Evans of Solefield School points out that dogs can be much more than pets.

Tucker was just one example of an astounding assistance dog. Another, with a handler with limited mobility, nudged and licked her fingers until they uncurled. He repeated the process because his handler couldn’t move her hands. Over time, she was able to make a fist and release fingers to an open palm. The strange thing was that the dog had never been trained to uncurl her fingers; he just acted on instinct!

Another type of assistance dog is a courthouse dog that helps nervous people (generally children) testify. In Hawaii, an unsolved case needed one extra piece of evidence from a young girl, but, out of fear, she refused to talk. When a courthouse dog was brought to comfort her, she said she would tell him. Everyone heard her testimony; the case was solved.

Finally, another type of assistance dog is a wellbeing dog (also known as emotional support dogs). Our school owns two of these: Charlie and Monty.

These dogs help students and staff destress by stroking and petting them. One student said: ‘I was very stressed during counselling but as soon as I stroked Monty all of it went away.’

If you want to help assistance dogs, there are many organizations you can donate to. The main one in the UK is Assistance Dogs UK (ADUK), while the US has US Service Dogs. But the organisation that got me hooked is Assistance Dogs of Hawaii.

So, the next time you’re cuddling your cute pooch, remember that her cousins may have transformed someone's life.

he helped children take their medicine by comforting them; and he lifted the spirits of both the patients and the staff.

Training for assistance dogs is tough. During a two-year programme (that’s roughly 13,140 hours!), starting at 14-18 months old, assistance dogs learn over 90 commands.

We trust dogs and they trust us because we have togetherlived centuries.for

Triton is the seventh-biggest moon and the sixteenth-largest object in our vast solar system, yet most people have never heard of it. Maybe this is because it orbits Neptune, our most distant planet. Triton is the largest of Neptune’s 14 moons and by far the most interesting. It possesses a one-of-a-kind feature named a retrograde orbit: this rare trait means the moon orbits in the opposite direction from all planets and all major celestial bodies. Scientists believe this unique orbit was formed because Triton belonged to the Kuiper belt, then was captured by Neptune’s gravitational pull, and now orbits Neptune. For many reasons, it is a fascinating (yet awkward) moon.

What other features of this strange moon make it so different from its neighbour? Nitrogen, for one. Without doubt, the possibility of finding any kind of life form on another planet or moon would be the most spectacular discovery for the scientific community. Triton offers tantalising evidence of this prospect. Although this moon has almost no atmosphere, it is like Titan (Saturn’s largest moon) in that nitrogen is present. Nitrogen is a waste product left behind by life forms. So, has there ever been life on Triton?

Sadly, there is little chance of life on Triton because it is in Neptune’s magnetosphere. The earth’s magnetosphere is a vast, comet-shaped bubble which protects us from the Sun’s electromagnetic particle radiation, called solar wind. Neptune’s magnetosphere, on the other hand, is like an apple-shaped bubble and, because of the high tilt of the planet’s axis, the particles trapped in

the magnetosphere are repeatedly swept past the orbits of the moons and rings. Therefore, its magnetosphere cannot protect the planet and its moons from the Sun’s deadly solar winds.

Despite residing in the cold outer section of our solar system, Triton has had continuous and vigorous geological activity for the past tens of millions of years; hence, there may be an ocean hidden underneath its surface of ice. It has a surprisingly smooth surface made up of ice volcanoes and geysers, suggesting its icy crust is still alive. Scientists have managed to explore its smooth terrain with satellites and Voyager 1. This unusual moon is one of the few in our solar system that has been classed geologically active.

Triton is such a large moon that it is technically classified as a ‘dwarf planet’. Pluto and Triton are eerily similar, but Triton is marginally larger. Both celestial bodies share similar surface materials such as nitrogen, carbon monoxide and methane. Scientists believe, along with Triton, Pluto also originated in the Kuiper belt.

Triton offers even more excitement for astronomers of the future. Tidal interactions between Triton and Neptune absorb all of Triton's energy, hence lowering its orbit. Eventually the orbit will be low enough that the two celestial bodies will collide. This large collision will send debris flying into Neptune's magnetosphere, adding to the already faint Neptunian rings. Triton will bow out of its eccentric existence with a bang, leaving only orbiting debris as evidence of its once-enormous presence.

Triton has a surprisingly smooth surface made up of ice volcanoes and geysers, suggesting its icy crust is still alive.

Ben Doyle of Solefield School takes a look at an awkward moon.

MoonStrange

Rise Up

We are all familiar with the story of Billy Elliot and the stigma he faced from his family and community when he revealed his passion for ballet. But have you ever wondered what a male ballet dancer faces in their everyday lives?

I have been learning ballet for the past few years and have found that it gives you many qualities: resilience, selfmotivation, discipline, a strong work ethic and teamwork. Ballet also allows you to express emotion and unleash your inner artist because, as Billy Elliot says: ‘It feels like electricity.’ Ballet allows room for creativity because, as long as you follow the main arc of the choreography, you can dance with your own special flourishes to the moves.

Ballet is not for wimps; it requires years of intense training to develop muscle memory and cardiovascular endurance.

Male dancers must be strong enough to lift their female counterparts and execute large leaps, jumps or pirouettes. Gender roles in ballet are often stereotypical so the women need to be graceful, smooth and elegant, whilst men are required to be commanding and strong. Current choreography has branched out to create more fluid gender roles. Jonathan Stafford, a retired ballet master from NYC Ballet, supports this change and states that ‘ballet dancers who train in both stretch and finesse and high jumps and multiple pirouettes are more versatile and can be stretched in different ways.’

Although there are many positives that come from doing ballet, it is not always as straightforward for boys. A study

by Doug Risner

Ballet is not for wimps; it requires years of intense training to develop muscle memory and cardiovascular endurance.

(Professor of Dance at Wayne State University) found that only 32% of male dancers have the support of their fathers in their dancing careers. They then rely on their peers for support, which may lead to more bullying and comments if their friends don’t approve.

Despite trying many other forms of dancing over the years, I was reluctant to start ballet. My own prejudice towards ballet prevented me from experiencing it, as I was worried about what others would think of me. I viewed it as a very ‘girly’ form of dance since you had to be very ‘floaty’ and ‘elegant’ whilst moving. I was worried that it wasn’t perceived as a very masculine activity and there were no other boys in that class. It wasn’t until I tried a boys-only ballet class – with

Charlie Beeton of Solefield School examines Billy Elliot syndrome.

plenty of role models – that I even agreed to go.

Mason Evans, American dance student, mirrored this sentiment when responding to the prejudiced comments made about Prince George’s love of ballet. He said: ‘The biggest challenge [of] being a male dancer is the minority; going into dance is sometimes a little nerve-wracking when you’re the only boy.’ I was fortunate enough to live near a boysonly ballet class and to be able to travel in and around London to attend other single-sex ballet sessions, but others may not have this opportunity because of where they live.

Another thing boys find is that they cannot dance en pointe in ballet because dancing on the tips of your toes in special shoes is traditionally a female technique. Boys who dance en pointe find that they aren’t taken seriously. Ivan Felix, a ballet dancer from Mexico, says: ‘I think that many people look down on the men who

dance in pointe shoes because they think it is very easy, or we do it because we cannot dance as a man in a traditional way.’ I have been offered the opportunity to dance en pointe at my ballet school. Although I am currently not interested in doing so, I appreciated the chance to have the experience.

Sadly, most male dancers will have to face prejudice about what they enjoy and may be called gay, weak, or effeminate. I have experienced this from boys who found out I danced, or girls who found it unusual to have a boy in their lesson. This has improved as I have got older, though, and I have received moral support from boys with similar life experiences. Prejudice towards male ballet dancers still exists in some parts of society but the situation is beginning to improve.

It shouldn’t be the dancer’s job to defend what he decides to do with his life. He should just dance.

Male dancers must be strong enough to lift their female counterparts and execute large leaps, jumps or pirouettes.

Ballet also allows you to express emotion and unleash your inner artist because, as Billy Elliot says: ‘It feels like electricity.’

It wasn’t until I tried a boysonly ballet class - with plenty of role models - that I even agreed to go.

Father of

The Invention

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) lived during the Renaissance, a period of great artistic and scientific discovery. He is most famous for his paintings, especially the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper; however, he was also an incredible inventor.

Leonardo’s ideas were based on excellent scientific principles. His aerial screw, for example, applied the principles of the Archimedes water screw to create upthrust. Leonardo also had an advanced understanding of the Laws of Physics. He believed that ‘nothing is moved, unless it is moved upon’. This is what we now call Newton’s First Law of Motion, after Sir Isaac Newton ‘discovered’ it nearly 200 years later, in 1687.

Leonardo didn’t build many of his inventions. If he had, they were unlikely to have worked. This is because he faced two major obstacles. First was the power source. Leonardo was so ahead of his time that the power sources needed to motor his machines had not yet been invented. So, both the aerial screw and the tank, for example, had to be powered by men rotating a crankshaft. Leonardo did go some way to solving this problem with a spring-loaded, self-propelled cart, and he even designed a steam-powered piston. But, in general, man was the motor and he couldn’t generate enough power for the machines to work. Second, Leonardo was limited by the materials available to him in Renaissance Italy. Almost all his designs were made largely from wood. In the case of his many flying machines, for example, they were just too heavy to work. Leonardo designed a parachute that would have weighed around 85kg and would have squashed its user on landing. This parachute was recreated in the year 2000 using modern material and worked brilliantly.

It was not until the Industrial Revolution, over 300 years later, that the problems of power source and materials began to be solved. The arrival of steam power and mass-produced metal led to a revolution in science and engineering. In the 1880s, Leonardo’s notebooks, which had been sold off and forgotten about after his death, were re-discovered and published for the first time. Leonardo’s ideas started to be appreciated

Toby C. of Bede’s Prep loves the legend of Leonardo.

and it could be said that he predicted and inspired many of the most significant inventions of modern times. When the machines of which Leonardo dreamt were finally built, they revolutionised our lives. It took until 1903 for the first working aeroplane to be built and for humans finally to take off. When the Wright Brothers made the first-ever successful flight, they stayed in the air for only twelve seconds and flew roughly 37 metres, but it literally transformed how people saw the world. Likewise, tanks were first deployed halfway through the First World War. By 1918, they had changed the course of the war and helped bring an end to four years of conflict. It is interesting to consider what would have happened if they had been available sooner. Would they have prevented the millions of tragic deaths in the trenches, or would they have led to more conflict elsewhere?

Leonardo designed a parachute that would have weighed around 85kg and would have squashed its user on landing.

it would be man’s most important invention. He was proved right in the 1900s, when mass-produced cars completely changed how we live. His notebooks also contain a drawing of a bike that is just like what we have today. Although there is some debate as to the authenticity of the drawing, Leonardo invented the bicycle chain mechanism. If this idea had not been lost for hundreds of years, then the development of bicycles may have been different. However, we may have missed out on the Penny Farthing, which would have been a shame!

Leonardo was the first to imagine many inventions that have changed our lives, and it took over 300 years for technology to catch up with his dreams. Sir Isaac Newton once said, ‘If I have seen further, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants.’ Although we cannot be sure to whom he was referring, Leonardo da Vinci is certainly a giant in the evolution of ideas.

Leonardo’s vision was also seen with his self-propelled cart, which is considered the forerunner of the modern car. He predicted

It could be said that he predicted and inspired many of the most significant inventions of modern times.

In the 1880s, Leonardo’s notebooks, which had been sold off and forgotten about after his death, were re-discovered and published for the first time.

When the machines of which Leonardo dreamt were finally built, they revolutionised our lives.

Paper

1000 Cranes

May Coats of JKS celebrates the mystical power of the Japanese crane.

a fast recovery. Friends and family will usually work together, since folding a thousand paper birds is not an easy task!

If you could have one wish come true, what would it be? In one Japanese tradition, folding 1000 paper cranes will make one wish come true, or, in other versions, give you long life, eternal good luck or happiness.

The crane is a holy and mystical creature in Japan supposed to bring you good health. Japanese folklore says cranes live for a thousand years, which also happens to be the number of cranes you need to fold. Currently, cranes are most commonly given to loved ones who are suffering from life-threatening illnesses to show them support and wish them

cranes are most commonly given to loved ones who are suffering from lifethreatening illnesses to show them support and wish them a fast recovery.

In Japan, a single origami crane is called ‘orizuru’ and 1000 of them are called ‘senbazuru’. These senbazurus are usually strung onto 25 strings of 40 cranes so they can be easily hung from ceilings or walls. The origami cranes are made from a variety of colourful, bright and patterned paper to make whoever receives them feel cheerful and contented. Cranes are also often associated with peace, and many temples across Japan will have eternal flames for world peace, so people often come to donate senbazurus as an offering and to encourage prayers

After a while, the cranes will start to dissolve but, symbolically, the wish they contain is released.

The tradition of 1000 paper cranes became popular through the story of Sadako Sasaki, who is a global example of innocent children affected by war.

The origami cranes are made from a variety of colourful, bright and patterned paper to make whoever receives them feel cheerful and contented.

for peace. After a while, the cranes will start to dissolve but, symbolically, the wish they contain is released.

The tradition of 1000 paper cranes became popular through the story of Sadako Sasaki, who is a global example of innocent children affected by war. Sasaki was a Japanese girl who was only two years old when she was exposed to radiation from the atomic bombing of Hiroshima in World War Two. Aged 12, she developed leukemia but, after a while in hospital, she set herself the goal of creating 1000 paper cranes in the hope that it would make her healthy again. Sasaki completed hundreds but then became too weak to finish. Sadly, she died later that year, and her classmates decided to finish the remaining cranes in her honour.

“I will write ‘peace’ on your wings, and you will fly all over the world.” – Sadako Sasaki.

Japanese schoolchildren dedicate a collection of origami cranes for Sadako Sasaki in Hiroshima Peace Park. Photo by Andrew Dunn.

Japanese folklore says cranes live for a thousand years, which also happens to be the number of cranes you need to fold.

In parts of Southeast Asia, over 12,000 sun and moon bears are kept in cages so small they are unable to turn around, or even stand up. This is bear-bile farming. The owners of these farms puncture the bears' abdomens over and over until they find their gall bladder. They extract their bile, which is a digestive fluid, and sell it for Chinese medicines supposed to cure digestive problems.

I first discovered this horrible practice during lockdown in 2020, in a documentary by a conservationist called Gile Clark. The topic has captivated me ever since.

Hunters often kill mother bears in the wild, take their cubs and place them in cages, which they might never leave.

Hunters often kill mother bears in the wild, take their cubs and place them in cages, which they might never leave. In the wild, cubs stay with their mother until they are two years old. In captivity, they do not get fed enough and are extremely underweight, by around 50%. Along with bile, their body parts often get used, for fur coats and in delicacies like bear paw soup. In Vietnam and Korea, it is illegal to farm any species of bears but in China it is still legal. After making it against the law in Vietnam, offenders moved their illegal farms to Laos. Hunting and owning the bears may be banned, but poor restrictions from the government let the practices thrive. 

The owners of these farms puncture the bears’ abdomens over and over until they find their gall bladder.

Ethan Emery of Vinehall School laments the appalling practice of bear bile farming in Laos, China, and Vietnam.

BiLe practice

Sun bears are the smallest bears in the world and moon bears are up to three times bigger and 70% of their natural habitat has been destroyed. Sun bears also have thick coats, which is another reason they are farmed. The conditions are so bad that they live for only eight years compared to in the wild, where they live to up to forty years old. This is due to the lack of stimulation, exercise or diet needed for a happy, healthy life. To keep things on a low budget, farmers do not invest in medical equipment for the bears and often after the bile is extracted it is common for the bears to die from infections, tumours, or cancers.

even the tiniest percentage of people think that the Chinese medicines work there is a market, and the only way to shut these farms down is if there is no market.

Even now, Asia is so huge that if even the tiniest percentage of people think that the Chinese medicines work there is a market, and the only way to shut these farms down is if there is no market. Sometimes other products are made from bears that have nothing to do with medical products, such as toothpaste or even shampoo. Per kilo bear bile is worth up to $240 and a single gall bladder can be worth as much as $10,000 in South Korea.

There are some bear sanctuaries in Asia but not as many as there should be. Charities, such as Save the Bears, try to help but many illegal bear farms are still running, and the government restrictions are still lax. In China they are legal. If there is still a market, people will continue to farm bears.

Along with bile, their body parts often get used, for fur coats and in delicacies like bear paw soup.

The conditions are so bad that they live for only eight years compared to in the wild, where they live to up to forty years old.

Have you ever climbed a tree? Did it bring you joy? I got into climbing when I was young. It was just a game of hide and seek and I wanted to do something different, and I suddenly found myself at the top of a tree. Everyone was amazed at me, so I carried on climbing until one day I decided to join a club and jump into the world of climbing.

Now, have you ever thought you cannot do something or that you are not good enough? Well, there is no one perfect body for climbing. Whether you are blind, deaf, or an amputee, you can still climb. There are many inspiring climbers who are disabled, such as Tom Whittaker, who shattered both of his legs in a car accident and yet he went on to become a great climber. Or Arunima Sinha, who was pushed from a running train by robbers in 2011 and,

Climbing

High

while she was resisting them, she sadly injured her left leg and got multiple fractures of the spinal cord. Yet she still managed to climb Mount Everest. So, whatever you look like, whether you are tall or small, you can do climbing.

I suggest you start by joining a climbing club. Climbing clubs, indoor or outdoor, have a great atmosphere. You can be asked to be pushed hard and try your best or have a relaxed session. I started climbing in 2020 and, so far, if I ever asked someone else a question, in my group or not, they have always been happy to help me.

Now what about the technical side of climbing? Well, another wonderful thing about climbing is there is always another way. There is never only one way to do something. You can choose your own path and style: you can

parkour your way up or do it statically; you can swing, hang, or rest – it is all your choice.

There are hundreds of benefits for your body, such as your back, abdominal muscles, legs, arms, shoulders and especially your fingers. Every day I go climbing I feel my body improve. Furthermore, rock climbing can burn anywhere between 500 to 900 calories per hour. So just imagine: you can eat whatever you want and still stay fit!

Climbing as a competitive sport started in just 1985, in Italy. One year later the first competition event on an artificial climbing wall was organised in France.

There are other types of climbing, rather than just inside and outside: bouldering [climbing without ropes] and smearing [climbing without using foot holds] or only flagging [putting your leg to one side to give you extra reach or sustain balance]. An interesting one which I

Robert McPherson of Marlborough House explains what happened after he found himself at the top of a tree.

I carried on climbing until one day I decided to join a club and jump into the world of climbing.

learned about from a friend is climbing therapy. I personally do not do it, but I have a friend who does. It is quite fascinating. The first lesson is releasing stress and every time you climb to the top your stress goes away. I think if anyone needed therapy, this would be great, because I love sports and would much rather be active.

What is the hardest mountain to climb? The first name that would come to people's minds would be Mount Everest but, although this is the tallest, that does not mean it is the hardest. Did you know that over 6400 people have climbed Mount Everest? That is a lot. Annapurna, Nepal, is arguably the hardest mountain to climb. It stands at 8091 meters tall and takes roughly 40 to 50 days to summit. It also has a 40% fatality rate so only 60% of the people that have climbed it have lived. By no means should a mountain’s height be

confused with its technical difficulty. Nepal, the tenth highest peak in the world, is deadly proof. A mountaineer is more likely to die here than on any other 8,000m climb. Now that is scary, deadly, and awesome.

If you fear heights and do not want to do bouldering up a huge mountain, there is always clip-on climbing, which you cannot fall from, so you can push yourself to your limits or just find somewhere with smaller walls that do not need clipon ropes.

So, if you ever see an underrated sport that looks quite fun maybe give it a go and see if you like it. If you want to do a fun, active, sporty hobby then I would recommend some climbing. Even if you still are not tempted, I hope you have learnt something new. These are just some of the reasons why climbing is my favourite sport. And who knows? It might just be your new favourite sport too. So, try it!

You can choose your own path and style: you can parkour your way up or do it statically; you can swing, hang, or rest.

if you ever see an underrated sport that looks quite fun maybe give it a go and see if you like it.

of the Fission Future

As you probably know, there was a bizarre incident in Australia recently when a nuclear capsule (an 8mm cubed part of a gauge used to measure the density of iron-ore feed at a mine) was lost in The Outback. How can you lose such a dangerous item, you may ask? Well, this kind of incident happens more often than you may think. This tiny but deadly device was found although the area where it appeared was put under a 20 square-mile exclusion zone. Unfortunately, this is not an isolated incident.

An even more terrifying incident took place in 1987 when two burglars stole a radiotherapy machine from an abandoned hospital and did not realise there was a nuclear capsule inside. The burglars, while opening the machine, spilled the nuclear material on some scrap metal. The scrap metal was subsequently sent to a junkyard and the owner brought a crowd of friends over to see it glow in the dark. One of those was a child who tasted the nuclear powder. Tragically, the child died and all those present at the scrapyard became extremely ill. The two nearest towns had to be evacuated.

But what really shows the dangers of nuclear fission to society, whatever its benefits, is Chernobyl. In 1986, while the fourth reactor on site was undergoing tests, the control rods were removed, which caused the entire reactor to melt. The whole area became radioactive and toxic dust spread throughout Europe and Russia. The authorities were slow to realise the magnitude of the disaster, but eventually a 30km radius was cleared and around 117,000 people were evacuated. Many hundreds of thousands of people had long-lasting, serious health issues and it is not known how many died. It was one of only two events ever to hit seven on the nuclear event disaster scale.

The preceding tales of nuclear calamity explain why scientists have been looking for alternatives to nuclear power by fission. Nuclear fusion could be the answer. If

splitting particles is dangerous, then what about fusing particles? Inspiration came from the Sun. After scientists discovered that the Sun was powered by fusion energy, they thought, ‘Why not do that on Earth?' The advantage of nuclear fusion is that there is no radioactive waste; incredibly, there is an even higher amount of energy gained and nuclear meltdown is not possible. However, nuclear fusion is difficult to perform.

In December 2022 there was a gigantic breakthrough. Scientists at the National Ignition Association (NIA) launched 192 lasers at a piece of nuclear fuel and succeeded in creating ignition (this is when you create more energy than you put in). Nuclear Fusion had arrived.

The happy consequences of this breakthrough are exciting. In the future, we could make fusion-powered cars, and fusion-powered houses. Fusion could provide the energy to power almost any process. And not only is fusion effective at producing energy, but it is also clean. The waste it does produce is easy to remove: it’s the helium that fills balloons.

Although nuclear fusion is advancing, it will not be used in power plants for some time yet because its process is complicated and, at the moment, unpredictable. Nevertheless, scientists hail fusion as a massive breakthrough for an alternative source of renewable power. And maybe the terrifying and tragic incidents recounted above will be a thing of the past.

In the future, we could make fusion- powered cars, houses.fusion-poweredand fusion could provide the energy to power almost any process.

Aksel Phan of Solefield School compares fission of the present with fusion of the future.

EnlightenUS

Aurelia Preston of Saint Ronans School sheds some

One of the most famous conspiracy theories surrounds the Illuminati. Founded in 1776 by Adam Wieshaupt in Bavaria, which is now part of Germany, this Enlightenment group was set on opposing religious influence over public life and abuses of state power. It slowly died out after pressure was put on it by the more powerful Catholic Church. It then, strangely, resurfaced in the 1960s as the centre of a bizarre conspiracy theory.

Robert Anton Wilson was a forwardmoving young adult during the hedonistic cultural movements of the 1960s. He and his friend Lee Harvey Oswald were focused on proving to people how crazy the conspiracy theories that had gained popularity at the time really were. When John F. Kennedy was assassinated, the entire country was in uproar. Later that day Wilson heard that Lee Harvey Oswald had shot JFK and was killed himself in the following panic. This news devastated Wilson.

Wilson was one of the authors of the Principia Discordia, a book about Discordianism. Discordianism was a religion centred on Eris, also known as Discordia, the Greek Goddess of strife and discord. He had decided that the world was becoming ‘too authoritarian, too tight, too closed, too controlled’. Wilson and the new Discordians wanted to bring chaos back into society to shake things up, and the way to do that was to spread disinformation. And they decided they would do that initially by telling stories about the Illuminati.

People leapt on this new theory and for a lot of people it was a reassuring tale. America was emerging from the scars of the Second World War and was just coming out of the Great Depression and many people were still close to or in poverty. This theory gave them someone specific to blame for their suffering, even if it was a long-defunct society from the 18th Century.

More recently, many celebrities have done the ‘Illuminati symbol’ by making a triangle with their hands. Some of the most famous supposed members are Kanye West, Beyoncé, Jay Z and Rihanna. Recently Rihanna did the triangle at the Superbowl halftime show and it confused many people: are the Illuminati real? If not, why make the symbol?

One theory why these ultra-famous celebrities do this controversial hand gesture is that they are showing they believe some conspiracy theories. It is noteworthy that celebrities such as Kanye West have embraced certain conspiracy theories, such as the one about the COVID-19 vaccine and some anti-sematic theories about Jewish bankers controlling our lives. At a time when there are many competing theories circling on the internet, the Illuminati appearing suddenly again does not seem as far-fetched a conspiracy theory as many others.

It has been stated by the first person to come up with this theory, Robert Anton Wilson, that he put the conspiracy out there to prove how crazy conspiracy theories really are, so the Illuminati is extremely unlikely to be real. But some people find comfort in believing things even though they may not know for sure if they are true or not. Can we really judge conspiracy theorists if we don’t judge those who are religious? Just because religions like Scientology are less well known than religions like Christianity doesn’t mean they are any stranger. Scientologists might think it’s strange that Christians claim to be eating the body and drinking the blood of Jesus, after all.

In conclusion, this clearly shows how susceptible humans are to anything that explains the chaos and injustice of our world and how not everything you see online or in books is true. What started as a young student doing what was almost a science experiment has turned into the most famous conspiracy theory ever.

light on the illuminati.

some people find comfort in believing things even though they may not know for sure if they are true or not.

awayEbbing

The future of Cuckmere Haven in East Sussex is difficult to decide. Often I find myself hoping that Cuckmere itself will tell us what it wants. But sadly it is not up to Cuckmere to decide its future. We keep putting the decisions off, but the future will come.

Cuckmere has been painted, drawn, written about, filmed and photographed countless times but one of the most famous things about Cuckmere is the series of paintings that Eric Ravilious painted around the time of WW2. It is managed by a collaboration of the National Trust, Natural England, Environment Agency, East Sussex County Council, Sussex Wildlife Trust, and various other environmental and conservation groups. They are in the middle of a two-year consultation plan because Cuckmere is in danger of losing one of these two things: the important wildlife around Cuckmere River and the uniquely beautiful landscape. The coastguard cottages are also at risk from coastal erosion, which is accelerated by climate change. One group wants to stabilise the cliffs and pour concrete on the beach while the other wants to protect the wildlife; they realise how disastrous such a move would be for the marine wildlife. These groups are working together to try and protect both. It isn’t proving easy.

the landscape, it would be a natural disaster. Its shores are teeming with rare wildlife, including the shortsnouted seahorse, blue mussels, anemones, the velvet swimming crab and a host of beautifully coloured seaweed.

In my opinion, the wildlife is more important than the features of the landscape, like the meanders and the river. To prove my point, think about this: the wildlife of Cuckmere is not separate from how it looks. The vast colours of wild flowers, the swans famous for elegantly gliding around on the meanders, the crabs, fish and water-living plants are as much part of the look of Cuckmere as the curving sway of the river. Without the wildlife where would the life and soul of Cuckmere be?

The vast colours of wild flowers, the swans famous for elegantly gliding around on the meanders, the crabs, fish and water-living plants are as much part of the look of Cuckmere as the curving sway of the river.

But don’t go thinking Cuckmere only matters to locals! Cuckmere gets an astonishing average of 350,000 visitors per year. That’s more than the population of Barbados in 2022!

Cuckmere Haven is home to a recorded 200 species of birds in summer, while on a winter’s day you could probably spot around 40 species that have not migrated somewhere warmer. The most common insects you will find around Cuckmere Haven are the dragonflies, butterflies and moths but you might spot a rare bloody-nosed beetle if you’re lucky. The most common butterflies around Cuckmere are the Chalkhill Blue, Dark Green Fritillary, Marbled White, and Adonis Blue, which feed on the Horseshoe Vetch. If Cuckmere’s wildlife is destroyed in order to conserve

I understand that the land is a personal, beautiful and popular natural wonder, not just with locals but with people around the world. But in my view the disadvantages of protecting the landscape outweighs the advantages. If we stabilise the cliffs, thousands of rare marine creatures’ homes will be destroyed and will only add to the mountain called climate change. Second, if we let the river flood and salt marshes and wetlands increase in size and number there will be many benefits to the wildlife, including water purification, preventing soil erosion, carbon sequestration and biodiversity. A disadvantage of not stabilizing the cliffs and concreting the beach is that we will probably lose the coastguard cottages. But if Cuckmere’s wildlife is destroyed to conserve the landscape, it would be a natural disaster.

Clara Wigglesworth of Bede’s Prep warns us that the heavenly haven of Cuckmere is under threat.

Smart Move

Scholarships are the highest achievement in a particular field of school, with many reaching for them. They open up gateways in new schools and change the views of others along with the scholar’s view of themselves. Breaking away from the normal syllabus releases you from the boring, standard learning and opens you up to new knowledge and new skills. However, scholarships are hard work and many don’t achieve them. Thousands of children across the world spend hours slaving away, sacrificing social time and, in some cases, damaging their mental health from the weight of work. Every week it’s, ‘Where’s the seven-page English essay?’ or ‘I haven’t got the three past papers I set you last week. You have until tomorrow.’ And you haven’t even started. So, is being a scholar helpful or harmful?

How would you survive walking into your new school, knowing that you were not bright enough to obtain a scholarship and having to hide in the shadows of those who were?

Only 8% of children who apply for scholarships achieve that goal. Imagine all that work you put in, all those days denied freedom for friends or hobbies and that mental toll your brain has taken, all for nothing. Months sacrificed for rejection. Fear of rejection festers in children’s minds, and they can become obsessed with scholarships and develop a phobia of failure that they will never get over. How would you survive walking into your new school, knowing that you were not bright enough to obtain a scholarship, and having to hide in the shadows of those who were? How would it help you start afresh in a new school environment if you were constantly having to camouflage yourself in others' glory? You would climb back into yourself, shape-shifting into carbon copies of others because they are ‘better than you’ because they got a scholarship and you didn’t. All

that time you had spent orbiting your passion, what you wished to do with your life gone, and all of a sudden you're floating out to space. Children denied scholarships immediately take on a feeling of lost confidence, because they feel they are not as good as they always thought they were. We children are sensitive, and that kind of rejection is not good for our mental health, life at other schools, or our futures.

However, scholarship preparation does broaden the curriculum for those children who need more challenges and they do not even need to do a scholarship to add to their learning. We get bored walking the Common Entrance line and we need a new route. A third of school children today find school boring and start to hate it. Broadening their knowledge broadens their love for learning. In addition, scholarships prepare us for the real world. Through scholarships, we learn about competition and, more importantly, how to cope with rejection. If 90% of children who apply for

Eloise Johnston of Broomwood Hall wonders whether being Being a scholar is helpful or harmful.

scholarships receive, ‘unfortunately you weren’t the right fit for this scholarship’ or ‘it was good effort but I’m sorry to say you will not be obtaining this scholarship’, then we will learn how to cope with our feelings of hurt and low worth. With these newly obtained skills and the ability to regain our confidence, we can go out into the world being more open to criticism and accepting that we may not always achieve every goal. Rejection is a new plate in your armour against low self-worth; the more times it’s encountered, the stronger you will be. Moreover, in most cases rejection is redirection. Didn’t get your scholarship due to your inability to solve simultaneous equations? Well, maybe you should start focusing more on your creative writing and you could be the next Charlotte Brönte or Charles Dickens. Anxiety and worry in young minds focus solely on the pressure of maintaining reputations, whereas positivity is found in discovering and mastering new skills.

So scholarships are a bridge to the world of interest and an escape from standard learning repeated over the course of many years. Scholarships offer the Alps to the scalers of Ben Nevis and the soufflé to the masters of the sponge cake; they offer challenges. But with challenges come failure and the monster that embeds the horror of defeat in our minds must be vanquished. New generations of pupils in schools up and down the country must be able to bounce back from rejection like it’s a trampoline, whereas right now it’s a brick wall. Therefore, being a scholar is only helpful if everybody supports the child, and nurses their confidence back if they do not achieve their goal. A small gust of wind cannot start a tornado; your goals cannot be achieved alone. 

Every week it’s, ‘Where’s the sevenpage English essay?’ or ‘I haven’t got the three past papers I set you last week?‘

Through scholarships, we learn about competition and, more importantly, how to cope with rejection.

Intergalactic Pizza

Henry Nikolich of Solefield School wonders what life would be like on the International Space Station.

The International Space Station (ISS) is one of the most impressive technological achievements of humanity, which allows astronauts from all over the world to live in space. The ISS does not even need a pilot but uses an automatic pilot function which uses satellites and radio sensors to automatically steer itself around the Earth. How did this Star Wars technology emerge in our world and who is the genius responsible for this incredible phenomenon?

The ISS was the brainchild of Herman Potočnik ‘Noordung’ in 1929. His idea was developed by the wider scientific and engineering community and finally it was taken up by NASA. Even NASA, with all its vast intellectual, technological and financial firepower, struggled to complete the ISS project. It took NASA 10 years and 30 failed missions, in addition to collaboration with five space agencies representing 15 countries, to eventually launch on 20th November 1998. Approximately 46.3 million people watched the launch live on TV, which were record-breaking numbers at the time. It was the beginning of a new space era.

Have you ever wondered how fast the ISS moves? It’s fast…very fast! The station moves at about 7.66km every second, which equates to 17,500 miles an hour (28,000km). Thankfully, there are no speeding tickets in space. Going at this speed allows the ISS to loop around the world every hour and a half, enabling us to see it at night as it zooms through the darkness. In fact, it has become popular to try and spot it through a telescope, but its speed challenges even the most enthusiastic station-spotters. How do the residents of the ISS cope with its astonishing velocity?

The ISS averages between seven and ten astronauts on it at any one time. Apparently, after three days, the crew forget how to live with gravity but the

long-term toll on their bodies and health of this phenomenon is as yet unknown. The first crew to go and man the ISS were Bill Shepherd, and cosmonauts Yuri Gidzenko and Sergei Krikalev on November 2000. Their mission, which lasted four months, was to complete the tasks necessary ‘to bring the ISS to life’ and so began what is now more than 20 years of continuous human presence in space.

Wouldn’t it be cool to have a bed in space? How many people get to sleep in this strange atmosphere? The ISS only sleeps around eight people at a time so, the crew is more than eight, they rotate the sleeping arrangements. It uses gravitational traction to make sure the astronauts do not lose complete control of themselves. It contains pressurised habitation modules; structural trusses; photovoltaic solar arrays; thermal radiators; docking ports; experiment bays and robotic arms. Major ISS modules have been launched by Russian Proton and Soyuz rockets and US Space Shuttles.

Even though NASA owns the ISS and runs it as a serious scientific project, a sense of humour is evident in some of its activities. In 2001, NASA sent up a rocket to deliver supplies such as essentials like food and drink. When Pizza Hut heard about this, they thought it was their time to make history and become the first ever pizza chain to deliver a pizza to space. Pizza Hut paid over £60 million to have their logo on the rocket and to send a single pepperoni pizza for one of the astronauts to enjoy. How cool to bite into a pepperoni slice while contemplating the vastness of the universe with its stars and planets, from your own intergalactic window!

How cool to bite into a pepperoni slice while contemplating the vastness of the universe with its stars and planets, from your own intergalactic window!

Peril CYBORG

Iwonder about the dangers of robots and whether we should continue to produce such advanced, artificial technology. The creation of robots lacks thought. It could have a negative impact on humans: it is a waste of funds and resources and could lead to unemployment in the workplace.

The world is already feeling the global impact of a cost-ofliving crisis and robots taking our careers could make it worse.

The most powerful reason for supporting robots is how they could benefit mankind. Although at first glance they seem ethical, they could have a dreadful impact on humans. Imagine if a robot got hacked. What would happen if they suddenly turned against us? It could lead to wars and could cause chaos and dire disarray. There is always the possibility that if we give these technologies power, if we give them knowledge, something could go wrong.

Another compelling reason is that the production of these robots is very expensive, and a waste of resources; don’t we need to spend our money on global problems? For example, global warming and climate change. What about poverty? How can they spend thousands on making robots when people out there need help? All these creators want is power and great recognition, but do they realise that the production of these cyborgs could have dreadful consequences?

My final reason is that, if we make more robots like Sophia, people could lose their jobs. The world is already feeling the global impact of a cost-of-living crisis and robots taking our careers could make it worse. Oddly, the robots probably will not take the jobs of the highend businessmen, but the jobs of people who work very hard daily (like the people who take out the rubbish, or the people who deliver all our packages and food just so others can live good lives). It is likely that these are the people who will be affected. We need to take a stand and say no to these horrid cyborgs.

So, these malicious machines are a dreadful idea. If we keep making them, if we do not consider the risks, if we welcome them into our society, then who knows what could happen?

if we give power,technologiesthese if we give them somethingknowledge, could go wrong.

Should we be creating more robots such as Sophia, the world’s first robot citizen? asks Kiki Akinwonmi of Skippershill.

Friendly, fantastic and fanciful, football is often referred to as ‘the beautiful game’ but does it deserve that title? Modern football was invented in 1863 and has only gained more popularity as time has progressed. Rules and equipment have changed drastically but the discrimination in the sport, though officially addressed, hasn't really changed all that much.

Football is fun and communal; it can be played anywhere at any level. There are over 300,000 football clubs, all ranging in level and size. With a community this big, it's bound to attract lots of talented players of every gender and race. However, even in this modern age, it's not as easy for these players to survive and thrive in the professional leagues. Players of colour have been critiqued not based on their play but on the colour of their skin.

An example of this was after the men’s Euros final when Bukuyo Saka, Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho (all men of colour) missed their penalties. The online abuse they received was inhumane and unimaginably cruel. These comments weren't about their ability as footballers but about their race.

Gender is also a huge hurdle in the world of professional football, with women's football invented in 1890, almost 30 years after men’s. Women's football has faced many setbacks such as a 50-year ban and players being unable to receive certain awards. The views of people and the rules were against them, but they persevered and made the game a great one.

However, most football fans are incredibly supportive of all the players, encouraging them and fighting against the awful comments online. Not only have the fans been replying to the call for action, but FIFA itself has introduced the rule of ‘taking a knee’. ‘Taking a knee’ is where all the players and referees drop to one knee as a sign to stand up to racism.

Also, women's football has been taking big leaps in gaining respect and recognition. Women players can now receive all the same awards and titles and their pay is increasing so they can make football their one and only job. One of the big stepping-stones was the 2022 Euros, which was hosted by England and won by the Lionesses. During the tournament, many fans came from all over the world to watch, more than ever before, creating new records. Afterwards, the Lionesses and many others gained the popularity they deserved and now women's football at club and international level has become immensely more popular. Schools have been fitting girls’ football into their curriculum and this has brought out some great teams and set up future teams, too.

All these actions have added to the fight for more equality in football so that the players will be judged by their talent and not the colour of their skin or by their gender. These strides have proven that it is possible, with the help of a supportive community, to forge a future when football truly is the beautiful game in all aspects. If this sounds like a future you’re interested in, then join millions of others in the stand against racism and gender inequality in football. Make football fair. 

Matilda Perry of Broomwood Hall argues that in football we need a level playing field.

players will be judged by their talent and not the colour of their skin or by their gender.

Game? Fair

by a Death thousand Cuts

Everyone praises the doctors and nurses working for the NHS, especially in the last couple of years when Covid-19 hit the UK. Now there are just over 379,000 doctors and nurses who are part of the NHS, which is a 32% increase from 2010. This may sound like a lot, which it is, but there are currently 133,446 secondary care posts that no one has filled. This is the largest number of vacancies since June 2018. 9.7% of these posts are medical. There are a lot of challenges that the NHS is facing that cause their worker numbers to decrease, such as an ageing population, communication breakdown, the growth of digital technology and political changes.

The UK only trains half the number of doctors it needs, which is why they have such a problem with not having enough. A lot of people leave the NHS because of how low the pay is and, if they don’t leave, they go on strike. It has been on the news recently about nurses going on strike. This is because they don’t feel they get paid enough for the effort they are putting into their jobs. Another factor that has an impact on the UK’s health system is Brexit, which has caused a shortage of doctors in key areas of health care after more than 4,000 European doctors have decided not to work for the NHS. There is now a ‘slowdown’ in medical recruitment from European countries. Many people coming away from the NHS say that it is just too much stress for them to handle because the hours are too long.

Brexit has made it a lot harder to hire nurses from the EU, and the UK has 58,000 fewer nurses than the number that were coming in before Brexit. Adding to this situation, the Government doesn’t train the correct number of people because of the cost (£60,000 for a nurse and £500,000 for a consultant). It also takes a long time to train someone to be a nurse, GP, or consultant (3 years for a nurse, 10 years for a GP and 15 years for a consultant), which can be off-putting when someone is looking for a job.

The Covid-19 Pandemic has made all this a lot worse, along with the cost-ofliving crisis occurring right behind. It has put extra pressure on staff so the hospitals cannot retain them for long. To try and solve this problem the NHS has tried to give their staff low-cost meals and money to buy the children’s 

We need more doctors and nurses says Lottie Butcher of Holmewood House.

We need more doctors and nurses in the NHS because there aren’t enough doctors to perform procedures or there aren’t enough nurses to keep an eye on the patients.

school uniform. The Pandemic put a lot of stress on the nurses because they were the ones who had to look after all the patients suffering from Covid. They would constantly be tired and burned out after a few hours and many nurses were finding this too much, so they had to leave. A senior nurse said in Parliament that his department was missing 30% of its nursing staff due to Covid.

In the medical industry, there are four main groups that have a big shortage –anaesthetics, paediatrics, cardiothoracic and psychiatry. This has a big impact on the NHS because if there aren’t as many anaesthetists, for example, they can’t carry out as many operations, so people will have to wait. If there are not enough cardiothoracic surgeons, then there won’t even be any operations for which we will need anaesthetics.

We need more doctors and nurses in the NHS because when there aren’t enough doctors to perform procedures or there aren’t enough nurses to keep an eye on the patients, so the death rate in hospitals will go up. The NHS helps a lot of people who perhaps aren’t fortunate enough to be able to pay for private health care, so they need it to fund their meds and doctors’ appointments.

Overall numbers have started to increase again, which is good for the NHS and its patients, and we can help them even more by encouraging young people to choose to become involved in the medical industry. All they need is more people wanting to become a doctor or nurse because the numbers will gradually even themselves out. The NHS will always need more help but hopefully they can find a way to reduce the number they need.

A senior nurse said in Parliament that his department was missing 30% of its nursing staff due to Covid.

Many people coming away from the NHS say that it is just too much stress for them to handle because the hours are too long.

Sound On! R

Henry Roach of SJCS explains why rap is so empowering.

ap music is now popular with audiences of all ages and backgrounds. One major reason is its ability to tell stories and express emotions in a way that resonates with the listeners. Its ability to provoke deep reflection is second to none.

Rap music often reflects the artist's personal experiences, and often deals with real-life issues, such as poverty, crime, and social injustice, such as Joey Bada$$’s ‘Temptation’, which protests against racism towards him and others. Many rappers, like Tupac Shakur and Kendrick Lamar, use their platforms to fight for social justice and change, motivating listeners to do the same and forming entire movements.

Rap music acts as a social commentary which makes it important to many across the world, such as ‘Swimming Pools’ by Kendrick Lamar, and ‘It Was A Good Day’ by Ice Cube. And rap lyrics often serve as a form of self-expression and empowerment, especially for marginalised minorities. In many communities, rap is also used to unite the audience despite differences, creating a platform for unity and social activities.

Rap is accessible and inclusive. Unlike other genres of music, rap does not require expensive equipment or instruments, or a trained band, to perform. Instead, it only requires a microphone and a beat, making it easy for anyone to create and share their own music. This has led to the rise of independent and underground rap artists, who can reach a global audience through social media and platforms such as SoundCloud and YouTube, despite not being signed to a major record label. This empowers the artist and connects people all around the world.

Rap appeals to a wide range of audiences. While rap is often associated with urban culture, it has also gained popularity in suburban and rural areas. Rap has a wide range of subgenres, such as trap, hiphop, drill, grime, melodic rap and conscious rap, to name a few. These various subgenres offer something for everyone.

Rap has also played a massive role in shaping pop culture. Rap artists have a huge influence on fashion and slang, with rappers such as Eazy-E and Biggie Smalls popularising phrases such as ‘swag’, ‘whip’ and ‘baller’ and their lyrics often reflect the latest trends and cultural references. This includes songs such as GREECE by Drake and D J Khalid. And many popular films, television shows and video games feature rap music, making it a huge part of the mainstream entertainment industry.

Rap is accessible and inclusive. Unlike other genres of music, rap does not require expensive equipment or instruments, or a trained band, to perform.

rap lyrics often serve as a form of self-expression andespeciallyempowerment, for marginalised minorities.

Losing Focus

Why does Generation Z have the worst attention span ever?

The main reason is that the shortform video style has taken over most teens’ free time. The rise of Tiktok and then Youtube Shorts, Instagram Reels and Snapchat Spotlight, has heavily impacted Generation Z’s attention span. These short-style videos have exploded in popularity over the last couple of years (just TikTok alone has over one billion active monthly users worldwide). But is the endless scrolling harmless or deadly?

Well, this lack of attention is to do with the format of these apps. You scroll with

one simple movement of a finger and the ‘creator’ has to immediately grasp your attention in a matter of seconds with big letters, bright colours or loud shouting: sensory overload. This mindless stimulation and the painfully easy accessibility make short-form videos the perfect timewaster and attentiongrasper. But it also means that youngsters are becoming less and less able to maintain focus.

The rise of Tiktok and then Youtube Shorts, Instagram Reels and Snapchat Spotlight, has heavily impacted Generation Z’s attention span.

Another reason is that we are constantly being mentally stimulated. We have encased ourselves in screens and this means

we are always seeing something new and exciting. Multitasking and jumping between apps can happen in a split second. One moment you may be looking at what homework you have and then, when you go to the home screen, you see the Tik Tok app glaring at you; your muscle memory takes over and you are immediately entertained by celebrity news, funny challenges or the newest trends.

It may come as no surprise, then, that Gen Z’s average attention span comes out to about 8 seconds. This is a decrease of a third from millennials,

Sebastian Parkinson of SJCS asks why the attention span of modern youth is so short.

who have an average attention span of 12 seconds.

Even writing this article, I had Gen Z’s attention span in mind. ‘Losing Focus’ immediately makes you ask what focus is being lost on. While you flick through this magazine you will be stopped by the most colourful and stimulating pages. This is no coincidence.

There is one more thing about short-form videos that is crucial to their success and what makes them so popular. It’s the algorithm or the FYP (For You Page). AI (Artificial Intelligence) records what you have spent more time

It may come as no surprise, then, that Gen Z’s average attention span comes out to about 8 seconds.

watching and what you have liked or disliked. It finds videos that you will find entertaining and displays them to you. Presented with perfect content which you don’t have to look for, you are hooked. It’s served up on a plate.

Short-form videos are taking over the free time of humanity’s youngest generation and has established itself in the entertainment industry. It’s a powerful force. But it’s up to you to decide whether this new way of escaping reality is good or bad.

One moment you may be looking at what homework you have and then, when you go to the home screen, you see the Tik Tok app glaring at you.

Presented with perfect content which you don’t have to look for, you are hooked. It’s served up on a plate.

you are entertainedimmediately by celebrity news, funny challenges or the newest trends

Sweet Paradise

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to live in a beautiful social and cultural place? Let me tell you. The Philippines is my dream place!

I lived in the Philippines for the first two years of my life and have always visited since, because most of my relatives still live there. I love it, especially the warm sun, the cool and breezy nights, the sound of the birds singing in the morning, and the delicious food. Every day I would wake up to the smell of the fresh air combined with the sweet fragrance of mangoes. Whenever my family and I visit, we always go to a small island called Bohol, where we have a house and every morning we open the curtains and all we see are the deep blue waves crashing against the stone wall that stands just below our house.

The culture of the Philippines is a blend of Filipino and Spanish Catholic traditions, with influences from America and other parts of Asia. The Filipinos are familyoriented and often religious with an appreciation of art, fashion, music, and food. One thing that I love about our culture is that we always take pride in our family. You are regarded as a family member whether you’re a third- or fourth-generation relative. Even closest friends can be viewed as family.

For Filipinos, traditions in their home and in their family are important. They usually set aside a specific day for a certain celebration like festivals, birthday parties, reunions, and more. And of course every gathering is dedicated to keeping up with each other over luscious food. For example, the staple food in the Philippines is rice and fish – we even eat them for breakfast. In the morning I often go out to sea with my uncle to catch fish for our meals.

In small towns or villages, you will often find street vendors with metal buckets hanging from their shoulders, selling all sorts of delicious foods and drinks. The one dessert I always get from the street vendors, no matter what the weather is like, is ‘Taho’, made from soft tofu, sago or small clear tapioca pearls and a sweet and simple brown sugar sauce, frequently served warm and in a plastic cup. These street vendors make their food and drinks fresh every day and are always generous with their servings, occasionally overfilling the cup.

The Philippines is famous for its abundance of breathtaking islands and delicious fruit, including the golden fruit of the Philippines, the mango, also known to the locals as mangaa. My favourite fruit is the langsat or the lazones. These fruits have a tangy, tart, and sweet flavour profile similar to grapes. The langsat contains Vitamin C which reduces flu and cold symptoms. They are also a good source of natural antioxidants.

One of the most famous places in the Philippines is the Boracay Island, where some of the most beautiful, calm, and picturesque beaches are found. Another amazing place is Manila, specifically Metro Manila. Metro Manila, despite its busyness, is a beautiful city full of skyscrapers and kind people. The weather is always amazing, with only the odd rain shower during the winter months.

If you're searching for a sunny, warm, and elegant getaway with plenty of things to do and sights to see, the Philippines is your best bet.

Sophia Sells of Marlborough House tells us why the Phillipines is paradise on earth.

Depths Hidden

James Lockheart of SJCS shines light on the dark web.

You've almost certainly heard of the dark web but only thought about it briefly. Perhaps this is how those who set it up in the early 2000s wished the general public to think.

Ian Clarke, while he was a student at the University of Edinburgh, is credited with the initial release of the Dark Web's earliest form, freenet. Its purpose was to create a new way to communicate anonymously and share files online. Indeed, in its current form on Tor browser (first released in 2008) the first message that greets users on the search page are the words ‘resist the surveillance pandemic’ and ‘Use a Mask’. Every day almost 2.5 million people use Tor. The entire ethos behind the dark web and Tor project (released in 2002) is the belief that people should be allowed to communicate and access the internet without being tracked in any way.

It provides complete freedom and demonstrates what people might do if they believed there were no consequences for their actions.

software, configurations or hardware to access. In the case of the dark web, it can only be accessed using a specific software, namely the Tor browser. Primarily the Tor browser uses a technology called layered encryption (often named ‘onion routing’ because it hides your data in lots of different layers). Indeed, the dark web relies so heavily on this system that the 'O' in the Tor logo is drawn as an onion cut open to reveal the different layers. Tor stands for ‘The Onion Router’. The layered encryption system scrambles the user’s data by routing it through many intermediate servers in turn, protecting the user's identity.

The Dark Web was first used by the United States Defence Department but its ability to mask identities appealed to those who wished to be untraceable, and it began to be used by criminals and hackers. Despite this, the general concept is entirely legal and anyone is allowed to use the dark web and Tor browser. The dark web is used, for example, in countries where freedom of speech is not allowed, and everything receives government scrutiny. It can be used to report to people in other countries what is happening in that country.

It may be legal, but you must tread carefully if you ever enter the dark web, where there is trading in drugs, weapons, passwords and stolen identities; you can even hire hackers to attack a device of your choice.

The dark web only exists on darknets which are networks that use the internet but require specific

Navigating the dark web is both hazardous and difficult. While the Tor browser keeps you anonymous the dark web is, as you might expect, a common place for hackers and cybercriminals to gather and therefore downloading files is not recommended. If you do so, there is a high chance they will infect your device with viruses, malware, trojans and other malicious files. The difficulty of navigating the dark web not only stems from the caution you must exercise but also the chaotic and messy nature that comes with large groups of the people who use it wanting to scam you and the fact that everyone is entirely anonymous. The Tor browser is also said to be unpredictable, unreliable, and maddeningly slow.

The dark web accounts for about 5% of internet traffic, letting users safely carry out illegal activities. It provides complete freedom and demonstrates what people might do if they believed there were no consequences for their actions. This online anarchy can be catastrophic but perhaps the dark web reveals natural human behaviour and shows what people would do when faced with no rules, no responsibility and complete self-reliance. Truly terrifying.

Abandon Reckless

Chloe Fuggle of Vinehall School reflects on the glut of pets abandoned after lockdown.

One day I was walking along in the wood just minding my own business, when my mum pointed out someone crouching down and releasing four sad puppies. Mum and I looked at each other in confusion but stayed quiet. Once the stranger had walked away, we ran over to the frightened puppies and realised there was nothing wrong with them. They were perfectly adorable bundles of fluff with big eyes and glistening wet noses. So why would anyone do such a thing? We were so sad that they had been left in such a cruel way that we carried them home in our arms. Now they are the fluffiest, cutest, and most adorable dogs in the world, called Rufus, Bella, Rex and Bluey and they are loved very much by everyone in our family.

We were so sad that they had been left in such a cruel way that we carried them home in our arms.

Animals were in high demand during Covid but after the pandemic everything has gone downhill for those little bundles of fluff. People bought countless pets without realising that once they were required to return to work, they could no longer care for their pets. Dermot Murphy, Chief Inspectorate Officer at the RSPCA, said: ‘The idea of putting your cat in a cat carrier and taking them to a secluded spot in the woods before walking away, or chucking your dog out of the car and driving off leaving them desperately running behind the vehicle, is absolutely unthinkable and heart-breaking to most pet owners, but sadly we are seeing animals callously abandoned like this every single day.’

Give animals the love and respect they deserve and never buy a pet you cannot feed, exercise and love.

The cost of living is increasing and so too the number of pets being thrown onto the streets or given to shelters.

And pets are now also facing a new problem. The cost of living is increasing and so too the number of pets being thrown onto the streets or given to shelters. 2021 was bad but 2022 was even worse. The RSPCA has reported that more than 100 pets a day were abandoned in 2021, but this number increased rapidly in 2022 by a shocking 24%. But just imagine having to choose between a meal for yourself or for your precious pet. Sadly, for some people, it does come down to that. This happens especially to people who have exotic insects or reptiles because they need heated habitats or special lights for them to survive and many people cannot afford the increased cost of energy bills.

The RSPCA has reported that more than 100 pets a day were abandoned in 2021, but this number increased rapidly in 2022 by a shocking 24%.

A pet can be a wonderful family member that gives unconditional love, but I would urge people to consider carefully before buying a pet. Think about whether you have the time, the finances and the love to give your new friend the best possible home. Having a pet is a responsibility that should be taken seriously and having to abandon your pet will be heart-breaking for both you and them. Perhaps you could consider donating to an animal shelter instead. Give animals the love and respect they deserve and never buy a pet you cannot feed, exercise and love.

People bought countless pets without realising that once they were required to return to work, they could no longer care for their pets.

Space. The unknown. A mystery. But is it a mystery that needs to be solved? Billions of pounds have been spent on exploring space with thousands of lives invested in researching and investigating the galaxy around us. But is it really all worth it?

Lots of this time and money is put into a plan to escape to Mars. But shouldn’t we be investing in saving this world, this beautiful world that we were all lucky enough to be born into? Is it really a toy to be used and uncared for and then to be tossed aside after being ruined and destroyed? It isn’t fair. It isn’t right. So, what are we going to do to change it?

I think we should live in the present; we should try to protect what we have now instead of rushing ahead to the future. Mars’ conditions are not nearly as good as Earth’s, so why not try to keep this world and protect it in any way we can? In 2022, global government spent a record 103 billion US dollars on space programmes and the United States Government alone spent almost 62 billion US dollars. This is a crazy amount of money that could be put to a much better use for our planet. We could stop global warming, protect endangered animals, and end forest fires that destroy creatures’ habitats. The possibilities are endless! One thing’s for sure: the world deserves better.

uninhabitable? Many would argue that if we wanted the world’s entire population to be safe on Mars before it’s too late, then we would have to start now. The longer we leave it, the less time we’ll have to make this evacuation and the possibility that not all of us would get there in time would increase.

the United States Government alone spent almost 62 billion US dollars. This is a crazy amount of money that could be put to a much better use.

Yes, in the future, it may be necessary for us to travel to Mars. But will this opportunity be open to everyone? What about the poor? Will they get this opportunity? Or will it just be the rich? Many of these people live in places where it is very hard to reach them. How will they find out? It is out of the question that this expedition could possibly be fair. There are around 8 billion people in the world. Surely, it’s impossible to get every single one of them on a rocket to Mars. Furthermore, if something went wrong, it would be catastrophic. Should we really be risking the lives of all these people?

In the future it may be necessary to travel to Mars but I do think that before we resort to this we should do whatever we can to save this world instead of just abandoning our home. Even if it does come to humans having to go to Mars, I think we should make it fair, with everyone being able to go instead of just the privileged.

Space Waste of

However, even though it’s a long way off, Earth’s conditions will eventually be uninhabitable, even if it’s in 1.75 billion to 3.25 billion years. This is because the sun’s heat will eventually evaporate all the water on the Earth’s surface so humans will be unable to survive. This is one of the reasons so much money and time is being spent on space while scientists research an alternative to Earth. Mars is the most obvious planet. However, if humans did evacuate to Mars, think about what would happen to all the creatures and animals on Earth. Is it right to leave them when it is we who were part of the reason Earth will be

Sophie Ryan of Broomwood Hall thinks Mars is a futile distraction from the problems we already have here on Earth.

CollisionCourse

Matthews

House wonders whether black holes are a danger to humanity.

Black holes are some of the most mysterious things in our galaxy, and we have been questing to find out how they work for many years. It is said that they suck up everything around them, including light, making them some of the most interesting things in the universe.

Black holes are the only objects in the universe that can trap light by sheer gravitational force. They are huge things but can vary in size quite a lot. These gravitational goliaths pack so much matter into such a small space that they form a class of objects unlike any other in the universe. There are four different types of black hole, which are the stellar-mass black hole, intermediate-mass black hole, supermassive black hole and primordial black hole. All of them are formed by something being so large that it undergoes gravitational collapse.

Stellar mass black holes are born when extremely massive stars collapse. They have masses ranging from about five to several tens of solar masses. One solar mass is roughly the mass of the sun. When huge stars collapse, the gravitational pull is so strong that the star undergoes gravitational collapse and goes supernova. The process is also observed as a hypernova explosion, or as a gamma ray burst. These black holes are also referred to as collapsars. Stellar mass black holes can also be created from the collision of neutron stars. Hence the name.

thousands, or millions to billions of times the mass of the sun. Black holes are a class of astronomical objects that have undergone gravitational collapse, leaving behind spheroidal regions of space from which nothing can escape, not even light. Observational evidence indicates that almost every large galaxy has a supermassive black hole at its centre. A mechanism for the formation of supermassive black holes involves a chain reaction of collisions of stars in compact star clusters that results in the buildup of extremely massive stars (100+ solar masses), which then collapse to form supermassive black holes. We are still not sure though how supermassive black holes are formed.

Observational evidence indicates that almost every large galaxy has a supermassive black hole at its centre.

Intermediate-mass black holes are too massive to be formed by the collapse of a single star, which is how stellar black holes are thought to form. There are two formation scenarios for IMBHs. The first is the merging of stellar mass black holes and other compact objects by means of accretion. The second is the runaway collision of massive stars in dense stellar clusters and the collapse of the collision product into an IMBH.

Primordial black holes (also abbreviated as PBH) are hypothetical black holes that formed soon after the Big Bang. Due to the extreme environment of the newly born universe, extremely dense pockets of subatomic matter had been tightly packed to the point of gravitational collapse, creating a primordial black hole that bypasses the density needed to make black holes today due to the densely packed, high-energy state present in the moments just after the Big Bang.

A supermassive black hole is the largest type of black hole, with its mass being in the order of hundreds of

Overall, black holes seem like terrifying things, and are perfectly likely to be some of the most dangerous things in the universe. However, due to the process, you need a huge star or object (20 solar masses at least) to undergo gravitational collapse, and in or near our solar system there would be nothing nearly that size. Our star is tiny, not anywhere close to being big enough to become a black hole or neutron star (a thing that smaller stars collapse to become; it will become a white dwarf). You may wonder whether in the future we will be exploring close to the centre of the galaxy, as in the paragraph above. We are not remotely close to exploring the centre of the galaxy; in fact, we are roughly 25,000 light years (how far light can travel in a year) away from it. Some scientists are exploring the possibility of a black hole lurking in our solar system; however, this is virtually impossible, and if it were true then scientists would have to entirely rethink black holes. Really, humans are in no danger of encountering a black hole.

Just remember that black holes are by no means something that scientists know much about. There are some things that remain to be discovered. Some of the things we know about them are theories. Bear in mind that we only have two possible methods for the formation of supermassive black holes: that they were formed during the Big Bang or a chain reaction of collisions of stars, and neither of them we can be sure about. We do not exactly know how any black holes are formed and we have no idea about how many other types of black holes there could be. We do not entirely know their effects yet, and there could be another type of black hole in our solar system. Who knows? But as far as we know now, they are no danger.

Fred

of Holmewood

Deadly Fluffy but

Creatures that seem cute but pack a punch fascinate James Destito of Newton Prep.

Some animals look harmless but can be treacherous. This is because their appearance and size generate a false sense of security.

Pesky rats have long been a cause of death for many people despite them looking small and innocent. During the years 1348 to 1352 there were over 200 million humans killed by plague. Rats played a huge role in the Black Death when they helped spread the disease to other humans. This occurred while they carried bacteria called Yersinia pestis: fleas would drink their blood (like a vampire!) and infect other humans when biting them too (think zombies!).

If you came across a platypus you wouldn't think much about pain because they are cute, intelligent mammals. They are one of the only mammals that lay eggs. But did you know that male platypuses are venomous? When used, their venom can feel like getting stung by a hundred hornets. Ouch! Although they are venomous, they cannot threaten the life of a human but whoever is on the receiving end of the stinger will be out of commission for weeks with extreme swelling and pain; however, its venom can kill smaller mammals, such as dogs and cats.

need to worry because they live in the mountains and there has been no evidence of humans being attacked so far.

Kangaroos can inflict permanent damage to quite a few animals thanks to powerful hind legs and sharp claws. That is why kangaroos are often portrayed with boxing gloves.

Kangaroos are commonly found in Australia. Despite looking cute, they are good fighters. They are normally active between dusk and dawn while they spend their time searching for their favourite foods, which contain grass as well as leaves. You may be wondering, if kangaroos are mainly vegetarians, how would they cause any harm to animals? Well, they are commonly known for attacking dogs if they encounter them, and this leads to dog owners intervening. Kangaroos can inflict permanent damage on quite a few animals thanks to powerful hind legs and sharp claws. That is why kangaroos are often portrayed with boxing gloves. They can also cause car accidents, when they jump across roads in the dark and cars will either hit them or try to swerve and avoid them. So, Australians know not to drive in the countryside at dawn or dusk.

Wolverines come from the Mustelids family and are very aggressive but, no, I am not talking Hugh Jackman Wolverine (although he is highly deadly as well). The word ‘Wolverine’ derives from an old German word meaning ‘devours much’ and, like its name, it will hunt almost anything it comes across in its alpine habitat. Wolverines are extremely dangerous because they have powerful jaws with two immensely sharp canines and strong claws that have previously killed even moose. But you don’t

Leopard Seals are also known as ‘sea puppies’ due to their adorability. However, did you know that a female seal can reach a length of up to 3.5 metres and weigh 500 kilograms (the weight of ten teen boys)? As they are this huge, they normally hunt smaller seals, penguins and even birds. So the leopard seal is the only seal to regularly kill warm-blooded prey. There have been a few cases of leopard seals attacking humans but only rarely. They have strong jaws and long teeth to make hunting easier.

Don’t be fooled by an animal’s adorability or innocence because they may get you into trouble. This is because lots of these animals live in the wild so they are not used to human contact so do not be surprised if they act in a way that you don't expect.

Angelman Syndrome

Alois de Bournet of Eaton House the Manor tells us about the rare genetic disorder, Angelman Syndrome.

My brother, Calixte, has Angelman Syndrome. This rare genetic disorder, which affects the nervous system and causes developmental disabilities and neurological problems, has transformed my life.

Calixte is a year younger than me, and growing up I couldn’t understand why he couldn’t do the same things I could, which was very frustrating because I really wished to play with him. That’s when my parents told me about Angelman and explained that the doctors said he might never be able to talk or walk. So I had to be patient with him, never give up on him and continue challenging him. Calixte is very determined, so now he can walk, although not very well yet. Even better, he can ski. Still working on the stopping bit, though.

Calixte is a superhappy brother who is always laughing at every joke or anything he finds funny (basically everything), bringing everyone’s mood up all the time.

would not tell us where he was going or if he needed to go to the loo (we had some drama with this one during our car trips), so someone needs to make sure he goes every two hours. The worst part is if something was to happen to him he could not call for help. This is what worries me the most since he can have seizures – not very often but it can happen. To make things safer for him, someone has to be with him at all times, meaning if my parents have to leave the room for a bit we must stop what we are doing and play with him or watch over him. It can be exhausting and daunting at times.

Since he is non-verbal, he uses an iPad with an AAC app (it’s like talking by pressing pictograms, which is kind of cool). Still, it makes it harder for us to communicate because, even if he understands mostly everything, he cannot answer or start a conversation easily and doesn’t bother very often. That can get us in tricky or funny situations. For example, we must make sure he does not run away because he

Because he cannot fully control himself, we must excuse ourselves a lot for his ‘unacceptable’ behaviour, for example when he kicks a seat on a plane or pulls hair. It always makes me embarrassed. This means that people get very annoyed at us so I wish there would be more education and understanding of disability.

On the bright side, Calixte is a superhappy brother who is always laughing at every joke or anything he finds funny (basically everything), bringing everyone’s mood up all the time. His love for hugs comes as a major benefit for me because I would never have so many hugs otherwise.

Love Tough

Emily Connell of Broomwood Hall wonders whether being the oldest sibling is a bed of roses or a crown of thorns.

Some say it’s tough, others that it’s the best place in the family pecking order. Welcome to the wonderful world of being the oldest sibling.

It certainly isn’t all peace and harmony since you have so many things to worry about. First, you have to push yourself to be better than your younger siblings. If you aren’t, it will reflect badly on you, and your parents will use the classic ‘Why can’t you be more like your younger brother or sister?’ This will lead to a spiral of sorrow.

tend to be more ambitious and successful, and 16% more likely to pursue higher education.

As the oldest, you’ll go through school first, getting 11+ done, finishing Common Entrance, GCSEs and A' Levels or IB. When you do these exams, your younger siblings will most definitely benefit because we, the older siblings, will tell them all about it and help out. So the younger siblings have a good chance of getting a higher mark than their elders, which might lead to resentment.

The amount of emotional pressure that comes with being the oldest is so high it’s been found that most older children are prone to getting anxiety and depression. Parents can be very pushy and that has an effect on the child trying to be the best they can be. When pushed too hard, many people’s mental health will be affected dramatically and that happens especially with being the older sibling. If there’s another child around who isn’t being pushed as hard, this can cause problems, with the older sibling feeling unwanted and left out, alone with no one to go to for help. However, there are some positives to being

your ‘lovely’ little siblings.

the oldest sibling. First, all your belongings will be new; you never will have any handme-downs. You will never have to suffer the dreadful embarrassment of not being able to choose your own style. Also, as the oldest sibling you will have the most responsibility, usually, and will be allowed to stay up later then your ‘lovely’ little siblings. We also get to do our driving lessons first. We’ll be first to graduate, first to get a new job and first to move out of home. This gives us more experience and confidence to do what we want to do.

It’s said that first-borns tend to be more ambitious and successful, and 16% more likely to pursue higher education than their younger siblings. First-born children are often leaders, like CEOS and founders, and are more likely to achieve their hopes and dreams. However, the first-born child is most likely to be disciplined for things they did not do. First-borns are most likely to suffer the most when a new child is born when they go from having the most attention to having to share the attention. This will throw older siblings into a whirlpool of denial, fear and sadness when they aren’t receiving their parents’ attention.

In the end, it all depends on the family. Every parent has a different parenting method and will treat their children differently to others. Being the oldest is both good and bad. 

and depression.

first-borns

as the oldest sibling you will have the most responsibility, usually, and will be allowed to stay up later then

If there’s another child around who isn’t being pushed as hard, this can cause problems.

The amount of emotional pressure that comes with being the oldest is so high it’s been found that most older children are prone to getting anxiety

Drawn OUt

Graphic novels are appearing everywhere now, since stories told in a comic format are becoming increasingly popular. The reading of graphic novels has, however, led to full-blown debates and battles between parents, teachers and children while these books climb the bestseller ranks. The question is: are they real books?

Graphic novels may be books accompanied by images, with a comic format, but that does not mean that they count less than any full textbook.

Parents and some teachers are not keen on their children or students reading ‘hard-copy comic books’ and say that reading books in a classic text format is better for developing reading skills. I am not saying that these objections are unfair, but as a reader who enjoys both non-graphic and graphic novels, I believe that there is no valid reason why children should always be told to read a classic book instead.

Because of the format and appearance of graphic novels, people tend to judge them and say they are just comic books for young children. But I would that say that graphic novels are as valuable to the reader as any full textbook.

I know the argument against my statement above will be: ‘Children's books are just the same, with easy words and lots of pictures to accompany them.’ But this is where my main argument comes in: graphic novels offer more than that.

While not only being dyslexia-friendly, and kind to other learning disabilities, graphic novels are not children's books. There are many highly detailed graphic novels with state-of-the-art illustrations and advanced language. I have even seen Shakespeare plays put into graphic novel format; they are easier to read, due to the images and split text, but the language is just the same as the original plays and just as challenging to read. Graphic novels may be books accompanied by images, with a comic format, but that does not mean that they count less than any full textbook.

Jim Kay’s adaptations of the Harry Potter stories are non-graphic but have many detailed illustrations and the full text. The artist has created a painting for almost every page, and it is said to have helped younger readers understand the famous novels because of the illustrations. My argument is that there is little difference between a highly illustrated book and a graphic novel.

I understand that parents and some teachers feel that graphic novels are not real books, but when you break down the actual argument, there is a lot of evidence that graphic novels have the same advantages as a normal book, just put into a different format. School libraries are being rampaged by children looking for new books, because every child wants to read the new form of book – the graphic novel.

Eva Ridley of Cumnor House asks whether graphic novels are real books.

Talks Money

Finance Skills should be taught in schools, claims Patrick Lyu of Vinehall School.

Prep schools are teaching a lot more subjects nowadays instead of just the academic subjects taught 30 years ago. But there are still lots of skills that should be taught, such as finance.

First, let us define the phrase ‘Financial Skills’. Financial Skills, Financial Capability, or Financial Literacy is ‘the possession of the set of skills and knowledge that allows an individual to make informed and effective decisions with all their financial resources.’ Students will all need to make decisions about their financial resources, no matter what their future might be, which means it is essential for all students to receive systemised and quality financial education.

it is stressful.

But the financial education in schools nowadays and the knowledge given by children’s parents is certainly inadequate. According to a survey for UK adults by Freetrade, only 48% of all respondents passed the quiz about basic financial vocabulary, retirements, investments, and saving; and 22% of the adults do not feel confident with their own financial literacy. Even more surprisingly, 45% of people say that dealing with finances has a negative impact on their health because it is stressful and will take a great deal of time, especially when they have not received enough education.

It's no good having a vast number of people receiving financial education from social media and Google instead of being taught in schools, because there is a lot of false information online. But according to a survey carried out on the money app, Freetrade, 27% of people get their financial knowledge from social media while 18% source knowledge from YouTube and 39% use Google. In fact, in the National Curriculum in England, Mathematics and Citizenship Section, the government mentions the importance of financial education and literacy, but still most schools in England do not give lessons in finance.

Financial skills are important in pupils’ later lives because they will need to manage their money, take care of their family’s finances, and perhaps even manage a company.

27% of people get their financial knowledge from social media while 18% source knowledge from YouTube and 39% use

It is important for people to be confident managing their money, and enough education should give them more confidence and relieve stress, since low financial confidence affects people’s emotional wellbeing.

As Canadian author and businessperson

T. Harv Eker stated, ‘The single biggest difference between financial success and financial failure is how well you manage your money.’ It is simple: to master money, you must manage money, and to manage your money well, you must learn. Although most adults (79% according to the same survey by Freetrade) agree that financial skills and knowledge should be taught in schools, there are only a very few prep schools in the UK that teach students about money.

Schools, government and parents should consider financial education’s importance and make sure all students are taught properly how to spend and save.

45% of people say that dealing with finances has a negative impact on their health because

Students will all need to make decisions about their financial resources, no matter what their future might be.

Financial education in schools and the knowledge given by parents is inadequate.

Google.

OnceUpon a Time

How Did It All Begin? asks Harry Langley of Eaton House the Manor.

How was the universe created? This is probably the biggest question ever, and we humans have not yet found, and probably never will find, the answer. There are many theories.

Big Bang Theory says the universe began from a single point and then expanded over time, stretching as big as it is to date – and is still going. But there is one problem with this idea: what created that point?

Picture

A close rival to Big Bang Theory is the Steady State Universe Theory. In cosmology, this idea claims the universe is constantly expanding but has a set average density. So matter is always going to be created at the same speed as something else is destroyed: when a galaxy is destroyed a new one is created at the same time. There are a couple of things wrong with this theory. First, there has been lots of evidence since the 1960s against it. Second, it still doesn’t explain how the universe started, but just says it is some sort of matter loop.

Another rival of Big Bang Theory is the Eternal Inflation Theory. At the start of the Big Bang, there was a short stage where the universe expanded rapidly, called inflation. Eternal Inflation Theory suggests this has never stopped and will go on for an infinite amount of time, meaning at this very moment new universes are coming into existence, creating the vast complex of a multiverse. These universes could even have different physical

laws to ours. This theory, however, has similar problems to the other two because they stem from each other.

Probably my favourite is Corporal Causality Loop Theory. This involves time travel or the ability to escape the space-time continuum, which is impossible to explain here. Picture the universe being created then over time it makes someone or something which can go back before the universe was created and in turn creates it. So, it creates the thing it was created by, meaning they can co-exist and then the timeline will continue. This idea only has one problem: currently time travel is not possible, or we are not aware of it yet.

Last, although it is not really a theory, the most believed reason for how the universe was created is God. God is the creator and the ruler of the universe in Christianity but also other monotheistic religions. In the Bible, God created the universe and Earth in seven days, with human beings created on the sixth day. Although many believe in God, there is no real evidence for God’s existence so many, including me, may be sceptical.

In the end, I don’t think it matters how you think the universe was created, and I think this is a mystery we can never solve, so it shouldn’t be something that can get between people, and it’s fine if everyone has different views.

Puzzle it Out

Puzzles sorted by Nikolai Thomas of Eaton House the Manor.

Puzzles have been with us throughout history in different cultures and countries. There are word puzzles, mechanical puzzles, mathematical puzzles, lateral thinking puzzles and good old riddles.

The first recorded puzzle was a riddle. In Greek mythology the Sphinx would dwell outside the city of Thebes. She would ask a riddle of all travellers to let them pass, and anyone who struggled to answer would be eaten. For those of you who have the guts to try, the riddle she asked was: ‘Which is the creature that has one voice, but has four feet in the morning, two feet in the afternoon, and three feet at night?’ In more recent times the earliest recording of a jigsaw puzzle was a world map made by John Spilsbury, who made it to help him teach Geography.

Other than being fun, puzzles can have practical uses in everyday life, such as the renowned Rubik Cube. The cube’s creator, Ernõ Rubik, had a hobby of creating and designing geometric models, one of these being the prototype of the famous Rubik Cube that consisted of twenty-seven wooden blocks and became a tool for teaching complex algebra to university students. The Rubik Cube went on to become one of the most popular puzzles of all time. To be opened, the Japanese puzzle box, created in the Hakone region of Japan in the Eighteenth Century, required a complicated series of sliding, twisting and turning. It was made for workers who

needed to keep their tools safe. Similar puzzles appeared in Hungary and Victorian England to hide valuable jewels.

Puzzles train and exercise the brain. They help us concentrate our minds, learn new words and sharpen our memories by requiring logic, creativity and perseverance to discover their secrets. They are often used to test reasoning and problemsolving. A well-known example of puzzles for assessing mind skills are IQ Tests (Intelligence Quotient), and studies show that doing all sorts of puzzles can actually increase your IQ.

For most puzzle-lovers the best part is the journey of problem-solving and the satisfaction of overcoming the challenge. Whether I’m breaking my personal speedcubing record, doing the daily Wordle or agonising over my latest Japanese puzzle box, puzzles have become one of my favourite pastimes. For those of you who have been pondering the riddle above, the answer is a person, who walks on all fours as a baby, two feet as an adult and uses a walking stick in old age.

Take that, Sphinx!

For most puzzle-lovers the best part is the journey of problemsolving and the satisfaction of overcoming the challenge.

Puzzles help us concentrate our minds, learn new words and sharpen our memories by requiring logic, creativity and perseverance.

Studies show that doing all sorts of puzzles can actually increase your IQ.

The earliest recording of a jigsaw puzzle was a world map made by John Spilsbury, who made it to help him teach Geography.

Another View

Beatrice Mannix of Cumnor

House compares modern art with traditional art.

Modern art and traditional art are different. In my experience modern art is more abstract, less detailed, brighter and more colourful, whereas traditional art has softer, more natural colours, such as brown, and is usually a detailed portrait or landscape. Let’s start our adventure of finding out if modern art is as beautiful as traditional art by comparing two artists of different periods.

The traditional artist I am going to look at is J. M. W. Turner, who is an famous artist from the 18th and 19th Centuries, living from 1775 to 1851. You will find that many of Turner’s paintings are displayed in exhibitions at the National Gallery, Tate Britain and the Scottish National Gallery. And the modern artist I am going to be looking at is Cecilia Vicuña, a Chilean artist and poet, who is 75 years of age, and has won the Velázquez Award for Plastic Arts helped by her amazing art education during her time at the Slade School of Fine Art.

One of Turner’s most famous paintings is called ‘The Fighting Temeraire’, which he painted in 1839. This work is currently located in the National Gallery and is an oilon-canvas painting of a paddle-wheel steam tug towing a battle-aged, retired gunship to its last docking site, where it is going to be broken up for scrap. In my opinion this painting has a graceful element as I love how Turner has managed to capture the ripples in the water as the large gunship cuts through it. I also enjoy the colour of the sky while the sun sets, and the detailed ship’s reflection in the water.

An art piece of Vicuña’s that is famous and currently displayed in Tate Modern is ‘Quipu Womb’, which Vicuña likes to call ‘a poem in space’. This is a sculpture made out of over 50 large strands of unspun wool, which is dyed red, and hung from a large, metal ring that hangs off the roof high above the head of a human. The strands of wool have many knots placed along their length. This sculpture is meant to represent menstrual blood along with the energies, flows and cycles of nature. What I really like about this sculpture is how it is different from what is usually seen as art. I love how this piece represents something that is hard to express and to show as art, and something that no other artist would ever attempt to create.

Now, we are going to look into the differences between these two art pieces, and what a person might consider beautiful in them. The most obvious and the biggest difference is that the traditional artwork is a painting, and that the modern artwork is a sculpture. The form of a piece of art doesn’t change its level of beauty, showing that this modern sculpture is just as beautiful as the traditional piece. Another difference between these works of art is that the modern piece by Vicuña is more abstract and more unique than the traditional piece by Turner. Although Vicuña’s piece represents the menstrual cycle, when you look at it that is not what comes to mind. By contrast, when you look at Turner’s piece you can tell exactly what it is. I find abstract art very beautiful, and I love how modern artworks have very strong meanings, but at the same time have bright colours, and a happy feel.

So I think that a person is not able to decide if modern art and traditional art are equally as beautiful, because the beauty of a piece is in the eye of the beholder, because art is subjective. This means that different people find different artworks beautiful, as people have different tastes, but it is also possible for a person to love both traditional art (Turner’s painting) and modern art (Vicuña’s sculpture), like me.

Safety Run to

Have you seen all the stories on the television, radio or newspapers about migrants trying to flee to safety? Sadly, this is not 'new' news since similar things have been happening for many years. I have a personal story to tell about migrants. In World War Two my family helped children to flee the war and live a better life in England.

At that time 10,000 Jewish children were brought over to England on what was known then as the Kindertransport because Jews were being treated atrociously by Hitler and the Nazis. Some people might say that World War Two is in the past, so it doesn’t matter what happened. It does matter, though. There are many things that happened to people in World War Two that are appalling. Six million Jewish men, women and children died in what is now known as the Holocaust.

Kindertransport comes from two German words: ‘kinder’ means ‘child’ and ‘transport’ means ‘transport’, so it means the transportation of children. This was usually by trains taking the children to a safer country to escape from the horrors around them. Out of the 10,000 children who were brought to England, thirteen of these children and Four German-Jewish women were saved by my own great-grandparents, Bernard Schlesinger and Winifred Schlesinger.

My great-grandparents were German-Jews in the time of World War Two and they, along with many others, knew what was happening was not right. There were over 500,000 Jewish people living in Germany in World War Two. With all the laws coming in to prohibit Jews from doing virtually anything, they could see the way things were heading. From 1933 the laws against Jews started to increase. Starting with little (but still lifealtering) things, such as bans from using sports clubs or going to the cinema or even owing a bicycle or a pet, anti-Jew policies soon included big things like the

loss of German citizenship and taking away freedom of movement. These were all brought in before World War Two even started! Yet no one seemed to be able to do anything to stop it.

So, knowing all these awful things were happening, Bernard and Winifred Schlesinger, my greatgrandparents, decided to act. They had already moved to London in the mid 1920s, even though they were from Germany, and they already had five children: John (born 1926, my great-uncle who became a famous film director); Wendy (1927, my great-aunt); Roger and Hilary (1929, my grandpa and my great-aunt, and the only one still alive); and, finally, Susan (1925).

They ended up giving homes to thirteen GermanJewish children and gave them much better lives here in England so that they didn’t get thrown into concentration camps and killed. They got all thirteen children into England before the war really escalated. My great-grandparents tried to make their GermanJewish refugees feel as much at home as possible after having to flee their own countries, many without their parents. The heart-breaking fact is that many of them never saw their parents again because they died in the Holocaust.

It is so horrendous to think that so many people have been discriminated against in some way or another, and it is still happening now with minority groups worldwide and that is why people are so desperate that they will risk their lives to escape. I believe that discrimination in any form should be stopped. It just isn't fair.

Phoebe Moser of Marlborough House relates how her great-grandparents saved the lives of thirteen jewish children.

Jewish refugees on board the Polish liner Pilsudster at Newcastle Quay October 1939.

Photo: igor kisselev / Alamy. Kindertransport memorial (2006) stands outside Liverpool Street Station. Sculptor Frank Meisler.

Side Effect

Your brain controls everything: every word; every step; every side-glance at a friend. Although this seems obvious, it is sometimes overlooked how much control your brain has over you. Your brain contains billions of nerve cells that are arranged in a certain way. Each different way coordinates thought, emotions, behaviour, movement and sensation. The way that the nerves are arranged is very complicated and scientists all over the world are trying to recreate an accurate copy of the human brain. A neuroscientist in the Brain Mind Institute of Switzerland, by the name of Professor Henry Markram, says that he ‘absolutely believes that it is technically and biologically possible.’

One of the things most people don’t know the cause of is motion sickness. Most people know that it is caused by the liquid inside your ears, but this is a simplified version of what really happens. There is a part of your brain called the reptile brain. The reptile brain is the brain that has remained from when we were reptiles; hence the name. As the reptile brain isn’t as

advanced as the rest of the brain, it creates some confusion in the signals. Being less advanced, the reptile brain will think you are moving when your body isn’t physically moving. When you are walking, the fluid in your ear will tell your brain that you are moving. This will be accompanied by your eyes also saying that you are moving. However, modern-day transport has made it so that your eyes will say that you are moving but according to your endolymphatic fluid (ear fluid) you are stationary. This type of confusion is a type that your reptile brain will only be able to see as one thing – poison. And how do you get rid of poison? Throwing up. Simply put, your brain thinks you have been poisoned, which causes motion sickness.

Sleep is a thing everyone does. Some people sleep more; some sleep less. Nevertheless, we will all do it regularly in our lives. While we sleep, our brain shuts off mostly everything, except for the part of our brain that makes sure we don’t stop breathing, or ensuring

our hearts keep beating (involuntary actions). While your brain is developing, all the neurological connections aren’t finished yet, which can cause some issues (as would be expected). One of the issues is the brain not completely shutting off the motor control during sleep. This can cause someone to sleepwalk. Although this may seem to not be a problem, it can cause the person to get harmed if they walk into someone or something. Like I said earlier, this problem mainly occurs in younger people, but some adults also sleepwalk and sleeptalk.

Another problem that some people have (again, mainly children) is sleep paralysis. Although this is completely harmless, it can be quite terrifying. Sleep paralysis is also caused by unfinished ‘links’ in the nerves in your brain, though now it is the opposite. Instead of the motor controls not shutting off, this time they are shut off for too long. Sleep paralysis typically lasts for about one to two minutes, but there are cases that have lasted more than

Elise Frydenbo-Bruvoll of Holmewood House School Explains The Neurological Sides to your Actions.

it is sometimes overlooked how much control your brain has over you.

five minutes. When the paralysis lasts for a longer period of time, this can sometimes cause a panic response (obviously) which is sometimes accompanied by hallucinations (though this is rare). Most people who experience sleep paralysis hallucinations will think them part of their dream rather than a hallucination.

Aquatic mammals (for example, whales, dolphins etc.) can’t breathe underwater so they have to be able to swim (float) whilst sleeping. Whales aren’t particularly buoyant. As a result, if they don’t swim, even a little bit, they will sink to the bottom of the ocean and drown. Thankfully, the mammals have adapted to living in their preferred environment and have developed the brain power to be able to sleep with half of their brain at a time instead of the whole thing. This means that, even if they are asleep, at least one half of their brain can realise that they are sinking and wake the mammal up. Other aquatic animals, such as jellyfish or sponges, don’t show signs of sleeping. Since they don’t really have brains, you can’t really trust them not to be sleeping or to be sleeping.

So, how can our brain tell when we need to sleep, and when it is time to get up and get the day started? Well, there is a part of

during the day.

When sleep paralysis lasts for a longer period of time, this can sometimes cause a panic response.

the brain called the pineal gland. The pineal gland is in charge of responding to light levels. Where do light levels get detected? The retina. The retina is in the back of the eye (called the posterior segment). They detect the lights and send signals to the pineal gland. When more signals from the retina arrive at the pineal gland, less melatonin is released (melatonin is also the name of the drug used by people who have sleeping disorders, such as insomnia). Throughout the day our melatonin levels increase naturally, which is why we are energetic in the morning-afternoon, and then, as the day continues, we get increasingly tired. Melatonin is produced in a lot lower levels throughout the day, than just before we go to sleep. This allows us to stay awake instead of just randomly falling asleep during the day. This whole mechanism is the reason behind jet-lag, when your brain gets used to the usual time of day that the sun goes down, and when that changes the brain still produces melatonin but it is at the wrong time.

So do not underestimate your brain and what power it has over you. You will probably think that you control your brain, but you would be very wrong. Your brain, which is you anyway, has all of the control.

melatonin allows us to stay awake instead of just randomly falling asleep

One of the issues is the brain not completely shutting off the motor control during sleep. This can cause someone to sleepwalk.

AI Strikes Back

There is a new threat to the human species that is all the rage. ChatGPT is a kind of artificial intelligence that was launched by OpenAI on 30 November 2022. It is a natural language processing tool that uses learning algorithms to create flawless written responses.

Within five days of the software’s launch, it gained over one million users, which broke the records set by Netflix, Facebook, Twitter and even Instagram. ChatGPT is a chatbot that can talk to anyone and answer their questions and explain things with a remarkable degree of detail. We're not talking about simple questions like ‘What is the capital of France?’ We are talking about questions such as ‘Write me a 500-hundred-word essay on the meaning of life’!

This software can produce accurate answers to very complex questions, which Google cannot do, for example: ‘Write an essay about the Cold War.’ Not only will it produce an essay but it will explain how it arrived at the answer. It can also answer complicated equations, and yes, I know what you are thinking. It can indeed do your homework to a certain extent, but please, don’t give in to the temptation! ChatGPT can also check codes which many humans may not be able to find. For example, if you are a programmer and your code is malfunctioning, you can paste it into ChatGPT and ask it to check the code; it will then do as you asked and fix any issues.

If ChatGPT can answer questions flawlessly and check coding, then what stops it from taking over jobs since it will inevitably become more efficient and less time-consuming? Surely students wouldn't need teachers or professors to teach them facts and ways of solving things because you would have a super-fast chatbot that could give you all the answers in a few milliseconds. But this is a bad idea because if we get used to searching for answers constantly and never figuring it out for ourselves then we will become de-skilled and incompetent, and we won’t be able to solve problems. This is something that we will need to be able to do in the future if we want to conquer extreme problems like climate change, world hunger and poverty.

ChatGPT can also adapt to the student's level of understanding and alter the difficulty of the conversation or questions. This can make the learning experience more personalised and effective, which many teachers are not always able to do. At the moment ChatGPT is experiencing a large number of people on the platform, making it unreliable for students; it is often over its capacity and many users may not be able to access it.

Finally, students may abuse the power of this incredible device and use it to complete papers and exams in just a few minutes without putting in any effort. This would create another problem for examiners and schools to consider when they mark pupils' homework. How do you know, for example, that Chat GPT did not write this article for me? One issue is that ChatGPT has limited knowledge because it can only remember information from a certain point in time, which may not always be up-to-date. Currently, it is not able to use internet data published after 2021.

In the end the chatbot may struggle with philosophical and ethical questions because it is AI and doesn’t have a human brain; so is not able to use empathy and compassion in its answers. So, it looks like ChatGPT will not take over human jobs but it would make a good assistant for people doing their job because they can use the software to make their job easier.

Zahaan Socha of SJCS warns us of the dangers lurking in CHATGPT.

This

software can produce accurate answers to very complex questions, which Google cannot do.

High Value

How many people value money above everything else? In this article I will be taking you through the past, present and future of one of the world’s biggest drivers.

Thousands of years ago, before the era of empires and organisations, people traded with others for goods such as food, resources and tools. Trading is still observed nowadays, since it is an efficient way to benefit both parties. But this raises a question: why was money ever introduced? The answer is because it allowed a more stable trade, removing the need to find an appropriate price for what you are trying to buy. As the years went by, it allowed leaders of a kingdom to tax the people, permitting them to collect an equal amount for every person. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, it allowed traders to feel safe that what they received against what they gave was a good deal. For example, how much fruit should be sold in exchange for a pair of shoes? This meant that traders were now no longer forced to memorise exchange rates between hundreds of different products, but only the value of the goods that they produced. From this, more complex societies were able to evolve.

The first forms of currency appeared in Mesopotamia around 5,000 years ago, but at the time of roughly 600 BC the first coins were invented. These were made of expensive metals (gold and silver) and were used to pay the army. These coins were first found in the kingdom of Lydia, or modern-day Turkey. One of the first forms of money was barley, because the idea of currency was still new to the people of Mesopotamia and they wanted to be exchanging goods in return for something that would not lose value to them if others no longer accepted it. This is the case because barley was

major food source at that time. However, it soon gave big advantages to those farming barley, since it was quite literally farming money. To combat this, they soon turned to coins instead.

As more and more people around the world accepted the idea of currency, different forms of it were found across the world. Even nowadays there isn’t one universal currency; there are many different ones, such as the British pound, American dollar and the Euro.

The future of money is most likely to be digital, just like many other features of modern-day life. Already, most of the money circulating in the world is on a computer, so when you buy something in a shop, generally it is from a credit card or from your phone.

In terms of online currency, bitcoin and dogecoin are some of the most prominent, although there are many others that are invested in all the time. Now the problem with digital currency is that it doesn’t actually exist; you cannot buy anything with it in the market. However, in the future, investors hope that it will be used as a form of currency at some point. This means that if no-one believes in bitcoin it has no value whatsoever. Therefore, money in all forms is made up. So, it is only due to the belief in the note or coin by the people using it that currency is valued.

What about inflation, or ‘a general increase in prices and fall in the purchasing value of money’ (Google)? This relates a good deal to the modern economy of the UK, and also worldwide. In the UK, there have recently been inflation rates over 10%. This is due to several different factors. First, the war in Ukraine has meant oil shortages have appeared, so the price of fuel has gone up. Aside from this main reason, the sudden change of Prime Ministers in England has meant that many different plans have been put in place without one concentrated direction for the country. This could be one of the reasons, but also it is possible that the general misunderstanding of the situation from the government has meant that they have made poor decisions that have cost the country.

Money is a major force that affects billions of lives every single day, allowing for complex societies and efficient economies.

Ashton Gadiot of Holmewood House School muses on money..

it is only due to the belief in the note or coin by the people using it that currency is valued.

for SchoolLife

Have you ever faced a problematic situation and thought, ‘I wish I had been taught in school to deal with this?’ There will probably be many situations where this will happen to you in the future, if it hasn’t already, whether it’s managing your taxes or figuring out how to cook a Sunday roast.

But what is the problem with the current school curriculum? What happens is, we send our children to school in the hope that they will leave as intelligent, hard-working young adults who are ready for the real world. However, the real world is constantly changing, when the school curriculum hasn’t changed for many years. The current school curriculum was designed in the Industrial Age, mainly to churn out good, obedient factory workers. Thought leaders around the world such as Sir Ken Robinson and Seth Godin all agree that Industrial Age values still run deep within the school system. All day long students do nothing but follow

instructions and when they do this they are rewarded.

There have been many people throughout time who did not do so well in school and yet became some of the most influential people in history. For example, Winston Churchill had an average grade of ‘C’ in school and Albert Einstein was expelled for his rebelliousness, so what do you think this tells us about the school system? I think that this system would have been great in the Nineteenth Century, but in the modern world there are much better ways to educate children. I mean, you can tell that the school system is doing something wrong when children are actually happy to be off sick!

the real world is constantly changing, when the school curriculum hasn’t changed for many years.

to spend pocket money wisely. When you leave school and suddenly have to deal with taxes, rent and a wide range of other things it can be very stressful. I think that teens should have a chance to learn about interest rates, smart ways to invest money, use credit and debit cards, how to tackle debt, mortgages and many other things. While I’m writing this, I realise that I barely know what any of these things are!

The first thing I think they should teach us at school is anything and everything to do with money and finance, whether it is budgeting or even learning how

Second, I think they should teach the basic skills of cooking and mending. You would be surprised how many people don’t know how to cook. It is estimated that 28% of Americans don’t cook, which I think is shocking considering it is such a basic and yet vital life skill. While mending things such as clothes is a less-known skill, it is still a very helpful one. Imagine you ripped your favourite shirt but you didn’t need to worry because you and

A New School Curriculum suggested by Melodie Peat of Cumnor House.

you can tell that the school system is doing something wrong when children are actually happy to be off sick!

your trusty sewing box were there to fix the problem. Think how easy it would be! It doesn’t even have to be clothes that you can fix. What about flat-pack furniture or that one light switch in your house that doesn’t work? Imagine if you could get out your tool box and fix the problem in five minutes with no need for an electrician or a family member to come and help you. I think that some of these tasks such as sewing are avoided by certain people due to them being associated with a specific gender in the past. However, in this modern world where you can be or do whatever you want, I don’t think people should have an issue with this.

My third and final point is that we should be taught how to keep a healthy and clean lifestyle, from knowing how to change a duvet cover (which is something I’m still figuring out) to managing your mental health. Mental health is a very important topic

to learn about as it is such a prominent problem in the world. Did you know that 1 in 4 people will experience some kind of mental health problem each year in England? I think that if this is talked about more, including how to deal with it, what the symptoms are and how to notice it, it will decrease the numbers of people with a mental illness because people will be more aware and able to help each other. It is also important to know how to clean. Even if you know how, we should be taught about how having a clean space can benefit the mind and how important being clean is. We can be taught many important things that can help us live great lives.

Overall, I think that school should prepare us more for real life and it can do this by teaching us skills that will help us in the long run, not just for passing exams. I still need to be persuaded that finding the area of a circle will help me much in the future!

school should prepare us more for real life and it can do this by teaching us skills that will help us in the long run, not just for passing exams.

teens should have a chance to learn about interest rates, smart ways to invest money, use credit and debit cards, how to tackle debt and mortgages.

Riley Neville and Sebbie Gray of SJCS celebrate the quality and longevity of the best toy ever - lego.

There is one toy we all know and love, and that is Lego. It is so popular that if you divided the number of Lego bricks in the world among the people in the world then every human being on the planet would have 86 Lego bricks each.

We all know the traditional Lego figures, but the makers are also keen on diversity and they have produced Lego figures with prosthetic legs and from every race. Lego has come up with some odd figures, also, such as the Hot Dog Man, Mr. Cob and a Hot Pepper. They have also made some animal Lego figures such as wolves and turkeys and many chickens. You can even go to the Lego website and design your own creature.

Ole Kirk Christiansen began the Lego company in 1916. Ole started off making wooden toys such as ducks and cars. He was so passionate about the quality of his work that when his son tried to save money by putting only two layers of varnish on the toys, he sent his son back to the shop to add one more layer to every single duck. When Ole Kirk started making building blocks, he called them ‘automatic binding bricks’. They are so well made that the very first bricks still fit with modern Lego. Ole then held a competition between his co-workers to find out a name for the company. He liked the idea of ‘leg godt’, two Danish words meaning ‘play well’. But this phrase was difficult for people from other countries to say, so he abbreviated it to ‘Lego’. He then realised that Lego is luckily the Latin word for ‘I collect’. Lego started off as just boxes of blocks, leaving your imagination to decide what to make with them. The first Lego set with instructions was made in 1964, which introduced the Lego train system. The modern Lego human figure was first produced in 1978 but back then it did not have moveable arms and legs.

because they weigh each bag, and they know the weight of each piece and which pieces should be in which bag. If the weight is slightly different, then the bag is removed.

Lego has collaborated often, for example with Star Wars, Marvel, DC, Harry Potter, Minecraft and Jurassic Park. This list, however, shows only a fraction of the many collaborations Lego has negotiated. I should add Nike, Adidas and even Ikea. Lego has also made computer games with Warner Brothers, such as Lego Worlds, Lego Star Wars Complete Saga and the Skywalker Saga, Jurassic Park and Lego Marvel's Avengers. Companies have tried to sue Lego in the past for copyright infringement, but Lego has always found a way out.

Lego moulding machines are so precise that only 18 Lego bricks in every million produced have an error.

As we all know, almost anyone can play with Lego. Lego goes a long way to be friendly to all people. Lego didn’t include the colour grey at first because they didn’t want people to create things connected with war, such as tanks and guns. Nowadays, though, Lego has made a lot of sets, for older children, with guns and have produced grey bricks. Some sets that are focused on older groups cost a lot of money and involve complicated building processes. Some of these sets include the Eiffel Tower (with 10,001 pieces and costing around £560) and the Star Wars Ultimate Collector Series AT-AT (with 6,785 pieces and costing around £740).

From huge silos, plastic granules are fed down pipes to moulding machines, where the granules are heated to a temperature of 230°C. This melted plastic goo is fed into moulds, little metal containers shaped like hollow LEGO bricks. Lego moulding machines are so precise that only 18 Lego bricks in every million produced have an error. Nowadays Lego brick production is fully automated and no-one is allowed in the area. The hot melted plastic is injected into the moulds in ten seconds and usually no mistakes are made. So, if you can't find a Lego brick in the bag, don't assume they forgot to put it in because machines don't often make mistakes. Instead, check the wreckage of the bag that you left behind and invariably the piece will be in there. The reason that the machines are so accurate is

Lego always tries to do the best for its fans and customers, but it has made some mistakes. One time in a Lego Friends magazine there was a comic strip where a group of girls wanted to get into a science lab but apparently they would’ve ‘stuck out like sore thumbs’ and went in disguised as bakers. This suggests that women shouldn’t become scientists and instead says that they should bake or do work around the house. This received so many complaints that Lego published an online apology to all its fans. Lego also once made a collaboration with a fan who made a set called Konzentrationslager, which featured a concentration camp with Nazi and skeleton minifigures. Lego claimed that they didn’t know that was what the fan wanted to make. They then banned him from working for them and only narrowly escaped a lawsuit. They also received terrible press about a Lego set of The Simpsons because at the time The Simpsons was an adult TV show and the public was afraid their children would want to watch the show. A few blips in an otherwise exemplary history as Toy Number One.