Editors Note: Welcome back! I hope everyone is settling in to the new way of schooling post-lockdown. There has been a huge impact on mental health during lockdown, particularly for teenagers. The reducing of social contact and worries about academic work are making young people feel more anxious and worried. It’s important to know that, however cliché it may be, that you are not alone and there are always people who you can talk to about your worries, such as friends, family or professional helplines such as Young Minds (https://youngminds.org.uk/contact-us/) or Papyrus (https:// www.papyrus-uk.org/hopelineuk/). Black History Month is also this month, and it’s important for us to recognise the unfairly overlooked work that black people did. Living in a country who enslaved black people for many years sometimes mean that the history we study is quite narrow and close-minded, and it’s important that we use times like Black History Month to educate ourselves on the history of racism in this country and to find out about many different people and cultures. Definitely read Moyin’s article on Mary Seacole on page 4 as a good starting point. On top of this, in this issue we have articles on global warming, the US Election, book recommendations, starting Roding Valley, a prosthetic hand project and a Halloween 1. October 2. Any acceptable answer e.g. witch or skeleton 3. All Hallows eve 4. Pumpkin 5. Day of the Dead 6. Vampires 7. Celts 8. Turnips9. Brooms 10.Black Cats
Halloween Quiz Answers
Book Series’ for Year 7’s: 1. The Harry Potter Series: I would recommend this series to anyone who likes to read about fantasy, magic, adventure and most of all, friendship. A summary of this series: A boy named Harry Potter is left one day on his Aunt and Uncle’s doorstep after his parents were mysteriously murdered. On Harry's eleventh birthday, to his surprise, he is told he is a wizard! He then attends Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry where he finds friends who help him discover more about who killed his parents.
2.The Famous Five Series: In this collection there are twenty one books filled with thrilling adventures. There are five main characters: George, Anne, Julian, Dick and Timmy (the dog). Together they are known as the Famous Five. These stories take place in the children's holidays after boarding school. I would recommend this series to people who like adventure books with plot twists. .
3.The Malory Towers series: Malory Towers is a boarding school for girls in Cornwall. The heroine of the story is Darrell Rivers, who enters the school in the first form and becomes head girl when she is in the sixth. Darrell has lots of friends, however there is always trouble ahead. I would recommend this book to people who like reading about friendship and plot twists in an adventure.
By Skye Nash
Mary Seacole: Black History Month Introduction: People often take advantage of things that black people have done to better our country. That is the truth. People don’t recognize a lot of the things that many black people have done for the benefit of our country, for the sake of the British people. Mary Seacole is a renowned woman who leads an incredible example for the celebrated doings of the black community and therefore, it is she that I bring to you today.
Who is Mary Seacole? Full name: Mary Jane Seacole Born: 23rd November 1805, Kingston, Jamaica Died: 14th May 1881, London, England
Mary Seacole was a British-Jamaican nurse, healer and professional businesswoman. Mainly working in the provision of business, it was her business skills that led her to Britain in 1854 during the Crimean War.
How did the Crimean War start? The Crimean War was a result of the constant buildup of Russian pressure on Turkey, and lasted for 3 years (1853-1856)This jeopardized British producing, marketing, reselling, or distributing health care goods or services consumed by, or used on, patients in India and the Middle east. France, that has caused the issue for the benefits of reputation, used the war to glue an alliance with Britain.
What did Mary Seacole Do? Mary set up the “British Hotel” behind the lines during the war, and describes it as “a mess-table and comfortable quarters for sick and convalescent officers”. Mary also provided additional assistance and aid for wounded servicemen and even many who were on the verge of the heavy wrath of death-- and nursed them back to health. Coming from a tradition of predecessors coming from Jamaican and West African “doctresses” Seacole displayed compassion, skills, and bravery while nursing soldiers during the Crimean war.” through use of herbal remedies using natural resources in her own Jamaican environment that she grew up in. Mary was posthumously awarded the Jamaican Order of Merit in 1991. In 2004, she was voted the greatest Black Briton Seacole did not even have any formal British nursing qualifications or training and relied on her skill and experience to perform her duties. Mary also wrote an autobiography, Wonderful Adventure of Mrs. Seacole, in 1857, and is one of the earliest auto-biographs of a woman of mixed-race. Mary Seacole is one of the many examples of the unsung heroes of the nation, and we as Britons should do more to treat them as Britons as well, due to all the things they have done to benefit our way of life.
By Moyin Adewuni
Prosthetic Hand Project: What is a Prosthetic Arm: A prosthetic arm is a robotic arm (or leg) that is used to replace your missing or amputated limb. This is used when people have a disease or condition that happened at birth.
Positives of a Prosthetic Arm: If it’s a robotic arm, a prosthetic arm allows you to do 2 handed activities. It can also be used for appearance so it looks like you have two arms, legs. One of the good things is that it is controlled using a person’s wrist, which makes it feel more comfortable and natural. Another benefit is that you can still do daily activities and different sports such as football or running.
Evaluation: I chose the prosthetic hand since it looked quite fun to make and I really wanted to try it myself. When making the prosthetic hand, I felt overwhelmed and sometimes a bit stressed since it didn’t always work like I wanted it to. For example the hand when I cut it out of paper didn’t always look right or was the wrong way round—as such, I had to keep redoing it over again. The straws and string took a bit of time and patience because you have to cut it exactly right, and it can’t be too long or too short otherwise it won’t work properly and that was also the same with the string. However once I had finished this, I felt super happy and proud. Overall I would say it is very fun to make however you do need to have patience with it since it won’t be perfect the first time.
Photography in Autumn: Welcome back! I hope you were all staying safe in lockdown. This article will be about ideas and tips of photography in autumn. Leaves: I took this photo using my Nikon camera and standard 18-55mm lens. I held my camera slightly above a pile of leaves and just took the picture, focusing on a certain leaf, making the others blurry.
Squirrels and other wildlife: I took these pictures in Kyoto Garden using my Nikon camera and 70 -300mm lens. I had to use a lens that reached quite far as I could not get very close to the squirrels. However, they were in close proximity with humans, which is why it is eating a biscuit! I edited the warmth and exposure of the pictures using my own presets on Lightroom, which I recommend for editing. My advice is to go out in parks and gardens, of course respecting the rules regarding Covid-19, and just take pictures and enjoy photography because I think that is the best way to capture your moments.
Have the world’s leaders all started to take climate action? In a recent UN meeting country’s leaders have started talking about what they can do to help reverse the effects of climate change. Especially the world’s biggest air pollution contributor, China. China’s President Xi Jinping has stated that China aims to be carbon neutral by 2060. Many believe that China has “fired the starting gun” in the global race to reverse climate change.
Why is this pledge so important? In recent studies, it has been shown that China is producing around 28% of the world’s greenhouse gasses. This is a lot to reverse in forty years, it does show that the whole world will need to be resilient and committed to tackling this climate crisis. If China, the biggest contributor to climate change/ greenhouse gasses released into the atmosphere can reverse the effects of climate change in forty years, then we may still have time to stop it before it is irreversible in about 10 years. If more countries start to do the same, the amount of Co2 and methane released will slowly decrease.
Why is good news on the climate rare? International agreements normally take time and end in squabbles between nations, arguably one of the biggest agreements to do with climate change recently was the Paris Agreement in 2015. This was an international trea-
While Donald Trump blames China for the world’s problems, President Xi Jinping calls for global co-operation on this issue.
What are other countries doing? Overall, the world’s leaders have started to step up and start to change our effect on global warming for example: The US- nationwide protests are happening to raise awareness of climate change. Canada- President Justin Trudeau has been openly vocal about his fight to stop the global crisis and celebrated introducing the carbon tax in 2018. Russia- Russia is soon to introduce a carbon tax as the fourth-largest emitter of greenhouse gasses in the world. The UK- the UK government declared a climate emergency once protesters flooded London’s streets and made their voices and concerns heard. They have now set a goal of 0% global emissions by 2050. Those are just some of the countries that are changing the way they emit greenhouse gasses. Hopefully, with everyone contributing to the fight against global warming, it will be stopped. By Ava Towner
Halloween Inspired Food: Frozen banana ghosts: Ingredients: - 200g bar white chocolate, broken into chunks - 4 medium-large, ripe bananas - 85g desiccated coconut - Handful dark chocolate drops
Method: 1. In a small bowl, gently melt the chocolate in the microwave or over a simmering pan. Set aside for a moment while you get the bananas ready 2. Peel the bananas, cut in half, and push a lolly stick into the middle of each piece. Spread the coconut out into a shallow bowl. Line the large baking tray with baking parchment and make sure there is room in the freezer. 3. Using a pastry brush, coat a banana half in chocolate. Sprinkle with plenty of the coconut until coated then put on a baking tray. Add 2 chocolate eyes and a mouth. Freeze the lollies for at least 4 hours and last for up to a week.
Halloween: Did you know‌ 1. Halloween is the second largest commercial holiday in the country 2.This year will be the first Halloween in 19 years to have a full moon 3. Pumpkins used to be carved out of turnips, potatoes and beets. 4. Some shelters used to suspend black cat adoptions for Halloween
Spider biscuits: Ingredients: - 70g soft butter - 50g peanut butter - 150g golden caster sugar - 1 medium egg - 1 tsp vanilla extract - 180g plain flour - ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda - 20 peanut butter cups (rolos or Maltesers) - 100g milk chocolate - Icing eyes
Method: 1. Heat oven to 180C/160 fan/gas 4, and line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Using an
electric hand whisk, cream the butter, peanut butter and sugar together until very light and fluffy, then beat in the eggs and vanilla. Once combined, stir in the flour, bicarb and Âź tsp salt. 2. Scoop 18-20 tbsp of the mixture onto the trays, leaving enough space between each to allow for spreading. Make a thumbprint in the centre of the cookie. Bake for 10-12 minutes, until firm at edges and soft in middle. Leave to cool for a minute before topping each biscuit with a rolo or Malteser. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. 3. Heat the chocolate in the microwave or in simmering water. Scrape into a piping bag and leave to cool. Pipe the legs onto each spider, then stick two eyes on each. Leave to set.
Pumpkin Rice Krispie Treats: Ingredients: - 750g rice krispies cereal - 3 tbsp salted butter - 284g mini marshmallows - Orange gel food colouring - 3 pretzel rods, end portions broken off (so you will have 6 pieces) - 6 mini green airheads - Non-stick cooking spray
Method: 1. Melt butter in a saucepan over medium-low heat 2. Add marshmallows and star and as they begin to melt start adding in the gel food colouring until desired colour. Stir constantly until marshmallows have melted. 3. Remove from the heat and pour in rice krispies and gently stir and fold with a spatula until cereal is evenly coated. Let mixture cool slightly 4. Spray hands with non-stick cooking spray then shape the rice krispies mixture into balls ( size of tennis balls). The insert pretzel rod into the top centre and reshape the pumpkin as needed. 5. Beginning on one side of the airhead candy, cut out a leaf shape with scissors then use the remaining piece to roll and shape into a thin rope shape, then twist into a vine shape. Place candy on each side of the pretzel. And finally Serve :)
Ultimate toffee apples: Ingredients: - 500g caster sugar - 2 tsp vinegar - 50g unsalted butter - 1tbsp golden syrup - Red gel food colouring - Edible glitter (gold or silver)
Method: 1. Put the sugar, vinegar, butter, syrup and 150ml cold water in a pan over a low heat and stir until sugar is dissolved, then turn up the heat to medium and boil until the mixture turns a deep golden colour 2. Using a fork, quickly swirl in some of the red gel food colouring and edible glitter. Insert a stick into the middle of each apple, then dip into the toffee, turning several times to coat fully. Then sit on the tray lined with baking paper to set for around 30 minutes.
My First Term at Roding Valley High School: 2020 has not been as anyone in the world expected. People were expecting the Olympics to happen, The European Football Championships and many other major sports events to take place. Since COVID19 came I didn't even know what was going to happen to me. Schools shut, shops shut, businesses shut down and you weren't even allowed to leave the house. In the past few months everything has gradually eased and we can go to school again ,we can meet our friends again ,and we can see relatives again. Finally, after the summer holidays were over we were able to go back to school. In my case I was starting a whole new school. When I started at Roding Valley 4 weeks ago, I was a tiny bit nervous but the teachers made the experience highly enjoyable. All the teachers were calm and kind in lessons and kept us safe around the school. I worried that I wouldn't be able to make any new friends but I managed to even meet 2 other people with the same name as me. I have been able to enjoy all the different lessons offered and met many new teachers. In this letter I will talk about some of my favourite lessons. So far in geography we have learnt all the different ways that we can measure development. I've really enjoyed having more independence and different teachers for different lessons. I’m fascinated by geography mainly because I love learning about facts and figures about the world. I also really like seeing different flags and maps. I had never had food technology before but I got so inspired by it I made my family a cheesecake. I have especially enjoyed religious studies more than primary school mainly because we're learning a lot more about culture. I mistakenly thought physics would be boring but it was an awesome subject, because we get to learn about how the universe was created. I have had a fantastic start and I'm looking forward to the rest of the year.
What I enjoy at Roding Valley High School! My name is Jenade and my favourite subject at school is mathematics. I enjoy mathematics because of all the numbers - it makes me feel as if I am a mathematician. Lockdown has been hard for some people but not for me! Roding Valley sent me a booklet with every lesson inside to keep me busy. Even though I wanted to do other things, I pushed myself to complete it. Interesting fact: Danielle Dyer attended Roding Valley high school as well as Mark Wright. Roding Valley's motto is Ambition Respect Endeavour and we earn ARE points if we are ambitious, respectful and if we endeavour. I personally have earned multiple points for many different reasons. Work out these maths questions if you want to challenge yourself: 4×8+9= 20-11= 100+900-800= Now, challenge your friends or even close loved ones. Don't use a calculator; that's just being lazy, come on learn some maths! If I learnt this then you can! This applies to everyone‌ even adults! Ask your parents to check your answers and if they can't work them out then ask your teacher to. Roding Valley is ready for you. Are you ready to join Roding Valley?
By Jenade Rayment
The US Election 2020: On November 3rd 2020, America will vote for a new president. The incumbent President, Donald Trump, will be facing challenger Joe Biden. But how does the American Democratic System work? Who’s leading in the polls? And what will happen after the results of the election are finalised?
The Electoral College: To elect their Presidents, America has a system called the electoral college. Each state gets a certain amount of votes depending on their population. For example, California gets 55 votes and Delaware gets just 3. There are 538 votes in total, and for Biden or Trump to win they have to get 270 votes, 1 vote over half. This meant that 4 years ago, despite Hillary Clinton winning 2.8 million more votes than Trump, she lost the electoral college and therefore lost the election. Because of the electoral college system, there are a number of states that either the Republicans or the Democrats win more or less every election. These are called ‘safe states’. On the other hand, there are a number of states that change who frequently change which party they vote for. These are called ‘swing states’
The Debates: The first Presidential debate was on September 30th, and it left viewers disappointed in the candidates for shouting over each other and not letting the other speak. As a debater myself, I much preferred the VicePresidential debate where both candidates mostly let each other speak and handled themselves well. Due to the President’s positive covid test, the second debate has been called off, and the final debate is on
The Polls: As it currently stands, Biden is leading Trump in the key swing states that he needs to win. In the national polls, Biden is estimated to get 52% of the votes to Trump’s 42%, with the rest of the votes going to third party candidates. Biden is also leading in a lot of swing states such as Michigan, Pennsylvania, Florida, North Carolina and, by very small margins, Ohio and Georgia. However, the polls have been shown to be incorrect before. Polls taken during the 2016 election tipped Hillary Clinton to be ahead in key states, yet she ended up losing these states, perhaps due to a low voter turnout. Ultimately the polls don’t mean anything if people don’t vote.
The 2016 electoral map. Red represents the Republicans and Blue represents the Democrats.
After the Election: Unlike in the UK, America waits until January to finalise the results of the election. If Joe Biden does win, he will be inaugurated on January 20th. This gives Donald Trump a couple of months to pass any laws that he wanted to pass during his Presidency. It also gives Joe Biden time to prepare what he will do when he does come into power. The upcoming election is set to be one of the most important in history. After the chaotic year that is 2020, strong leadership is required from those at the very top, and that’s why this election is so important even here in the UK.
Halloween Quiz: 1.
Halloween is celebrated on the 31st of which month? ……………………………… 2. Name a traditional Halloween costume? ……………………………… 3. Halloween can also be called... ……………………………… 4. Which fruit do you carve at Halloween? ……………………………… 5. Halloween is celebrated on the eve of what day? ………………………………
6. Which monster commonly associated with Halloween drinks blood? ……………………………… 7. Halloween celebrations were started by which ancient culture? ……………………………… 8. In the past……..were turned into Jack-o-lanterns ……………………………… 9. What do witches use to get around? ……………………………… 10. What animal is commonly associated with witches? ……………………………… Score ..../10 Answers on Page 2
By Joshua Conway