The Wyvern Issue 15
@DSMS_Wyvern
Spring 2013
Darlington School of Maths and Science
Inside this Issue... Technology Journalist
Kate Russell Olympic Swimmer
Chris Cook And information on the once in a lifetime DSMS trip to
Kenya!
When you have finished reading this magazine please pass it on to a friend or relative, line your hamsters cage with it, make a papier-mâchÊ face or just recycle it. Thank You, The Wyvern Editing Team
Watch The Wyvern on BBC School Report Day 2013: http://goo.gl/BPzhg
BBC School Report On the 21st March, 11 students from various years all took part in a BBC schools report day. This is where we had to plan, film and edit a news report in one day. Over 1,000 schools across the country took part, and over 33,000 students.
our autocue worked. However, for those who were doing in school reports, the handheld cameras were checked as was their knowledge about your subject. After this, the rest of the morning was spent filming outside stories.
Our schools report involved a report about enrichment week, a report into the dangers of excess sugar in foods and drinks, a visit to the Titanic Honour and Glory exhibition at the Head of Steam museum and much more. Accompanied by Mr Haylock, Mr Tearney, Mrs Kelly and Mr Greaves throughout the day, we worked together peacefully, in an attempt to meet the deadline of uploading the video onto our school website and sending a link to the BBC schools report.
In the afternoon came the inside the studio filming, and also the editing process of the day, which was the hardest part of the day, and was done by Liam Pape, the editor of the Wyvern.
The day started at 9am once we were all in the TV studio, where we had our first meeting with Mr Haylock to see what we were doing that day, and when we were going to do it. For those of us who were going to the Head of Steam museum, this meant making sure we had questions prepared, the cameras were charged, and
Mr Haylock told us throughout the day "This is going to be the best report in the
region", and that became the mantra for the day. As well as us, there were three other schools in Darlington who were taking part in the 7th annual BBC schools report. These were St Aidans, Hummersknott Academy and the Education Village, all reporting on different stories. Overall, the day was a great success, as we made the deadline for the report to be completed and uploaded. By Rebecca Parkinson
Above: The Wyvern team preparing for the big day
PAPE“R”MAIL Surviving without the Internet Lent is the Christian festival where Christians sometimes give something up. Usually people give up chocolate or alcohol however this year I decided to do something unique and I gave up the Internet. The first few days were easy and the temptation to send a Tweet or message someone over Facebook was minimal however as time went on it got harder and harder to do. I gave up the Internet in hope that I would be able to read more and do more things an intellectual person would do however instead I watched a lot more TV. Not always a bad thing though. Unfortunately, I only managed 22 days without the internet because I couldn’t live without it. I missed YouTube, Twitter and Google too much. It also became really unproductive, I couldn’t find out information I needed or use resources which would help me such as BBC Bitesize and the School VLE.
website: www.papermail7.blogspot.com
When I become the Minister of Transport Over the last 200 years almost all of the houses in the UK have been knocked down and rebuilt so how long will it take until we need to start replacing and updating every single road? Instead of re-tarmacking them I think the Government should put down electronic rails and replace cars with high-tech pods. This sounds unrealistic however the only thing holding this possibility back is the price this will cost. The pods on the rail will work like a large digital Scalextric where you simply program where you want to go and it gets you there as fast as possible taking travel into consideration. The main difference between this and a Scalextric is that you won’t go flying of the road every time you go round corners. The pods will be programmed not to
collide into each other and they will have sensors on the front so they can’t run pedestrians over, instead they will just slow to a stop if someone stands in front of them. You will still need to wear a seatbelt however you won’t need a driver. Everyone in the pod will be able to plug in their iPod and listen to music or play games or do work. Of course, depending on how many passengers you want there will be different sized pods so you won’t get a 2-man pod if you are traveling in a group of 8. Just to clarify, there is a 0% chance of me ever being the Transport Minister but I think this idea should be considered as a new, long-term solution to our transport system.
The Wyvern More articles, reviews and videos on the Wyvern Website: www.wyvennews.blogspot.com Follow us on Twitter: @DSMS_Wyvern If you would like to contribute an story, join the paper or have any ideas/criticisms/ advice, you can e-mail us at: wyvern@dsms.org
Teacher’s Pet Kenya word search In 2014 21 students from DSMS are going to Kenya (more on page 5) so here is a word search including words relevant to the trip.
Teacher - Mr Harris Pet’s name - Elma Pet’s age - 6 or 7 years old Breed - Moggie Elma’s story Elma came to live with us 3 years ago after 2 failed attempts to rehome her. The RSPCA removed her from a house where 16 animals (11 cats and 5 dogs) were found living in appalling conditions. Elma had been born in the house and had never been outside. She had had to fight for food and still tends to scoop it out of her dish onto the floor to eat. She had no hair when she was found, due to a flea allergy, was riddled with fleas and had ears full of ear mites. Her skin was cut and scabbed from scratching, and she was very frightened of people. The first family who took her home soon returned her to the RSPCA. Elma is VERY vocal- she meows A LOT!- and the people who took her couldn’t stand the noise. The second family who took her asked us to have her as she didn’t get on with their other cats. So she came to live with us. It took a while (and a lot of scratching and biting) before she began to trust us and settle down. So after fostering her for a while, we adopted her from the RSPCA! She still doesn’t go outside much- she doesn’t do wet and cold, or windy weather, or snow- and the back door has to be left open. She doesn’t like other cats and can see off our neighbour’s Tom cat who is about 3 times her size. She doesn’t like dogs either and will have a go at them. Apart from that she’s fine. She likes to be with my wife all of the time (mummy’s girl!) and everyone else is second best in her eyes. And she still meows a lot!!!
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Community Team Africa Wildlife DSMS Adventure
Fifa 13 Review Fifa 13 is a very realistic football game which is probably the biggest selling game every year. Fifa has been around for many years and a new version of the game comes out every year where millions of copies sell worldwide. It has all licenced teams from around the world and your favourite players are likely to be there to.
The game has two very different game modes and different activities for you to do such as ‘Skill Games’ and ‘Manager Mode’. When this game comes out it is around £45 (it depends on what games console you have). So it’s a fair bit of money but the game is well worth the price! By Sam Hutchinson
DSMS re-launches website The old and outdated DSMS website was re-launched earlier this year. It now has the latest news stories about the school, instant access for pupils to their Virtual Learning Environment and also includes notices for parents about upcoming events. The home page of the website is majorly revamped with a continuous slide show of recent pictures, contact information and the map of where the school is situated. It also has important links that you can get to instantly. You can find the new website at www.dsms.org
Technology Kate Russell answers...
W
hy do people love technology so much?
Sir Francis Bacon said “knowledge is power” and through the ages wealthy families would amass huge libraries in their stately homes as a symbol of their status. These days you don’t need physical books to have access to knowledge – the Internet opens a world of information to you and now that we have connected smartphones and tablets this knowledge can be delivered right into the palm of your hand any time you have a whim to learn something new. Whether that ‘something’ is finding the perfect quote to start an article, checking out reviews for tonight’s gigs in your location, or just getting a bit better at Temple Run, it’s hardly surprising we have fallen in love with our mobile connected devices.
Kate Russell has been writing about technology, gaming and the Internet since 1995 and now appears weekly on BBC2 and BBC World News, reporting for technology programme Click. A regular expert on the sofa at ITV’s Daybreak and var-
ious other TV and radio stations, she writes columns for National Geographic Traveller magazine and Web User magazine.
Her book ‘Working the Cloud’ and companion website workingthecloud.biz is the ultimate collection of online tips, tricks and resources for small businesses, start-ups and entrepreneurs who want to get ahead online. It was published in March 2013. Order it at http://bit.ly/ orderworkingthecloud
PAPE”R”MAIL answers...
A
re teenagers addicted to technology?
In a nutshell, yes, however it is not just teenagers it is adults and children as well. Teenagers are usually the age group associated with technology though because they use it the most simply because it is easy to use and it doesn’t take much effort. Smartphone's such as the iPhone are found in most teenagers pockets now and they hold so much irrelevant information such as Facebook and Twitter updates which just distract people from doing other worthwhile things. Direct messaging on phones now makes it unimportant to speak to someone face to face which scientists would say is debatably bad for our brains.
The smartphone now replaces alarm clocks, timers, stop watches, calculators, cameras, camcorders, video editing software's, calendars, games consoles, mail, address books, portable DVD players, MP3 players, shopping lists, jotters, pads, papers, dicophones, dictionaries, SatNav’s, tickets, torches and many more things. Smartphone's save time and money however they also make us a lot lazier. In my opinion, social networking is the most addictive waste of time ever! It is also dangerous too as it makes it easy for hackers to find out your personal information. Cyber bullying is a whole new type of bullying which has been invented by people sharing their opinion or trying to show off on social networks! Despite this, social networks are brilliant for finding and getting in contact with old friends or people who you may have once known. They also allow you to share pictures and videos with your friends easily without needing to pay anything. The future of technology is mighty however it is depressing to think that as time goes on, out lives will revolve more and more around computers, tablets and smartphones. Smartphones will soon become our life support without them we will be lost. What else can we expect in the future? The iPhone 36? Voice controlled houses? Free whole world Wifi? Or even holographic phones?
Sid Chaplin Writing Competition Last year, I entered a writing competi-
minutes later, he was fast asleep, snor-
tion which was advertised in a Darling-
ing with his mouth wide open.
ton Library showing a writing competition in Shildon. As I love to write stories, I entered and I recently received a letter informing me my entry had been short listed. I was invited to an Awards Presentation evening on the 5th of March. Feeling quite nervous but excited, I attended the evening where we were welcomed by the Mayor of Shildon, and introduced to the judges: Margie Stewert-Piercy and Julie BiddlecombeBrown, who were two very friendly ladies who had read through all of the 103 entries and chosen one winner for each category. Later, the judges stood at the front described the winners story a ‘delightful fairy tale,’ I wondered if that could be mine… And then, the title of my entry was read out and then my name! “Matchsticks and Goblins, by Poppy Hutchinson!” I was thrilled! Everyone began clapping and I collected my prize and had my photograph taken with the mayor
By Poppy Hutchinson
cent!” Mr Bidgins listened in amazement. He quickly lit a match and watched the
Now this wouldn’t have mattered any
shapes dance round the shop. He blew it
other night. Mr Bidgins rarely got any
out and the purple flame vanished. Mr
customers in his little matchstick shop. In
Bidgins stared at Mrs Dale. “Well I nev-
fact, he hadn’t had a customer or taken
er!” he breathed.
in penny for the last two weeks! But tonight, his shop would come alive…
Before anything else could be said, a volley of shouts and cries erupted outside. Soon after, the shop door was
Just ten minutes after he had
pushed open, and Mr Hail stumbled in,
fallen asleep, two goblins
carrying two goblins, one in each hand.
walked by, by chance. They
They were shouting, struggling, kicking
heard Mr Bidgins snoring
and lashing their hands about.
and smiled to each other. They nodded. The first one pushed open the little door
“These goblins broke into your shop last
and a bell tingled softly. Still Mr Bidgins did not wake. Rapidly, they each chanted into each and every match stick box before slipping out again. Ring! Ring! Mr Bidgins opened his drowsy eyes to see Mrs Dale ringing to bell on the desk valiantly. “Sorry Mrs Dale, is it just one box you want?”
night, Bidgins.” he snarled, “They came out giggling like anything, and ran off. I caught them wandering by this morning. So, you going to tell old Bidgins what yer’ did?” The goblins shook uncomfortably. “They chanted a spell into each of your matchstick boxes, so they would have
Mrs Dale bought the matches and Mr Bidgins sighed heavily. “Our first sell of
powers.” Mr Hail bellowed. Everything was silent for
the month.” he moaned to himself. He
a moment and then, to the intense
locked up the shop and went home.
surprise of Mr Hail, Mr Bidgins hugged the two goblins!
and the judges! I was given an anthology and a small white envelope with my
The next day, as Mr Bidgins sat in his shop, Mrs Dale bustled in. “I’ll have
name printed on. I couldn’t stop smiling,
another box of those matches, Mr Bid-
you can come and work with me, make
and returned to my place, as the audi-
gins, please!” she said excitedly. “You
magical matchsticks! We’ll make a for-
ence clapped again! I couldn’t believe
didn’t tell me they were magic!”
tune, your wages will be hundreds!” he
that I had won! Here is my story:
“What?” Mr Bidgins inquired,
Matchsticks and Goblins
“Magic?”
“Thank you! Thank you!” he cried. “Now
cried. The goblins were glad of this opportunity and took it proudly.
“Yes, magic,
Most of the time, they were very
Darkness began to fall on Gorse Village.
you stupid
bored (this is partly why they
Mr Bidgins watched the first stars open
man! The magic
were always up to naughty tricks).
their sleepy eyelids and twinkle merrily in the vast puddle of black ink. His eyelids
you put in the matches.” she said pulling some money
almost dropped, but he
from her purse. “When I lit the match,
shook himself sternly.
the flame was a beautiful purple, and
“No, you mustn’t fall
then from the flame, jumped all sorts of
asleep at work… Not
magical shapes - an aeroplane, a man
at work” but two
riding a horse, a bird, it was magnifi-
They both got on very well with Mr Bidgins and were honoured to make magical matchsticks for him. And the little matchstick shop was always full of customers!
DSMS Kenya Trip 2014 ning to do sponsored runs and swims, more race nights and much more. What the students are going to do in Kenya will give the community and the Above: The lucky pupils who will get to go to Kenya schools a new experience of meeting new people Miss Bane, Mrs. Phillips and Mr. Johnand then helping them build a house son are taking 21 DSMS students to which will benefit them greatly. Even Nakuru in Kenya. Kenya is on the east though the trip costs a lot I'm sure this coast of Africa. It is also on the equawill be a once in a lifetime opportunity tor, making it one of the hottest places for the students to take part in. on Earth. Whilst the students are in Kenya they Lots of fundraising has been done to will be helping build local community help pay for the expense of the trip. projects, teaching primary school and So far the enthusiastic team has been secondary school kids a variety of difbag packing at M&S twice and bag ferent subjects and coaching kids difpacking in Morrisons once. The school ferent types of sports. also organised a race night on the 1st Apart from helping building houses, March 2013 at the Mowden arena teaching and coaching sporting activiwhere they raised £2537 for the once ties they will be exchanging language in a life time trip. We are also plan-
China’s One Child Policy China has a population policy because its population is too large. People in China are encouraged to have one child as this keeps the population low. The people who have one child are rewarded financially and also get welfare benefits whereas those who have more than one child are fined. There have also been reports of forced sterilisations and abortions. By Laura Hutchinson
The graph above shows the prediction of the elderly population compared to the amount of children there is. By 2050 it is estimated that the amount of elderly people there are will outnumber children.
skills and building on the legacy of the Olympic Games! DSMS are staying in the village of Nakuru which is 100 miles away from the capital of Nairobi. Kenya is famous for its amazing safaris where you can see Lions, Zebras and other wild animals up close. This is one of the only places on earth where you can see some of these amazing natural sights. You can find live updates about Kenya 2014 if you go to www.wyvernnews.blogspot.com and click on Kenya. There is a stream of Tweets, videos, notices and more on there from loads of different people. There is also a presentation of the sponsors who are supporting us for unique trip. The DSMS Africa trip now has an official Twitter account to which you can find @DSMSAfrica, the Wyvern Team will also be tweeting about the trip @DSMS_Wyvern. By Lauren Hebdon and Liam Pape
Google opening new offices in London Google has spent £650 million on the plot of land near Kings Cross Station and they are planning to build new offices there. The buildings are estimated to be finished in 2016 and should be worth around £1.6 billion once they are finished. This should bring hundreds, if not thousands of jobs to people all over London and England. Now could be the perfect time to introduce Computer Science into the British National Curriculum at least once a term. Google will be making new apps, new software, new programs, new operating systems and loads more in this new building and all of those need people who know how to write code. This means Schools need to be planting the seeds for future computer programmers.
Enrichment Week BlackBerry 10 Textbooks, timetables and exercise books were all dismissed for a week of creative subjects. These captivated pupils in a unique way that allows technology lessons to take a front seat as we had entire days that focus on creating one-off projects that allowed a welcome break from our ordinary lessons. While many pupils ventured out on educational trips, others stayed
inside school creating different items in multiple subjects. For example in Woodwork lessons we created nameplates that were personnel to us rather than the target markets we usually work towards, and we have tried out new features to be added to lessons like app making and much more!
launches
Overall Enrichment week was a valuable experience that has enhanced the curriculum in a new, refreshing way. By Joshua Jackson
Horse found in meat products On Wednesday 30th January 2013 BlackBerry 10 was launched.
And Zebras found in the bar code All over the news for the past few months, the horse meat scandal has certainly been revealing a lot of companies and businesses. Tesco for example was discovered initially for its ‘100%’ beef burgers which actually contained 29% horsemeat! This has not been a problem before, but does this really affect anything? Read on for both sides of the debate… We Don’t Know What We’re Eating The problem of horsemeat has concerned a lot of people. This is mainly because of the drugs that could be contained within the food. People are right to be worried about this as it is a very likely danger. Another problem is not in the danger but the fact that we don’t know what we’re eating. If you pick up a burger that says 100% beef on the box, you expect exactly that. Not horse. Does this Really Affect us? On the other hand, does this really need to be worried about? Products so far have had no signs of drugs or dangerous chemicals, giving the indication that the food is perfectly edible and will do no harm. Somebody
quoted: “The Horse meat scandal does not bother me in the slightest!” A lot of people choose to ignore the horse meat scandal, rather than worry about something that is proven not to affect them.
It is completely original and not like any other BlackBerry OS’s and it is also different from iOS (Apple) and Android. It has a unique thing called BlackBerry Hub which combines Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, BBM, Gmail and Hotmail so all of your messages are in one place. It also has some cool camera modes which allow you to change a picture once you’ve taken it.
Results Table
So What’s the Verdict? Overall, the Horsemeat Scandal has been very worrying and concerning. Drugs, dangerous chemicals, all have been a disturbance to the public. Even the thought of not knowing what is inside of something you’re putting in your mouth is slightly scary. However, this is not able to affect us and people are not bothered by the whole thing. So, a danger or not a danger, this still is a problem. And it’s not just horse; pork and other meats have been found in ‘beef’ or other meat products. By Jonathan Deery
BlackBerry also announced the Z10 and Q10, both touch-screen devices which come running BlackBerry 10. The BlackBerry Z10 is a touch 4.2inch touch-screen device which apparently has the "latest screen technology." It has a flexible back cover which apparently feels great in your hands and it comes running BlackBerry 10. It included gestures to unlock, get to your homepage and access BlackBerry Hub - just swipe your finger in different directions.
Sport More DSMS sport at www.wyvernnews.blogspot.com
Austria Trip From the 22nd - 29th March 2013 15 pupils from DSMS went on a Skiing trip to Austria. After a long journey, the eager and enthusiastic group arrived in Neukirchen where they would be staying for the next week. Throughout the week the group, including 3 teachers skied down loads of mountains and fell over lots too. On Sunday 24th the Skiers started their first skiing lessons. They were split into 3 groups - a group of people who had been skiing before, and two groups of first time skiers. One thing which everyone found amazing was how pretty the Alps were and the scenery around where they were skiing. Unfortunately, most of it went unappreciated most of the time because everyone was concentrating so much on the skiing. Evening activities included swimming, a quiz and spending time in the hotel's games room where pupils could play things such as pool and table tennis. By the end of the week, almost everyone who went on the trip could ski, some of them were even going down red and black slopes (which were steep and bumpy!) The group departed for Darlington at 6PM on Thursday 28th March. Everyone was extremely worn out after an intense 5 days of skiing. Luckily, everyone really enjoyed the trip and they had the Easter holidays to relax. Find out more about the trip here: http://goo.gl/Ev3Zp
Interview with Chris Cook Chris Cook, an athlete who competed for England in the 2008 Olympics, came into school in 2012 to hold a private fitness lesson with selected pupils and open the brand new swimming pool. He is now an ambassador for a Sky Sports campaign set up to change sports throughout areas for students. I interviewed him when he came into school. Q. So Chris, what inspired you to become a swimmer? A: When I was younger, I watched the 1988 Olympics and after that, parents, friends and teachers were a big part of it. Q. Have you always wanted to be a swimmer, or did you have another career in mind?
A. When I was younger I had family members who were bus drivers, and I thought that was really cool at the time, so I wanted to do that first, but then watching the Olympics, I was inspired by the athletes and I wanted to be like them. Q. Do you have a favourite stroke, and if so, what is it and why? A. My favourite stroke is the breast stroke, because I had a fun time swimming it, and it was also the only one I could do. By Rebecca Parkinson
Darlington FC Darlington FC has struggled over the past year or two going through liquidisation and moving from their 25,000 seater stadium to a 1,500 standing and sitting area next to Sainsburys! Luckily though, they came out with 2 excellent coaches in Martin Grey and Brian Atkinson (both ex-Sunderland players). Although Darlington has gone down many leagues they still have quality players. At the moment Darlington are in
their first season since relegation and are top of the league above rivals Spennymoor. I think it will be a long time until Darlington will go back up through the leagues as a great team which they used to be. With Martin Grey and Brian Atkinson at the helm the sky is the limit. By Sam Hutchinson
“You're only young once, but you can be immature the rest of your life.�