BBC SCHOOL REPORT 2019
International Women’s Day
The day has occurred for well over a century, with the first IWD gathering in 1911. This year International Women’s day has the theme “Think equal, build smart, innovate for change” supported by the hashtag “balanceforbetter”. This focuses on ways in which we can spread gender equality and the empowerment of women. On Friday we are encouraged to wear purple to show our support.
In celebration of International Women’s Day on 8 March, Net-a-Porter has launched a limited-edition collection of T-shirts with six female designers. The range of T-shirts feature each designer’s version of female empowerment with all profits made going to Women for Women International – a charity that provides practical and moral support to female survivors of war. The collection includes six different designs created by Victoria Beckham, Isabel Marant, Ellery, Rosie Assoulin, Alexa Chung and Perfect Moment.
However, women’s day is not about women being better, or feminism, it’s about genders being equal. We do not think we are better than men, or should be treated in different ways. We just want equal rights; such as being paid equally. Some could argue that there isn’t a “Men’s day”. Well actually there is, Tuesday 19th November. It may not be as well celebrated, but when men have had control for so many centuries, you’re not really that hard done by.
Influencers like Millie Bobby Brown, (star of Netflix show “Stranger Things”) Reese Witherspoon, Ellen DeGeneres, Emma Watson, (known for playing Hermione Granger in Harry Potter), Rebel Wilson (“Fat Amy” in “Pitch Perfect”), and many others are standing up for women’s rights on social media.
Although much progress has been made towards an equal world, there is still much to be done. Here are some ways in which women are still not the same as men.
- “The Pink Tax.” Women are still paying more for household items than men, Shampoo, deodorant, even socks are more expensive for women then they are for men.
- Women are still underrepresented in government. Only 20% of the US congress is comprised of women.
- Women are also still more likely to be victims of crimes such as human trafficking, rape and domestic violence.
- Due to being paid 16% less than their male counterparts, women are more likely to live below the poverty line.
Some of the most normal inventions we take for granted were created by women. These include; Kevlar, (The material in bullet-proof vests,) was created by Stephanie Kwolek. The dishwasher was invented by Josephine Cochrane. The first home security system was made by Marie Van Brittan Brown, and windscreen wipers were made by Mary Anderson. Imagine if the women living in poverty, and the women who are forced to cook and clean, and the women who are still denied educational rights, have the intelligence to create the next big invention. Like a cure for illnesses such as cancer, a way to make cheap, pollution free, fast transport, or a way to prevent global warming or climate change.
Is P.E more important than academic subjects?
The lack of PE is a detrimental problem to our wellbeing. In the last year, Cape Cornwall School have gone down to only 1 PE lesson a week. Do you think this is healthy? Dose the public of Great Britain care about the younger generations health and fitness or only our GCSE grades? If we only care about our grades and not our health, grades won’t be anything if we are to fat and lazy that we can’t be bothered to get out of bed and go to work.
The British public thinks it is more important secondary school children have PE lessons rather than history and geography according to the latest survey from YouGov which is an international Internet-based market research and data.
From 1,648 respondents, 42% ranked PE as very important compared to 39% who think history is very important and 12% for religious studies and 30% think geography is important. Experts have said this could be because of rising rates of childhood obesity.
PE provides regular, helpful physical activities that teaches self-discipline; shows students how to use communication skills and develop other important life skills like team work. It also Influence moral development and leadership. Physical Education is an essential part in the development of moral skills and the enhancement of physical capacities like hand eye coordination. Hand-eye coordination is important to be improved as well as good body movements, which helps in the development of a healthy body posture. Physical education teaches students the importance of physical health.
Tam Fry, chairman of the National Obesity Forum, told The us: "People are getting the message that exercise is equally important. to good health as nutrition. “The government must take urgent steps to treat physical literacy in schools as importantly as English and Maths in order to save Britain from a full-blown health crisis.”
Don’t you think so?
Many students at Cape enjoy PE. We asked students. Why do they enjoy P.E; Ella said ‘PE is fun and I enjoy the exercise, also I like a range of sports: different sports give me different opportunities and I can learn new skills!’
Max. H said ‘Your sat down all day and when your weekly P.E lesson comes around you are active and moving about. You can also choose what you want to do. You also keep fit and healthy.’
However, we asked Alex H.H. Why he didn’t like P.E? ‘he said he would enjoy P.E if he was good at it.’
We asked Stan, What makes him do sport outside of school.
Stan said, ‘He said he does extra sport for more fitness and it is enjoyable’ and Sam said, ‘It is fun and I enjoy it’.
We asked Morgan what is his opinion on one P.E lesson a week. Morgan said, ‘It is not enough because for some people P.E is the only chance people get to take part in sport.’
We asked Mrs Green- our English teacher- what made her go into teaching English instead of PE. She spoke out and said ‘I loved PE at school, however I always saw it as something enjoyable, I never thought of it as something academic. I liked English, I studied that! PE didn’t really seem like an option to me, but I see the value in it and I continued to exercise- it’s really important for a healthy life.’
We interviewed our schools P.E teacher (Mr Gapp) about his choices in why he chose to teach P.E for his job. He said he enjoys watching children progress in sport and build up their confidence. He says he teaches P.E so that the children, if they are like him, can’t learn properly if they have been sat down all day. His quote is his mind, soul and body has to be in sync for him to work properly.
Please send us your views on if you value your child’s health and fitness.
By Archie & Seb
National Careers Week
National Careers Week is trying to link education to the real world of employment. This is also to ensure that students get an insight into how jobs work and are run. Organisations similarly use this time to promote their training and courses.
National Careers Week sees schools invite speakers in to share their experiences of the world of work. Here at Cape, we had members of the RAF come in and show us what was involved in their jobs. Schools have also arranged visits to and from universities and colleges as part of this celebration of National Careers Week. We asked students how they felt about this different approach to learning about careers. Most considered that it was a good idea instead of careers interviews when the the interviewer tells you what the job is without any direct experience themselves. One student commented: “It is also good because you may be able to see how hard the work may be and how to persevere.” Then we asked whether it may be beneficial to them as an individual. Our investigations revealed some interesting results. Most people thought that it would be beneficial to them but one made it very clear they thought that National Careers Week was academic and not for sports.
It’s great that we celebrate National Careers Week. However, schools, ours included, don’t need an excuse to celebrate: we do things throughout the year which help us understand the world of work – visits, assemblies, presentations, workshops are going on all the time.
10 o’clock start
Most schools around the country start at 9. This has been the case for many years and only recently has it been addressed of how factors show this is not all good. And here’s why.
Children attending schools are experiencing lack of sleep resulting in less focus in the lessons and extreme tiredness. As well as having to contend with an early start, teenagers are being set homework and more importantly revising for their GCSE’s. This often means that the school day extends well into the evening, with students working on homework tasks and revising, often into the small hours. As a consequence, they are suffering from a severe lack of sleep at a time when sleep is essential for their growing bodies and minds.
Science shows that teenagers need sleep, far more than the adults who teach them (and let’s be honest, I’m sure teachers would like a later start too!) According to reports, the teenage circadian rhythm mean that teenagers don’t experience tiredness until the late hours of the night or even the early morning hours. This is causing serious problems for adolescents: they are simply not able to sleep when they are ‘supposed to’. It’s not that we’re staying up late on purpose, it’s simply our bodies dictating our sleep patterns. Many people call this ‘bad sleeping habits’, however these patterns are proved that it is hormonally influenced. Teens need at least 8-10 hours but with school starting at 9 and teenager’s circadian rhythm this is causing a significant less amount of sleep.
So, what other benefits would the later start have for schools? School starting at 10 will not just help the students but will also benefit teachers in a huge manner. This will help them by giving them more time to arrive at school since some teachers live more than an hour away, making them having to wake up in the early hours of the morning to get to school in time. They will also have the chance to mark books more often as they have a larger amount of time to do it.
Teachers also see the value in a later start for other reasons. One teacher at Cape observed “We certainly see young people at their best mid-morning. Quite often, first thing in the morning students are sluggish, slow and not at their best. Consequently, they don’t function as well as they do later in the day. Mid-morning seems to be the time when students are firing on all cylinders.” A later start would clearly mean that schools would see improved performance in their students.
One student from Cape reported, “School starting at 10 will result in less stress and making me not worry about waking up late.”
Another student reported, “if I don’t do my homework to a good standard, I will have time to improve it.”
Also another student said, “It would benefit me through being ready for school in time and I would be able to do better work due to more hours of sleep. People usually miss breakfast and the later start means they can have a healthy breakfast and a better day in general.”
Overall, this proves that school should start at 10 o’clock as it is clearly better for our health and growing bodies. We can deal with less stress and complete homework to a better standard. We can revise for more hours and get the results we need. A 10 o’clock start is better for everyone.
By Oscar & Alex
Is a junk food diet all that bad?
I am arguing for a healthy diet. Not the kind that is all fruit and vegetables and other considered healthy foods, but one of moderation.
Eating large amounts of heavily processed foods is bad for your health. Studies have recently started to find links between the risk of an earlier death and a heavily processed diet. This study is one of many that is adding to the growing evidence of junk food’s harmful effects. In 2009 a group of people from a study called NutriNetSante, conducted an experiment with more than 44000 people. They looked at how much of their diet -and their calorie content - was made up of ‘ultra-processed’ foods. This experiment was over a seven-year basis and in the final follow up, there was 602 deaths. 219 of which were from cancer and a further 34 were from cardiovascular disease. Cardiovascular disease is a serious heart condition that normally results in death. This disease is the result of having too many saturated fats in the diet. Saturated fats are normally found in ultra-processed foods such as burgers and chips from chain stores like McDonalds. NutriNetSante found that ‘early deaths were more likely in those who ate the most ultra-processed foods.’ Although there is considered a correlation between cardiovascular disease and junk food, there is little to no evidence that explains it to be a direct consequence. However, other studies have shown that ‘they are unsure if there even is a link at all between ultra-processed foods and an early death.’ But they have agreed that a ‘junk food diet is still bad for health.’
Prof Nita Forouhi, (of the MRC epidemiology unit of the university of Cambridge) said that, ‘the case against highly processed foods is mounting up, with this study adding more importantly to a growing body of evidence on the health harms of ultra-processed foods.’ This is lots of evidence she later states but still not enough to grind a halt on the production of fast foods. These substances only become harmful when consumed in large amounts. However, you do still need to have some of these in your diet to keep it balanced.
On the contrary, other scientists have argued that a fruit and vegetable diet is just as detrimental to health as a junk food diet. This is due to the over consumption of vitamins and minerals in fruit and vegetables; also excessive sugars in fruit. However, it has been proven that a balanced diet including plenty of fruit and vegetables is so much healthier than a diet consisting of largely fast food.
In addition to the physical effects, of a diet consisting mainly of junk foods, there are also mental effects including depression and other mental health problems such as social anxiety. Social anxiety, in this case, is the effect of weight gain. Surely in this day and age, where mental health is becoming an increasingly common thing, we would benefit greatly from tackling another common cause. What is the harm in educating people on how to eat properly to keep both their body and mind in a healthy state? It is simple; easy to do and can increase your health in many ways.
Many people in this day and age are a victim of these effects. The rates of people that are becoming obese are increasing, the rates of death among the obese is increasing, the rates of fast food and ultra-processed foods entering our world is increasing. We need to fight for a healthy diet and longer life rates. So let’s argue for a healthy diet, not one that is all fruit and vegetables but one of moderation.
“Football is my life” Why everyone should love the beautiful game.
Football is a life changing sport and has completely made my life incredible with the thrills and spills and the dramatic moments. For example, when your teams win: it really brings family together.
We interviewed students and teachers from across the school to find out their opinions on football. Does everyone agree?
There are lots of opinions about football. It’s clearly a popular sport, but does everyone feel the same way about it? One teacher said: “I support Liverpool because of my husband and I used to fancy Steven Gerrard. I think it’s popular because of the media and I think it’s good for the youth.” Another teacher commented: “I support Liverpool because of my family, I think it’s popular because of famous people.” A student said: “I support Man City because they are the best team. I think it is popular because people do it in school.” People like the top teams and can always name a club they support. They also agree that football is popular for different reasons.
Not everybody likes football though and many can’t understand why it’s so popular. One teacher said “I think it’s ridiculous how much fame (footballers) have and how much they earn. They get more money than soldiers and soldiers are risking their lives every day!” This may be true, but let’s take a look at Didier Drogba. He has brought peace to The Ivory Coast, using his status as an iconic footballer to command respect from the people of his country.
Not everyone likes football, and some can’t even see the point. However, it’s special to me and I love watching and playing the sport. Hopefully I can still play it in later life. Football is my passion and many others too. We all have the same dream and that is to became a pro footballer and not to care about money.
By Mark and Cain
There is no Planet B
Students across the UK held a strike against climate change on Friday 15th February. They took a stand against Climate Change refusing to participate in school lessons and instead campaigning for better acknowledgement of our effect on the world.
The term global warming has been around for many years but only now are we discovering the true meaning of this phrase. Since the 1950’s the levels of CO2 have skyrocketed and now are the highest ever recorded, breaking the record enormously. As the levels of pollution are increasing, we are threatening everything we take for granted; because of our neglect we are now, presently, going through the 6th largest mass extinction. Plant and animal species, of all rarities alike, are being afflicted with the change in climate, forcing them to adapt to the distortion of their home environment consequently putting them in grave danger.
Pupils of many different schools will not be facing retribution for the climate change strikes as it shows their passion for the Earth and how much the older generations failure to address the problem has, in a sense, passed it down to the younger generations to deal with. Though this may seem foolish, the strikes have shown our enthusiasm to not endure the pain of the problem we created but to instead change our ways before they become irreversible; but even though our willingness to save our world is great, is our unwillingness to change going to be our downfall?
Lucy & Anya
St Piran’s Day
5th of march every year is the day that all Cornish men and women celebrate their patron saint. The very mention of his name can make any Cornish man or women proud, want to raise the black and white flag and down a pasty.
Who is St Piran? St Piran was a southern Irish priest who fell out with the king because the king was jealous of St Piran’s mystic healing powers so he threw St Piran off a cliff with a huge millstone tied round his neck. However, when St Piran hit the water with the enormous millstone, he miraculously floated. The great St Piran managed to navigate his great encumbrance across the Celtic sea where he washed up on the beach of Perranporth. There he blessed the county of Cornwall with his kindness and Christianity. He also showed the tin miners how to smelt the tin and is therefore the source of much of Cornish wealth and heritage. He gave us place names that no outsider can pronounce – Perranzabuloe, Perranarworthal, Perranuthnoe to name but three!
People all over Cornwall have been sharing their experiences of their St Piran’s Day festivities with us. Linda Cichowicz told us: “I love St Piran’s day because it brings all the schools together and that it’s so important that we teach the new generation about the patron saint of Cornwall” The smile she had on her face when she said this really highlighted the impact of St Piran’s day on everyone involved.
Cornish patriotism & history – why does Cornwall have a patron saint? (it’s not a separate country!) well most Cornish people would argue that Cornwall should be its own country there has been great battles over this very matter. The Cornish have a sense of their county as a distinct entity and the Cornish are recognised as a national minority on a par with the Welsh, Irish and Scots. There is even a Cornish independence movement represented by, for example, Mebyon Kernow and the Cornish Nationalist Party. Cornish nationalists argue that Cornwall is legally a Duchy, not just a county of England, and that it has never been formally incorporated into England via an act of union.
Levant Mine Disaster
Levant mine disaster was a horrific event which happened on the 20th October 1919. This event caused the death of 31 men and many injured. This year will be the 100-year anniversary of the event that had catastrophic consequences.
The disaster occurred in the morning shift when the strap holding the mechanism up gave way causing the shaft to collapse bringing the miners tumbling down to the bottom. Local families surrounding the mine ran to see the damage as a huge cloud of dust rose into the sky and a colossal bang was heard for miles around, sparking more dismay and chaos along communities.
A local historian states it may have been prevented if the managers had listened to the miners heading down the shaft. They had reported that it was making strange noises weeks before. He also believed, that this massively affected local families: 400 people lost their jobs and were forced to leave Cornwall as other mines would not take them. Correspondingly, this destroyed the sense of community between Pendeen and St Just. The disaster and its aftermath led to some bitterness in the community and people in the two villages accused each other of crimes they didn’t commit. Arguably, the worst consequence of this awful tragedy was that 40 children ended up in Madron workhouse due to their parents being killed in this horrible event.
This event affected the mines across Penwith. Mineworkers become wary of going down the shafts because of the dangers. They lost confidence in the owners of the mines and, quite rightly, didn’t trust them with their lives. As a result, there was a rise in absenteeism at the mines. This also led to quite a few mines being shut down because they were incapable of getting the minimum workers needed. Naturally, the disaster didn’t just affect the miners themselves, it also affected their wives and made them petrified for their husbands’ lives and safety.
This year, to mark the 100-year anniversary, Cape Cornwall School will be creating a memorial presentation for the deceased miners and holding a silence to remember the families that suffered in this atrocious event.
In conclusion, this terrible tragedy changed our mining industry, making us think a lot more logically minded about safety and teaching us that we should listen if people are concerned. It also transformed our community. And this we must never forget.
By Ellie and Erin.
Cape Cornwall School – General News
At Cape Cornwall School, there are loads of events that happen on a regular basis. After school clubs, lunchtime activities, trips and so much more!
Super Saturday is an activity for years 4, 5, and 6 to find out about what life would be like at Cape Cornwall School. March 16th sees the 3rd Super Saturday that Cape Cornwall School has hosted. Children who get involved can expect to take part in lots of fun activities in all the different curriculum areas. For example: Science, Food, P.E, math, Music and French.
At Cape, the cooks in the canteen make food to people’s dietary requirements (Coeliac, vegan etc.) and are open to ideas. For instance, an oriental food day. Also, the cooks only use locally sourced produce. For example, we get our bread from Warrens Bakery. We are really lucky to have such a varied selection of meals, such as Chicken curry.
For high achievers, there is High Performance Academy (HPA). This consists of workshops, Trips and Masterclasses. Advantages of this include: Broadening Learning opportunities, looks good on college application or CV and it helps to decide career paths.
Science trips include, Year 7: Shark Trip which includes Marine Biology lessons and sleeping outside a shark tank at Plymouth Aquarium, on the Barbican.
The GCSE French Paris Trip includes loads of activities such as Sightseeing, visiting snail farms and Disneyland. This is good because it allows students to use their knowledge of the French language.
At Cape, we believe highly in getting the best out of people, therefore, we play host to Duke of Edinburgh (DofE). On the first Friday and Saturday of May, the practice expedition will be taking place for our Bronze Award students.
In summary, Cape Cornwall School has a lot on: fixtures, trips and awards for the high achievers.
By Erin & Ellie